Heat Shields

I have read a lot of posts that mention heat shields near gas lines, floor boards, etc and have a general question. Are there places where heat shields absolutely should be used or do you guys out in heat shields in response to a problem like fuel delivery issues/vapor locks?

 

V6 fuel pump, some brake master cylinders had a skid plate. Fan shrouds.
Part of the issue is that gasoline is not the same as it used to be... ethanol even at 10% has a lot of issues. factor in different driving habits and road conditions over the years.

Then add lesser quality replacement parts and variations from original design like tucking the exhaust up close out of harms way.

all those factors cause some people to have issues develop and a heat shield is a very simple remedy that does not snowball into a bunch of other projects.

 

When I redid my exhaust I put in a few heat shields around my fuel lines, not because I was having issues but for peace of mind.

 

The phenolic spacers work well. Those sandwich types under that carb in the photo, not so much. You have to be REAL careful tightening the nuts or there is enough give to those you can break an ear off the carb base. Best solution here is an air gaped manifold or a valley cover like AMC used. I've made all sorts of heat shields for the 3B to keep the header heat off various components and also wrapped the headers for about a third of their length. Didn't figure there was much use trying to use that wrap where the headers were exposed behind the tires though. I did run a couple of wraps of that stuff around the base of the steering column where it comes though the floor.

 

My TBI fuel lines run on the same side as my exhaust. Even when I used heat shield tubing, I still get bubbling in the tank when I shut off the motor.
This really doesn't affect the way it runs. Just how it is. I also have heat wrap on my clutch slave cylinder. I noticed when hot. Sometimes it won't shift well.

 

I ran my V6 exhaust around the front of the engine, so I extended my fuel pump heat shield. I was not having an issue, but it seemed like a good idea.



The driver's floor was hot near the gas pedal. I installed a heat shield to the firewall that helped a lot.

 

I had fuel in my pump starting to boil cause the poor routing and metal fuel filter ran too close to the exhaust. Rerouting and replacing the lines with ALL metal lines as well as adding a glass bowl fuel filter (away from heat) helped a ton.