Seeking comments on I-M Shield Intake Manifold Heat Shield

[tony-muscle]

Has anyone used the I-M Shield from Heashield Products?

https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/i-m-shield

It adheres to the bottom of the intake manifold to create a heat barrier. The adhesive is rated to 300F and the insulation up to 1100F. It comes with an edging tape that in the case of the Cleveland will need to be used to avoid oil seeping through the insulation. I understand the valley pan serves as an insulation barrier, but this should increase the insulation underneath the manifold. I think it could be used in combination with the valley pan to reduce the amount of oil splashing it. In theory, any cooling of the intake should amount to a small increase in power due to the increase of air density. However, I don't know about its effectiveness in an enclosed environment like the lifter valley.

What are your thoughts? Anyone tried it already?

 

[mustang7173]

Hello tomy-muscle,

Anything to reduce the heat to the fuel intake area is worth looking at. After looking at this picture, it looks very feasible. I would say, place in on the underside of the manifold in between the oil baffle and it should greatly reduce your heat. I like it!



mustang7173

 

[TommyK]

There is an article by Kevin Teitz in this month's car craft about it.

 

[73pony]

Just my opinion. I would prefer not to put anything in the lifter valley that isn't meant to be there. I had my intake powder coated on the top then had the underside ceramic coated like my headers to insulate from heat. Just a thought. I have a distrust of adhesives and their ability to hold up in a harsh environment like that.

 

[Don C]

I agree, Jason. I see no problem using them on an air gap manifold, or mod motors, or LSs where the insulation isn't in direct contact with hot oil and no chance to plug up the oil pickup screen if they start falling apart. I like your idea of the ceramic coating, better than the paint I was thinking of coating the underside of mine with.

 

[tony-muscle]

There is an article by Kevin Teitz in this month's car craft about it.

Yeah, that's where I read about it first.

 

[tony-muscle]

Just my opinion. I would prefer not to put anything in the lifter valley that isn't meant to be there. I had my intake powder coated on the top then had the underside ceramic coated like my headers to insulate from heat. Just a thought. I have a distrust of adhesives and their ability to hold up in a harsh environment like that.

I am with you. It's a risk that the the insulation may start coming apart and you won't know about it. I think the valley pan would help protect it, but unless someone test it and inspect often it is a high risk.

 

[Hemikiller]

My opinion - snake oil

Use the factory sheetmetal turkey pan gasket and it'll accomplish much more by keeping the hot oil off the bottom of your intake.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Since you are building this killer engine have you checked into any of the cryogenic treatment for parts? Also have you looked at having your piston domes coated with ceramic and maybe valves and chambers?

Just some more things to look at and think about. Pretty much every mech. part on a NASCAR or Indy race car has the cryogenic treatment. They all use coated pistons and have the slick coatings on the piston skirts also.

We used the coatings on stamping tooling and it does really increase the lubricity of the metal and requires less lubrication and lasts much longer. Some of the old coatings like hard chrome or nickel were a build up process and changed the dimensions of the parts and would flake off under high pressure. The new is not it impregnates the base material and does not change size. The cryogenic treatment refines the grain structure and makes the parts stronger.

The only place coatings did not really work great was on the deep draw process for making beer or chemical containers. There are government regulations for food grade containers 300 series stainless for the depth of any marks or scratches that can hold bacteria. The only way we were ever successful was to use die bronze and just re-cut the draw radius after it wore. The tooling was considered sacrificial.

We used some of the Molybdenum disulfide coatings on the tooling we made 400 series catalytic converter shells with and it did help considerably. It was applied in a vacuum chamber by Scientific Coatings.

John Deere uses coatings on lots of their parts in the combines they manufacture to increase the life.

I know lots of people are afraid of changing some things but that is the only way you get better.

 

[tony-muscle]

Since you are building this killer engine have you checked into any of the cryogenic treatment for parts? Also have you looked at having your piston domes coated with ceramic and maybe valves and chambers?

Just some more things to look at and think about. Pretty much every mech. part on a NASCAR or Indy race car has the cryogenic treatment. They all use coated pistons and have the slick coatings on the piston skirts also.

We used the coatings on stamping tooling and it does really increase the lubricity of the metal and requires less lubrication and lasts much longer. Some of the old coatings like hard chrome or nickel were a build up process and changed the dimensions of the parts and would flake off under high pressure. The new is not it impregnates the base material and does not change size. The cryogenic treatment refines the grain structure and makes the parts stronger.

The only place coatings did not really work great was on the deep draw process for making beer or chemical containers. There are government regulations for food grade containers 300 series stainless for the depth of any marks or scratches that can hold bacteria. The only way we were ever successful was to use die bronze and just re-cut the draw radius after it wore. The tooling was considered sacrificial.

We used some of the Molybdenum disulfide coatings on the tooling we made 400 series catalytic converter shells with and it did help considerably. It was applied in a vacuum chamber by Scientific Coatings.

John Deere uses coatings on lots of their parts in the combines they manufacture to increase the life.

I know lots of people are afraid of changing some things but that is the only way you get better.

Thank you for the "killer engine" quote Dave. It may sound like a super engine, but my goal is for a "mild" 408. I am trying to keep power below 500 HP so I don't break anything else in the car. I don't think I need much more power than that. I will research the coatings you are talking about but I am suspect they may be out of my budget. But, heck, the budget went down the drain when I bought the car......  lollerz

I was attracted to the idea of this insulating layer because it was relatively cheap. I like to hear everyone's opinions and I think we have a good steering group going on here.

 

[tony-muscle]

I sent an email to the manufacturer and they say it can work in our applications. However, they commented that the more "chemical/dirt" (think of oil) that covers the surface, the more the reflectivity would be affected. This insulation is intended to protect from radiant heating so it makes sense that if the "shiny" layer gets splashed directly with oil, its effectiveness would be reduced. Something to think about it.

 

[mjlan]

I'm with the others- not worth the extra expense/ hassle/ potential issues for a street car. Just use the OEM style 'bathtub' baffle.