Obi..
05-18-2011, 04:05 PM
*No bashing on the 3VZE/Thorley combo, run whatya got until you can afford a swap..mmmkay! You all know I've mentioned this issue off and on, mostly when I am either smelling burning carpet or the wife's complaining her nice shoes are hot..
If you haven't heard of my complaint, it's pretty self explanatory here. I never liked that after installing my Thorley Headers that my right floorboard right around the tunnel got hot enough to melt a spot on the carpet and affect the efficiency of the air conditioning. The reason this happens is the Thorley (and other company's headers for the 3VZE) all have to tilt upwards on the right side a bit to clear the clutch slave cylinder, but more importantly, clear the starter motor.
As most will remember the first thing I did was wrap the collector in heat wrap and then added my 1.5" body lift (well that was a two part thing to fit the tires I wanted ;) ). I'd added in some adhesive backed floor insulation as well as a nice sheet of fire retardant fiberglass sheet from a hot-rod project under the carpet but still things got hot enough that I could smell melting polyester carpet and my wife would complain about hot toes in the summer. I even tried a cure using the A/C on dual zone so the floorboard would get some cool air flowing across.
Recently I got to thinking and researching. Research turned up a few nice solutions, most involved using non-US-spec shields like what comes on diesel spec's with the exhaust routing down the right side before it crossed under the trans to return down the left side like all ours do.
Ultimately the solution was sitting right there in front of me (DUH!). Gee, lemme see, what do they use for the 5VZE and 3RZ equipped rigs that are 96-up? A shield for the right side is what! :D
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_PFYN1rUn3pQ/TdRNtbZCCYI/AAAAAAAAA6A/bIlQjiuX6Zc/05-18-11_1528.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_PFYN1rUn3pQ/TdRNpgM_SbI/AAAAAAAAA58/6A6wbG4XjuA/05-18-11_1526.jpg
Basically I went down to the local parts place and got the shields from a '96 5VZE equipped rig, grabbed some cardboard and went about making a template, took that over, added about 1/2" to each side to allow for folding over sharp edges and creating a boxed shape like factory to both channel heat fumes and reinforce the edges and then put it up in place, took a socket and mallet to press/force the aluminum onto the existing factory studs (gotta love how Toyota specs little things like that for their ease of use) and bolted it all right up. The black shield you see just behind the brake lines is a piece of 6061 sheet I bent and formed to add additional shielding to the brake lines. :D
Works Great and it only took me a year of thinking back and forth about it to finally see a simple solution was right there. ;)
**I did make sure to include the fuel inlet and return lines in the shielding's shape and also made sure that the shield there has no sharp points or rubbing spots.
If you haven't heard of my complaint, it's pretty self explanatory here. I never liked that after installing my Thorley Headers that my right floorboard right around the tunnel got hot enough to melt a spot on the carpet and affect the efficiency of the air conditioning. The reason this happens is the Thorley (and other company's headers for the 3VZE) all have to tilt upwards on the right side a bit to clear the clutch slave cylinder, but more importantly, clear the starter motor.
As most will remember the first thing I did was wrap the collector in heat wrap and then added my 1.5" body lift (well that was a two part thing to fit the tires I wanted ;) ). I'd added in some adhesive backed floor insulation as well as a nice sheet of fire retardant fiberglass sheet from a hot-rod project under the carpet but still things got hot enough that I could smell melting polyester carpet and my wife would complain about hot toes in the summer. I even tried a cure using the A/C on dual zone so the floorboard would get some cool air flowing across.
Recently I got to thinking and researching. Research turned up a few nice solutions, most involved using non-US-spec shields like what comes on diesel spec's with the exhaust routing down the right side before it crossed under the trans to return down the left side like all ours do.
Ultimately the solution was sitting right there in front of me (DUH!). Gee, lemme see, what do they use for the 5VZE and 3RZ equipped rigs that are 96-up? A shield for the right side is what! :D
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_PFYN1rUn3pQ/TdRNtbZCCYI/AAAAAAAAA6A/bIlQjiuX6Zc/05-18-11_1528.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_PFYN1rUn3pQ/TdRNpgM_SbI/AAAAAAAAA58/6A6wbG4XjuA/05-18-11_1526.jpg
Basically I went down to the local parts place and got the shields from a '96 5VZE equipped rig, grabbed some cardboard and went about making a template, took that over, added about 1/2" to each side to allow for folding over sharp edges and creating a boxed shape like factory to both channel heat fumes and reinforce the edges and then put it up in place, took a socket and mallet to press/force the aluminum onto the existing factory studs (gotta love how Toyota specs little things like that for their ease of use) and bolted it all right up. The black shield you see just behind the brake lines is a piece of 6061 sheet I bent and formed to add additional shielding to the brake lines. :D
Works Great and it only took me a year of thinking back and forth about it to finally see a simple solution was right there. ;)
**I did make sure to include the fuel inlet and return lines in the shielding's shape and also made sure that the shield there has no sharp points or rubbing spots.