brewerbry

Just for quick confirmation and clarity; GTS is the same as S - engine is no different, only the engine ECU mapping is different. The second heatshield goes above (higher up on the engine) from the ones you installed. The uppers slip behind the lowers a little and they have the front bolt hole that is further forward on the engine (plus higher up) and I do not remember where the rear bolt hole is....

I just did this last weekend because I had to replace coils - remove and re-install, you did most of the job already by getting car ready to install the lowers and installing them.

swberry

Ok thanks for the follow up. I just couldn’t find a way to install the uppers for the life of me. I’ll take it to my indy shop and get them to finish the job.

okie981

Take a look see here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/9342...l#post15239743

and

https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/9342...l#post15317006

swberry

Oh yes that diagram in the first thread is quite helpful. I will give this another look in a few days. Thanks!

txbdan

How'd it go? I have some heat shields on order that i'll be installing this weekend. Is it obvious which shield is upper/lower and drivers/passenger side?

swberry

Yes it is obvious. I have the uppers installed. Couldn’t find where to install the lowers. I’m going to wait and see how it goes at the track next time. If I experience issues I will give the lowers another try.

swberry

If you can get pictures of the lower bolt holes it would be appreciated!!

okie981

This is looking forward from the axle on the passenger side of the US market 981. You can see the header cat painted flat black, the picture needs to be rotated 90 degrees clockwise for correct orientation. See the two threaded boss locations just below what is the bulge in the cam cover for the aft-most exhaust cam lobes? Hold the lower piece so the bolt holes line up with one of these two threaded bosses, and the other similar one at the forward end of the cam cover. They will line up to allow bolts to be installed and will neatly nest in with the upper cover so the two bolts for the upper cover are completely visible and accessible such that you can remove the upper cover for coil and plug maintenance when the lower cover is installed.

swberry

Yes. Very good explanation and picture. Thank you for taking the time on this.

okie981

That picture was one of a batch I took when I did my header install. BTW, that pretty flat black "header paint" by Rustoleum is painted over Swain ceramic coating. I mention this because if you track your car, never waste the time or money on painting the headers with anything. After two track days the paint turns to dust that can be wiped off with a gloved hand, from all areas of the headers where heat is concentrated. I followed the Rustoleum directions exactly, baking the parts in a 475 degree oven between coats, etc. For street driving, no problem, the paint will last pretty well I believe. No bueno for track use.

I installed the heat shields about 8 track days after the headers were installed, along with a new coil pack set, after I experienced some intermittent pack failures during track days. I had zero after that so far anyway, about 25 additional track days.

txbdan

Has anyone gotten the lower shields on with stock headers/cats? I got the uppers on today, but also couldn't get the lowers on. I got them in position, front screw in, but couldn't get the rearward screw in. Gar. There's just not enough clearance between the shield and the cat to get the screw in.

Also note that the shields say "1-3" for cylinders 1-3, passenger side, and "4-6" for cylinders 4-6, drivers side. I forgot the words, but they also each say "above" and "below" in german on them to denote which are uppers and which are lowers. I googled the words to figure out what they meant.

okie981

I've not done a lower heat shield install with the OEM headers installed. You could use a much shorter bolt, you only need about 5 to 6 mm of thread engagement, if that. The torque on the bolt is quite low, and you could use a drop of Loctite and a lower tightening torque with no concerns. You could cut the bolt off with a hacksaw, carefully file off any odd threads, do a trial install on a hole using fingers only to make sure the threads on the bolt will easily screw in, then move it to the final installation hole with some Loctite. You could also file or grind the bolt head down to about 1/2 of its original height. You don't need much torque to get them tight enough, even without Loctite.

txbdan

Yeh, i think some normal hex head screws of the right length would work. The stock/included ones are e-torx and the heads are about twice the length of a hex screw head. You'd have to turn it with a wrench anyway for access so it'd work perfectly.

jakermc

The rear-most screw on the driver's side was difficult on my install, right up against the header. The solution was to use hex-head screws and cut down a hex key on the short side to allow the tool to clear the header. Then just lots of small degree turns to screw it in.

Zach L

I have a set for sale brand new, still in box from BGB including all needed hardware: https://rennlist.com/forums/market/1285082