'97 NA8 EGR?

[apsilon]

So pulled the heat shield (7 bolts and 3 nuts, that's one secure heat shield) and there's no EGR that I can see which is good.



While doing it, I was thinking about how close the heater hoses are. The new exhaust is rather pretty all shiny etc but should I wrap it? Will be hard to do neatly as the runners are all very close to each other in several places so would end up having to wrap 2 or even 3 tubes at once in places which never looks as good (it's not a track car, aesthetics are important) or ceramic coat them?



If they were mild steel I'd coat them no question as it would also prevent rust but as these are stainless, albeit an unknown grade, rust shouldn't be as much of an issue. I had the turbo manifold coated on my previous MX-5 and that worked well and looked great. I'd go for a black rather than shiny coating so wouldn't look as good but the polished coatings dull quickly anyway.

[93_Clubman]

I was thinking about how close the heater hoses are. The new exhaust is rather pretty all shiny etc but should I wrap it? or ceramic coat them?

If your only consideration is how close to the heater hoses they are, I've had a set of CES Racing extractors on my NA8 for the last 14 years without a heat shield, & I just checked the original heater hoses & they are fine. The CES Racing extractors are mild steel with a black coating, however the coating has peeled off in the last few years.

[apsilon]

Well it'd be nice to keep temps low for intake as well.

[93_Clubman]

Have CAI, so not a problem here - have read that some forumites have had problems with tape, ie it caused rusting, but don't how common that is, or if it was just a case of sh!t steel or what ever. Of course, note yours are stainless grade unknown, so hopefully that shouldn't be a problem. Another consideration is can stainless be coated - don't know.

[hks_kansei]

Over time the fiberglass wrap can encourage rust or cracks by essentially allowing the pipes to get far hotter than if they were unwrapped, so they essentially get more extreme heat cycling.

I wouldn't bother wrapping them, purely for the fact that it's an absolute arse of a job and the glass tape is horrible stuff to work with.

Pay for ceramic coating, or just put them on as they are.
If heat it a real concern, look into just making a heat shield like factory had.

[apsilon]

Yeah I know that occurs with mild steel, not sure if it'd be as bad on stainless. I've wrapped a header once before though that was on a car, would be easier to do with it off the car.

I've got some time to think about it. Rest of the exhaust should arrive late next week then I need to find time to install it all. Tried to lift the MX-5 on my Quickjack today and it doesn't fit I've got the big model and the wheel base on the Mazda is a couple of inches too short so I'll need to work out what I want to do.