Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Dear All

It's a bit cold and wet in Manchester at the moment so decided to have another look at my "To-Do List"

Into the shed and dug out a bit of scrap stainless and after making a cardboard template got the snips and hammer out and "crafted" this

Before 1


Before 2


Heatshield 1


Heatshiels 2


After 1


After 2


It misses the Kunifer to the slave cylinder nicely but is a tad close to the exhaust pipe....
I'll let you know if it rattles or falls off....

John

I like your style John, reminds me of a few years ago when I had my slave cylinder fail because of the heat.
Asked around if anyone had a piece of Zircotec insulation.
Got hold of some, wrapped the cylinder + a section of the pipe near the exhaust.

No more problems so far.

Doug.

Nice work, John.

I also made a shield from Zircotec sheet to protect both the slave cylinder and the clutch fork rubber boot following a mate's clutch failure driving up the Stelvio a couple of years ago. When the fluid boiled and his clutch failed he pulled into a convenient pull-off to enjoy the view on a glorious (but hot!) summers day. As neither convenient pull-offs or glorious views are always available the shield is worth considering!

Looks good John. My TTR system has caused the bleed valve cap to melt and some deformation of the clutch lever boot! That sort of heat can't be good for the slave cylinder seals.
Dougal.

I also have made a heat shield for the clutch slave. Mine is aluminium with heat insulation stuck on it, and is fastened with the two bottom bell housing bolts, the ones that hold the closing plate on.

Mike

Nicely done John. I also have this on my winter to do list. Would you be willing to share your pattern?

Will do,watch this space...

John

Due to popular demand ( well one person ) , just surprised myself how easy to fit and remove,just one 1/2" screw and it slides out/in nicely...definitely not a Lotus part



Just trim a piece of Ali/Stainless whatever you have to the above,drill the 1/4" clearance hole,place it in the jaws of your vice and whack it with a hammer till you have approx 90 degrees along the top dotted line and the shape should self form...

John

John, in no way wishing to disparage your efforts, I have good reason to be thankful for them, I wonder how much insulation there is in a piece of stainless. It may just heat up and radiate a similar temperature. Maybe leave a piece in front of the fire for a while and check the temperature on both sides?
Jim

Jim

You could be right there,I was thinking of it more as a shield/deflector than insulator...

Anyone ideas?

John

jimj wrote:ohn, in no way wishing to disparage your efforts, I have good reason to be thankful for them, I wonder how much insulation there is in a piece of stainless. It may just heat up and radiate a similar temperature.

What it does do is provide a convenient holder for actual insulation. Simply cram a few wads of Owens Corning Pink between the plate and the cylinder and I think you do have a good solution.

has anyone ever used exhaust heat wrap?

John,
It will work to reduce the temperature of the cylinder,because the radiant heat from the exhaust pipe will heat up the shield. Some of this heat will be lost to the surrounding air by conduction therefore the surface temperature of the shield will be less than that of the exhaust pipe.
This will reduce the radiant heat to the cylinder.
Any extra surface area would help.
Eric in Burnley
S3DHC

My aluminium clutch slave shield has Agriemach foil backed self adhesive insulation applied to it. Brilliant stuff. I used it extensively on my 3.9 litre MGB V8 - there's an engine that makes serious amounts of heat.

Mike

I've put a length of "fire sleeve" over the slave cylinder end of my hose.

Car's not on the road so haven't experienced any problem (or know this works) but had the fire hose as was using it on fuel lines and was rebuilding the clutch hydraulics, so it made sense to fit some on the hose.