Silencer heat-shield.

[iain.hamlton]

I am in the process of changing the silencer on my +2. After a struggle I managed to get the old one off yesterday evening. Not as easy as it sounds. I notice the old silencer - long-wise type - has a heat shield welded to the top. The parts book and manual shows a plain silencer with a heat-shield fitted under the body, with usual lotus note - "current production" cars have a heat shield .... fitting a heatshied to older ones is recommended.

My questions:
Does your plus 2 have a heat-shield?
Is it worth the trouble?
What happens if you don't have one? - my car doesnt appear to have had one originally.

opinions and discussions welcome.

thanks and best regards, Iain

[simon.mitchell]

Mine had a heat shield on the body, but I didn't replace it when I rebuilt the car and the rear silencer doesn't have one. I've been running it for a year now with no problems.

[rgh0]

Both my Elan and plus 2 have shown some discolourisation of the paint and fibreglass around the rear muffler over time. I now stick heat shield aluminium faced fibregass cloth heat shield to the body cavity where the muffler fits for the Elan and will do the same on the plus 2 the next time the exhaust is off and I have good clearance to fit the heatshield properly.

I stick the heat shield in place using high temp silicone works better than most other adhesives in the hot environment or the stuff that comes with a pressure sensitive adhesive

Rohan

[ianf]

Rohan,

I have noticed that there is an increase in the amount of "gum" on the rear paintwork and bumper with the use of super unleaded and Millers VSP. I just cut it off with polish. Is the discoloration local heat or exhaust emissions?

Ian

[rgh0]

Ian

The heat affected areas were between the muffler and the body back under the car and was the paint turning black / brown and cracking from the heat. The crud around the rear bumper from exhaust fumes I can polish off like you say.

regards
Rohan