pics of home made heat sheild
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Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2006
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From: NJ
pics of home made heat sheild
I got the AF1 intake for my 03 Expedition but strangely enough, it did not come with a heat shield of any kind. I was advised that once I started driving, cool fresh air would flood the compartment and give me "cold air" on my intake. Well I datalogged that only to find that the intake temp was always 10-15 degrees warmer than ambient....
I had seen a thread along time ago about building a heat sheild from a home depot trash can, and was able to track it down on this forum. So off to HD I went and bought TWO cans, just in case. Here's a couple of pics (hang tight Bubba, the box is NOT the sheid!):
I used a small cardboard box as a mock up to help find the location for the hole for the filter adapter. The nails? Well, I was trying to think of a way to get an impression of the countours of the insulation under the hood. The original post mentioned alot of trial and error, looking under the hood w/ a flashlight etc. Which I did too. The nails worked ok, as they slid down inside the corrugations as the hood closed. Unfortunately, the insulation moves too, so I didn't get as accurate a template as I wanted, but I kept working at it.
I used one plastic trashcan as a prototype and pretty much mangled that one - but that gave me the freedom to experiment. One of the things I found was the cruise control unit bracket was right where the end of the can wanted to butt up against the fender wall. I wanted to get a tighter seal and cutting around the bracket was a pain and produced a crummy looking heat sheild. So I used two pieces of pre-holed steel bar from HD again, with holes about 2.25" on center and just used existing hardware to mount the extensions to the existing bracket locations. Then I used 3/8" nuts and lockwashers to secure the relocated cruise control unit next to the coolant tank, but not right up against it. I used some extra large washers on the CC bracket since it rides on rubber bushings and those need a little pressure to keep it fairly ridgid.
I made the final sheild from the last bucket. I followed the advice of the previous post and used a dremel cuttoff wheel to cut the plastic can. Worked very well. I tried shears and they did not do a neat job. Also used an Exacto knive to slowly cut the circle (4") for the filter adapter. I ran some trunk weather stripping ($5) from an old car along the top and around the front edge where it butts up against the fender wall. One last modification - my wife'd idea, was to leave a "flap" of plastic and open it 90 degrees to the direction of the sheild and fasten it to the plastic molding adjacent to the radiator cowling. This gave a little shielding from the area between the radiator and the bottom of the bucket, er, heat sheidl.
Finished product - total cost was $15 and my time. And the results? I re-logged my Ex (with my wife riding shotgun) and watched the Ex's external thermometer compared tothe intake temp. At idle, the intake temp was warmer by about 10 degrees or so. However, after about 1 minute or less of driving, the intake temp dropped to the exact ambient air temp. Pretty cool!
The intake location on the Exp, aside from the fender hole, gets its air from behind and below the drivers' side headlight area. That part of the shield is left open.
I don't know if it gives more power, but I feel better
And I think it looks nice too. Even my wife likes it!
I had seen a thread along time ago about building a heat sheild from a home depot trash can, and was able to track it down on this forum. So off to HD I went and bought TWO cans, just in case. Here's a couple of pics (hang tight Bubba, the box is NOT the sheid!):
I used a small cardboard box as a mock up to help find the location for the hole for the filter adapter. The nails? Well, I was trying to think of a way to get an impression of the countours of the insulation under the hood. The original post mentioned alot of trial and error, looking under the hood w/ a flashlight etc. Which I did too. The nails worked ok, as they slid down inside the corrugations as the hood closed. Unfortunately, the insulation moves too, so I didn't get as accurate a template as I wanted, but I kept working at it.
I used one plastic trashcan as a prototype and pretty much mangled that one - but that gave me the freedom to experiment. One of the things I found was the cruise control unit bracket was right where the end of the can wanted to butt up against the fender wall. I wanted to get a tighter seal and cutting around the bracket was a pain and produced a crummy looking heat sheild. So I used two pieces of pre-holed steel bar from HD again, with holes about 2.25" on center and just used existing hardware to mount the extensions to the existing bracket locations. Then I used 3/8" nuts and lockwashers to secure the relocated cruise control unit next to the coolant tank, but not right up against it. I used some extra large washers on the CC bracket since it rides on rubber bushings and those need a little pressure to keep it fairly ridgid.
I made the final sheild from the last bucket. I followed the advice of the previous post and used a dremel cuttoff wheel to cut the plastic can. Worked very well. I tried shears and they did not do a neat job. Also used an Exacto knive to slowly cut the circle (4") for the filter adapter. I ran some trunk weather stripping ($5) from an old car along the top and around the front edge where it butts up against the fender wall. One last modification - my wife'd idea, was to leave a "flap" of plastic and open it 90 degrees to the direction of the sheild and fasten it to the plastic molding adjacent to the radiator cowling. This gave a little shielding from the area between the radiator and the bottom of the bucket, er, heat sheidl.
Finished product - total cost was $15 and my time. And the results? I re-logged my Ex (with my wife riding shotgun) and watched the Ex's external thermometer compared tothe intake temp. At idle, the intake temp was warmer by about 10 degrees or so. However, after about 1 minute or less of driving, the intake temp dropped to the exact ambient air temp. Pretty cool!
The intake location on the Exp, aside from the fender hole, gets its air from behind and below the drivers' side headlight area. That part of the shield is left open.
I don't know if it gives more power, but I feel better
And I think it looks nice too. Even my wife likes it!
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2006
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From: Reisterstown, MD
waterman- when I first opened the post and saw that box you had me worried but as I scrolled down I see the final product. I will say that you did a nice job on the heat sheild and nice write up. 
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From: NJ
Yep. When I previewed the post and read the text and then looked at the box I thought.... someone's gonna be confused!A little comic relief is good for the soul, especially on a Friday.
Niiccee..
-phil
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Joined: Jan 2007
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From: Alex Bay, NY
To a point I think the computer will adjust timing and a/f ratios but only within a certain threshold, it is not totally full control, thats why some people need a tune to compensate for the larger volume of air being inducted.
