On this week’s episode we welcome special guests, Jim and Mike Ring to Hot Laps. We talk about our favorite cars they have made, their favorite cars they have made. They talk about their start, the challenges of building, and what pushes them to keep making race ready customs. We recall first meeting them back in 2007 at a SEMA show.What are some of their favorite cars they have built, and the ones we really like.
We also jump in and tackle some more of your tech questions, so thank you for sending them in.
Show Notes Below
Announcer:
Welcome to hot lap brought to you by Heatshield Products. Race testing.
Chris:
Hey, welcome back to Hot Laps by Heatshield Products. So this is lap number eight. I'm Chris, I'm the sales manager at Heatshield Products.
Steve:
I'm Steve the VP.
Shane:
I'm Shane, I'm in charge of product development.
Chris:
And today we're joined by two very special guests. The creators of such masterpieces as Afterburner, Bailout, Happy Camper, Valkyrie, and more. In my mind and probably in the minds of my brothers sitting at this table, probably two of the best custom car builders on the planet. Jim and Mike Ring from the Ringbrothers.
Steve:
I would agree with that. Yeah, for sure. The thing I love about their cars is their, and no disrespect to any of these guys, cause there's all these builders, the skill involved is way beyond.
Shane:
There's lots of talent out there.
Steve:
There's tons of talent. Metalworking and me, it's just like, I wish I could do it, but I have no shot. But their cars always look like you could... They look beautiful. There's nothing wrong with them. It's just, man you look like you could get into that car, like you could walk up to it, turn the key and just go flog the wee out of the thing. You know what I mean? That's how they build it. And I remember the first time, I was about, I don't want to say it's like 2007 or 2008, I don't know when the Reactor Mustang was at SEMA.
Steve:
The first Ring I met was Mike, and I just remember walking over to him and he was standing by the car and it was like super cool because that was the first 67... I guess first Fastback or first Mustang really where I saw somebody make those sides scoops functional and cool. Carroll Shelby obviously he had the vents in the old days go into the breaks and that kind of thing. But they made him look cool. It wasn't just like a whole... I mean it was just super trick and right then and there I'm like, "Oh wow." I wish I could pay these guys to build a car for me, but you know, not today. Maybe someday.
Chris:
Right.
Announcer:
Hot Laps. Special guest, is on now.
Chris:
Well guys, we really appreciate you taking the time to be on our podcast. How are you guys doing?
Mike:
We're doing well. Actually, our winter's been pretty kind to us here. It's supposed to be 60 degrees this weekend, which is unheard of in Wisconsin and in early March.
Steve:
Yeah. You guys might have the same temperature we do. It's supposed to be cold here this weekend, 60 degrees.
Jim:
Yeah we can still make snowballs here.
Steve:
And ride snowmobiles, which I want to do.
Chris:
So, historically we kick this thing off with kind of a first question. I'm sure you maybe get tired of talking about all the cars you build, but we wanted to, definitely. And I'm going to go around the horn and I'll let you guys answer last. But Steve, what was your favorite Ring brother car?
Steve:
It's a toss up for me. Reactor; cause that's where I met Mike at SEMA. And that was... When did you guys bring that, was it 2007 or 2008 that you brought that?
Mike:
It was in 2007. You got a good memory.
Steve:
Yeah. And I just remember like Mike was the coolest dude. I mean I'm like a geeky kid, all like, wow this car is so cool. I love that thing. But I think my favorite one is the one you guys did for that owner of SNS cycles, the Afterburner. For a couple of reasons. Fairlane, my dad, that's what he had in his car club.
Steve:
That's what he used to go to promote in. And of course this was a 67. The other cool thing is that car wasn't a Fastback and somehow you made that car look insane.
Chris:
I love that car.
Steve:
That car is awesome. And then my favorite seats would be those Chevelles, which I'm hoping they make those someday. Those seats out of the Chevelle. And that steering wheel, I think that was the other, and that one in the Camaro was also just...dude nobody makes a cool steering wheel. But I'd love to see these guys make them and sell them.
Chris:
There you go. Shane. How about you?
Shane:
I really liked the 71 Pantera Adrenaline. That thing was awesome. I think that was the year you guys were right across from us at SEMA.
Steve:
Yeah.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
In the year when he had all his brothers and sisters there, was that in the Royal purple booth?
Shane:
Yes.
Jim:
Yeah, it was.
Chris:
Steve's got a memory like a steel trap.
Steve:
Well, I remember those cool things like that. I'll remember.
Chris:
For me, it's Espionage. I mean the green paint, orange and white accents, that hood, the stance, and not to mention 959 horse. I mean everything about the Mustang was just right. Although, it's pretty hard not to pick a Winnebago with a supercharger in it. So I mean-
Steve:
And a bar.
Chris:
And a bar. Yeah, it was pretty cool. But do you guys have a favorite car that you've done? I mean, maybe I'm putting you on the spot.
Steve:
Maybe not a big bill that everybody knows about.
Chris:
Yeah, that's true. Absolutely.
Jim:
This is Jim. One of my favorite cars and that I'd really enjoy driving, it wasn't the most horsepower car. But I really liked that car called the producer 65 Mustang wide by Khan that we did years ago, but just a fun car. It was one I'd like to have in my garage.
Steve:
Yeah.
Mike:
And for me, this is Mike. I really liked the last car we did, the 69 Camaro that we did for the Belgium guy. I just thought that car was pretty cool and Jim said... because I really don't drive him much. Jim said it was the best driving car we've ever done, so that's pretty cool.
Steve:
That's pretty awesome. That's good.
Mike:
It was fast.
Steve:
It was fast and it stuck to the ground, right?
Mike:
Yeah. All the weight was down low on that car because the whole car was carbon and it just-
Steve:
Oh yeah.
Mike:
For some reason, it felt great.
Chris:
Yeah. I saw that car in person at SEMA and wow.
Steve:
It battled the builder's winner too, by the way.
Chris:
Oh my gosh.
Steve:
Yeah, that car is beautiful.
Chris:
Unbelievable.
Steve:
I missed SEMA this year, so I missed the car. But I've seen the pictures of it, it was pretty admirable.
Jim:
Pictures don't do it justice. I mean the color was like 'ah', but it had a... I mean it was one of those cars you could spend a lot of time looking at it because there was so much in it, but yet it really looked 69.
Steve:
Yeah, I think that's true probably of all your cars. I've seen like one or two of them a couple of times, and then anytime I've seen it, it seems like you notice something new. So like, if we had one in the booth all week, I bet you we couldn't see every new little detail. If I saw it like a month after SEMA, if it was in the booth all week, you'd probably see a couple of things that you missed.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steve:
That's how much detail they put into their cars. It's insane. They're all beautiful.
Jim:
Well thanks. We really try not to ruin... I mean, we've definitely done our damage over the years, but try to keep them recognizable for what they were and what people liked about them. I think just personally, I think a lot of people really can ruin a car by the grill and the dash by just thinking they have to change it. And a lot of times you don't have to mess with the cool parts, it's the little things. But people like to do things just to change things. Like if they're going to build a spoiler, they're going to make sure you know they built the spoiler and they want you to know that they built a hood or upfront chin spoiler. It's fun to do a lot and not really notice anything.
Steve:
Yeah. I think you're right because there's a reason why we like those cars. Right? It's those lines. Like those wide body cars, you can't tell those are wide body. Like those Mustangs. You can't even tell unless... and I wouldn't have been able to tell until Jim told me what the secret was, what to look for. And I'm not going to tell anybody. Those cars are classics for a reason. And when you go in there, you start hacking them up or putting weird things on there. It takes away from that.
Chris:
No, you're right. I never thought of it that way, but that is so true. We like them because of what they are and what they were, and changing that is-
Steve:
You go in there and butcher it.
Jim:
Yeah. It's a little different-
Mike:
Trust me, we've destroyed a lot of cars.
Jim:
Yeah, we definitely-
Steve:
But you put them back together.
Jim:
Excuse me. It was just easier to do an old, old car because there was so much ugly in them. But you know when you taking muscle cars, there's a lot of cool, right? They're cool stock.
Steve:
Right.
Jim:
To say that for me on a 30 second car, I'm not really a fan. But I think that it's easier to take something ugly and make it something cool. Because you can [crosstalk 00:09:41].
Mike:
You know that AMC Javelin we did for Presto a few years back?.
Steve:
Yeah.
Mike:
I personally thought that was a really cool car.
Steve:
Dude, me too.
Mike:
And a lot of people didn't really like that car Right. Probably because it wasn't true to its Javelin roots. But that car, I don't know, I think we took a lot of ugly out of that car.
Steve:
I totally agree. And I'll be honest with you I'm not a Javelin junkie, so I don't know all the idiosyncrasies, but I could tell it was a Javelin. In fact, I had to do a double take. Like, well that's a cool looking Javelin. Because it's not exactly the most desirable looking car. But somehow you guys turned it into one that was.
Mike:
Yeah. The big thing we did on that was move them front tires ahead six and a half inches, because it was so much overing and those cars. That moving the arch forward six and a half, not lengthening the car any, but just pushing the wheels forward that six and a half and keeping the players above the wheels. I had the same proportion, it really helped that car. We could go on and on on just that car alone. And that's a good example of, not many people know that car, and we did so much to that car we've actually forgot.
Steve:
Yeah.
Mike:
Because we don't really do a very good job of documentation. We just kind of do it and then go, "Oh we should've been taken pictures."
Chris:
Like my wedding.
Mike:
I want to say we shouldn't have done that.
Steve:
Yeah, that's right. Well you don't want to document it because then you don't have to get criticized for what you did.
Jim:
Right.
Steve:
Yeah. And then go ahead Chris.
Chris:
Yeah. So can we clear the air? Is it Jim and Mike or Mike and Jim?
Mike:
Oh, it's definitely Mike and Jim, just because I'm older.
Chris:
Got it. And on the website you guys... I was looking at stuff and you talk about how your dad owned a gas station and that kind of sparked the love of cars for you. When did you guys really figure out you could make a living at this and do something special?
Jim:
I'm still trying to figure out how to make a living at it.
Chris:
Well that's a good answer.
Mike:
No. It's not a business where... I know there are people that have turned it into a really huge business. And don't get me wrong, it's possible. You just start getting up in age, you get a little bit... We're pretty conservative as far as going in debt to do what we do. And we kind of paid the bills as a [inaudible 00:12:25]. It's amazing for us, to even create what we have here. So with that it's really cool. But you know, some we really planned on doing or it's just... We did whatever it took to get here, whether it was painting. We still do local collision, heck we paint some weird stuff around here.
Mike:
It just so happened that cars was things that Jim kind of wanted to do on the side. And that turned into a business, never imagining, because when it started out, it was us doing a car and then obviously we had to sell it because we couldn't afford what we put in it and tried to recoup. And it was just strictly something we loved to do. And by you saying that Reactor's pretty cool because that's really our first car. That's our first car, and it kind of put us on the map.
Shane:
You're stepping stone.
Steve:
Yeah. The other thing I like too, is when you guys talk about how... It's not that there's a lot of parts, not that there's not a lot of parts, there's just nothing like really cool available for these cars. And when you guys go in and you... The cool thing too, is when you're building a car and you're making these custom parts, you see that there's a need for some of these and then you'll start selling them. Some of them are one off, for the cars, maybe like a steering wheel or a seat out of a Chevelle. Just as another hint drop there. In fact, I have some really cool Ringbrothers parts for the Mustang that we're working on now, so I'm pretty stoked about that.
Shane:
Yeah.
Mike:
Yeah. I'm pretty stoked to see that car finally get done.
Steve:
You and me too.
Mike:
You got a lot of guys out there who buy parts, but never finish anything. I don't know if you're one of them or not.
Steve:
Well, it's been a dust-tang for about two years. It was collecting dust, but it's finally going under the knife and somebody's putting the cortex suspension in it and that kind of thing. So, man I hope the next time you guys come out to HR, even if it's not painted, I want to be a Jim Ring and just put like a milk crate in there and not even a seat. And I'll just go drive the thing over and see you guys.
Chris:
There you go.
Mike:
Yeah, be careful. I've done that. Ran into my mom's out water heater.
Shane:
That's awesome.
Chris:
So, another question. Have you guys ever started a car and then got maybe halfway through and decided to scrap the idea? And if so, is there a pile of half-finished Ringbrothers cars behind the shop we can get our hands on? But seriously-
Mike:
[inaudible 00:15:00] the dumpster that gets changed out here-
Jim:
We don't want to be reminded.
Mike:
It's always full.
Steve:
Yeah.
Chris:
Yeah. Seriously though, I mean not everything works out. So, is there something in your mind you can remember that just from the start was just brutal and didn't work out?
Jim:
Really, it was parts. It was never incomplete, because we've always finished everything we've done and started. I think the biggest thing over the years was probably dashes that we tore in and out of cars, a lot. And I'll tell you what, technology's changing so fast that it's going to be an exciting next 10 years, I think for not only us but for a lot of people. And I think it'll bring the young people back into it.
Mike:
I think where he's going with that, is the idea of three D print and a lot of this stuff and not [inaudible 00:15:58] the type of dashes and interior components and literally having a physical part that fits absolutely perfect between the A-pillar's, and everything really snaps together, bolts together and it looks [inaudible 00:16:13] and that's kind of the direction this is headed. And it's no more building all this stuff out of aluminum and shaping it, and mud net, and covering it, and you physically building as close to a perfect part as you can. And it all goes together and comes to part like it should.
Steve:
Yeah. That is cool. I never thought of it that way.
Chris:
You guys are on top of that, for sure.
Steve:
Yeah. That's the thing, they play off that they're these old guys, they don't know-
Chris:
Small town.
Steve:
Yeah. But these are guys who are sharp as a knife man. They're super sharp dudes and they're always thinking ahead.
Jim:
Yeah. I mean, we have to hire the smart ones. Jim and I are... I don't know, we're slipping.
Mike:
Well, we're looking for some help out here. So if you guys, anybody, wants to move back to cheese land and learn how to make snowman-
Steve:
Hey, let's do this. I'll meet you guys in the middle somewhere. Let's say, I put up a building in Knoxville and I can watch it and we'll watch you guys machine parts there while I manage the new Heatshield location over there.
Chris:
There you go.
Jim:
I don't blame you for running out of where you're from, I tell you that.
Steve:
Yeah. Well, if I run out of here, maybe one day I can save enough money to have you guys build a car for me. Of course, I just hope you don't get burned out by then. I want you to keep going.
Shane:
Right?
Steve:
That's got to take a lot out. Doesn't that take a lot out of you guys, to do these cars? Is it like an emotional drain or what's the big... I mean obviously the physical labor, you can't dispute that, but what's the big mental... is it mental, emotional? What is it?
Shane:
Is it dealing with the customer?
Jim:
It's a bit of both. It's being at the age you're at, you're definitely slowing down. It's worrying about your employees. It's worrying about your workload. It's worrying about your finances. It's just all of the above. I think if you want to make $1 million in this business, you should start with bikes.
Steve:
Right.
Mike:
Yeah. I honestly think the worrying is a good thing because I worry about who's going to build a lot cooler stuff than we're building and that kind of drives me to want to build some cooler than I even know somebody's building, because I still got a flip phone and no email.
Steve:
Yeah.
Chris:
That's amazing.
Steve:
And God bless you.
Mike:
I don't look at what other people do or watch any of those shows. And I don't think Jim does either, honestly. So, it's kind of fun to just do what comes out of you and not worry, but we know that the talent is out there and you're forgotten in a year. We unveiled that Camaro, which was seriously the biggest thing we've ever done as far as how much work, I mean that car of was five inches wider in the rear. We pulled the wheel that had an inch and a half, three inches wider in the front.
Steve:
Wow.
Mike:
I mean it was crazy. Every part was machine. The only-
Jim:
The only two parts that would sit on a Stock Camaro on that car we added [inaudible 00:19:27] is the door glass and the quarter glass.
Steve:
Wow.
Jim:
Not a windshield. There's not one other part that would sit on a Stock.
Steve:
Okay. So, I got a nerd question for you. [inaudible 00:19:40] a windshield glass. Now, how do you get that made? Because that's not cheap. Getting custom glass made.
Jim:
No. We actually had the glass guy out of Chicago do it and I think he went through like seven or eight-
Mike:
We went to seven or eight up in Minnesota at first.
Jim:
I mean realistically, probably 13,14 69 Camaro front windshields we destroyed trying to cut that groove in it.
Steve:
Wow.
Jim:
Because every time we'd get close, it would bust.
Mike:
So, we didn't make custom glass in it and that's why we were going to go and put a less than a three quarter inch chop in it. But we did not want to put plastic glass and just didn't have the budget to make side glass. So, what we did is, the rear glass... some of that oversized rear glass of the Camaro's because ours was laminated because most weird glasses are tempered. You can't cut them. But there are some oversize rear glasses that are-
Jim:
Available.
Mike:
Laminate. So we could cut it.
Steve:
Wow dude.
Mike:
And it's cutting and then grinding and shaping it.
Steve:
That's just one part of the bill.
Mike:
That's just one aspect of the whole car. I mean that big part was machine. The roof alone, my first quote on just machining the roof, just the plug, not the part, nothing else. It was $84,000
Shane:
Oh my gosh.
Steve:
Wow.
Mike:
I got it down to $24,000
Steve:
Good for you. [crosstalk 00:21:22]
Jim:
And that's not the front. That's just the foam buck to make the part.
Mike:
One full part. It's only good for one part.
Steve:
Hey Mike, when I moved to Tennessee, can I come have you come down and negotiate the house price or land price for me?
Mike:
Yeah.
Chris:
Exactly.
Mike:
Well, when we threw a number out at the owner and we kind of did some of this on that Javelin, but not to the extent of this Camaro. It was like, well, we threw numbers together and where I thought it would be and it was... That roof was the first part and it blew the budget right there.
Steve:
Wow man, that's crazy.
Mike:
We had to find a way. You just don't settle, because we knew that that was "ah", but we had no idea that it was that big a difference.
Steve:
Wow.
Mike:
Just the 40 pound foam. Raw foam for both front tenders was eight grand.
Steve:
Wow.
Mike:
Just-
Jim:
For the black of foam.
Mike:
Just for the foam. Not any machine. So, you know that the cost of this stuff.
Steve:
Yeah. And it's funny because that's... like you said, it's all one off. So you're not-
Mike:
Every piece of trim, and the grill, to every bar in the grill, to the buckets in the grill, to everything, is one off.
Steve:
Yeah.
Chris:
Gosh, I can't even fathom this honestly.
Steve:
And I think from all car guys, we want to thank you guys for doing the original hood hinges and billet and that kind of thing. I know you've had a lot of people knock you off, but thank you for starting that off, because that old spring set up on those old cars was garbage. So thank you gentlemen for doing that for the all of us car people out there.
Mike:
Yeah. It's kind of fun to create. I mean more than just what you're doing, but to see other people using your stuff or wearing are your clothing? It's pretty cool.
Steve:
Yeah, I bet.
Chris:
Well, before we let you go, I really have one question and I think not just the people at this table, but everybody's kind of wanting to know. Jim, you obviously don't mind taking the car that you build through their paces. I mean, do you just do that to freak your brother out or are you just a big fan of donuts?
Jim:
All of the above. You know, I like to piss him off, but I like to make sure that paint is chippable.
Chris:
There you go.
Mike:
If we ever get truly busted, I mean literally he does 140 no, 130 to 145 in town, in a 25. If a cop is ever going to be pissed, Jim is going to jail for a while and we're going to lose the half million dollar car that we built for a customer.
Steve:
Oh man. God bless you guys.
Jim:
We've been painting our sheriff department swatt team vehicles for free. Just as a get out of jail card.
Shane:
Getting in their good graces.
Steve:
You're building up karma. That's smart. See, I told you. Smart guys.
Jim:
I'll tell you a story. I've told this before, but it's a true story. We did a blue Mustang convertible for a guy out of Texas. It was a wide body car. It had that flown Shelby motor in it. And I was sitting on the floor of the car and the tuner guy, name's Gary, was sitting next to me on the floor and I was probably doing 135 and a 25. I got down on the end and there's County sheriff there and I looked at Gary and I said, "I'm going to jail." And the sheriff pulls around the corner and he looks down inside the car and he looks at me. He goes, "no seatbelts." And I looked up at him and I said, "no seats." He said, "I'm going back to Baraboo now" and he drove away and I'm like, Holy shit.
Shane:
He gave you a solid.
Steve:
Yeah. You guys built up your karma there. So, good for you guys. Okay,
Shane:
That's great.
Jim:
Yeah. What goes around comes around, that's for sure.
Steve:
That's right.
Chris:
That's right. Well you know what, we'll let you guys get back to doing what you do best.
Steve:
Thank you.
Chris:
Again, from everybody at Heatshield. We just want to say thanks. It was really cool for you coming on. And keep doing what you're doing. Because in my book that's the best stuff I've ever seen.
Steve:
Like we were saying-
Shane:
I agree
Steve:
...in the intro dude, every single one of your cars... and there's nothing wrong with people that want to have like a museum piece or anything like that.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steve:
Every single one of your cars looks like you could jump in and flog the wee [unsure of spelling] out of the thing. And I love that. Sure it's made to look pretty and they are, they're gorgeous cars, but they're also meant to be driven and that's why I like your build so much.
Mike:
Yeah. That's the key thing. They're meant to be driven.
Steve:
Yep. Thank you guys so much. We appreciate your time. We know you're busy.
Mike:
You're welcome. Thanks for having us.
Steve:
You guys have an awesome day and a good weekend.
Chris:
Yeah, that's for sure. All right. Thank you.
Mike:
Heatsheild Products?
Jim:
Yeah, they're awesome. Appreciate it.
Steve:
Thank you guys.
Shane:
Thank you.
Announcer:
It's time to answer those burning questions. Its tech time here on Hot Laps.
Chris:
We've got a couple of questions for you and Shane today. One's coming from a guy with an 81 Corvette. He's got a rear Y exhaust pipe. He said it came with three, basically sheet metal Heat shields to protect the floor of his car and he wanted to know if he's going to go with the armor and if he wraps half of that, does he need to put the heat shields back on that came with the car? Is that necessary?
Steve:
I don't think I would either.
Shane:
I just delete those.
Steve:
Yeah. Best thing to do would be just delete those and put sticky... If he feels like he needs to put another shield on there.
Chris:
Okay.
Steve:
Put a sticky shield up underneath the floor pan because it's a vette, so they're plastic fantastic. That metal shield is just going to end up conducting heat up. It depends. I don't know how it's bolted on. You always want to know. Is it bolted onto the exhaust? Then you definitely want to get rid of it.
Chris:
Sure.
Steve:
If it's bolted to the floor pan, in his case, I would just ditch it. Trying to get as much of an air gap between the heat source in the cold side panel. It's always a good idea. So, a lot of times those factory quote on quote heat shields are just plates of metal that bolt down and just conduct heat.
Steve:
So, I would ditch it. And then if he wanted to add a shield, I'd add the sticky shield directly on the floor pan.
Shane:
Yeah, on the underside. Exactly.
Chris:
So, attacking it from two different spots.
Steve:
Two different spots, yeah. From the factory obviously they recognized there was a problem with those cars. Right? Cause they put a heat shield on there.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
A lot of times it's what happens in OEM situation, a bean counter gets involved and they just kind of say, Hey you got to use this material so the engineers know they got to do something. But a lot of times it's not always the best solution. It's just done that way because they're trying to do something. And another thing too, 81, the technology has progressed, light years since then.
Chris:
Sure. Is there any benefit to double wrapping something or putting two layers of hot rod sleeve onto something?
Steve:
I would say 99.9% of the time, no.
Chris:
Okay.
Steve:
Yeah. If it's something where it's directly touching an exhaust, sure, maybe doubling up there. But man, if it's not directly touching anything, just make sure you've got those ends sealed. That's the most important thing.
Shane:
Yeah.
Chris:
Yeah. It doesn't come with the heat shrinks for nothing right?
Steve:
Right.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
That's right.
Chris:
Someone had a question about their fiberglass wrap. They said they wrap their pipe multiple times, but it keeps flaking. Is it too hot, or?
Steve:
Yeah. So, what happened, it depends on number one; what kind of wrap you're getting.
Chris:
He didn't mention that.
Steve:
So, you've got to be leery of-
Shane:
Things on eBay.
Steve:
Yes. Thank you, Shane. That's what I was going to try to say.
Shane:
They usually originate from China.
Steve:
Yeah, and you just can't trust any of this stuff. Number one, you can't trust it to do what it says it's going to do. Number two, there's a lot of health hazards with that stuff coming out of China.
Shane:
It might have Corona.
Steve:
Yeah. Not just Coronavirus, but it could just be some bad fibers that you could get into your lungs and breathe in. So, usually it's what happens. It doesn't matter if it's the lava, the basalt wraps or fiberglass wraps like that. When they start flaking and coming apart, essentially what's going on, is your exhaust is too hot for what that wrap is rated for.
Steve:
Chemically it starts to change. So insulation, the textile insulation, is great when it's soft and flexible. That's how it's designed to function. Once you exceed that, it crystallizes and starts to flake apart and then you get the mess that you get. So he needs to go with a higher temperature wrap. Either one of those muffler armor kits. Is it a muffler or a pipe?
Chris:
It was a pipe.
Steve:
Yeah. So, either the heat shield armor or the inferno wrap. I hate to tell people that, but that is the truth. That's what you got to do. The Inferno wrap is just double or triple what a fiberglass wrap is. The cool thing about that stuff is though, you could run it like a turbocharged car.
Steve:
You could run it on the pipe and unwrap it. That's how awesome that wrap is. It doesn't look the prettiest. It isn't the cheapest. But man, it's the best for real high powered race engines, and boost. If you're going to use a wrap, the inferno wrap, it's the only one around that'll take the heat. I don't care what any of those other guys are telling you. It's a bunch of garbage because those fibers just cannot take that kind of heat.
Chris:
Right.
Steve:
And then also the same thing. It's a silica. So the armor series, that's all silica based and it can take that high heat too.
Chris:
Shane, you agree with that?
Shane:
I do.
Chris:
You're shaking your head over there. So I figured-
Shane:
I'm agreeing with everything.
Chris:
All right, very good.
Shane:
Well said.
Steve:
Yeah.
Chris:
All right. Product showcase. This is one I think people know about but we don't really touch too much on. And that is our Heatshield armor pipe kits. I want to know, I know you sit in your office and I hear, "I got it" and "this is the next thing" and I know your mind works crazy but you came up with a pretty cool idea here on something that we've already proven works, but you've made it easier. So, can you just give us some kind of insights on temp rating, installation procedures, maybe sizes, etc. Can you paint it? That kind of stuff.
Steve:
Yeah. Size is... We're definitely going to add more and we need to add the half inch because that's something we haven't done yet. And that was on my to-do-list, make it a to-do-list of new products to do this week. And that's going to be on there for sure. Yes. So the original armor was a 'necessity is the mother of invention' so, when the co-cadets here in California passed that DPF emissions garbage, just remember a local trash company down at Miramar. They were using wrap on their trucks and it was flaking off and couldn't take the heat from the DPF cause it was just a much hotter exhaust. So Miramar Ford came to us and said, "Hey, what can you do" They got a heavy duty truck. Miramar ford at that time, was not... still aren't. They do heavy... They do big trucks.
Steve:
They don't mess with the... it's not like trucks like mine.
Shane:
Commercial.
Steve:
Yeah. Exactly. So, we kind of had to come up with this on the fly. The hardest thing, there's better insulation out there, but the hardest part about it is how do you protect it. Because needle blankets are used all over industria. We've been using them, making them for years for industrial applications. So, the trick is how do you protect it, and then how do you protect it in such a way that's easy for somebody to use. So we kind of had used the heat shield magic and bonded it essentially to aluminum. We chose aluminum because it's cheaper than stainless. It's still rugged, 1100 aluminum. It's highly corrosion resistant, very customizable, very easy to work with. It's a four mil thick.
Steve:
So, it's not like when you cut it, you slice your hands, you don't need a pair of tin snips. There's a reason why we use that particular grade of aluminum. So, the armor has been going great and it was a great product for us. It's really great in the industrial market for a lot of car guys. The trick is, how much of a gap do I leave on the pipe. And so, basically what we're trying to do is take out all the guesswork for a person.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steve:
You just wire it up, and way you go. And yes, he can paint it. Engine paint works great on there. And another nice thing about engine paint, there's a lot of different colors available. The thing that kind of amazed me the first time when Shane did that was he had pre-cut his piece.
Steve:
This is before the pipe kit. This is like the old days when you're making your thing, I think it was a header we did or whatever.
Shane:
I think so, yeah. It was from a BMW.
Steve:
That was for that Yost Autosports. That's who that was.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
So, another reason why it's good to work with race teams is you come up with cool things by working with race teams.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
The coolest thing about that, was after he painted it, he got it all flat, got it cut, pre-fit and everything. He painted it and I couldn't believe the paint didn't flake off when he was wrapping around the pipes. So I think it must be some kind of flex agent or something in the rattle can engine paint because it's got to be able to expand-
Shane:
Its got to be able to get heat cycle.
Steve:
Yeah. So it's got to be able to expand and contrast with the motor.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
So, yeah dude, it's just great. It's just so easy dude. You don't want to get itchy, you don't want to sit there, jack the thing up, wrap it around, do all that crap, soak it. Which we don't really advise soaking a wrap anyway, but you just slap it on and go.
Chris:
Yeah. In most cases you don't even have to take your pipe off.
Steve:
Oh yeah.
Shane:
Yeah.
Chris:
Right.
Steve:
We make kits for headers, we make kits for mufflers and then the pipe kit
Chris:
And the pipe kit, riveted on the side.
Steve:
Yeah.
Chris:
And then it comes with wire. So again, it's all inclusive.
Steve:
Yeah.
Chris:
And it can be cut. I watched the video Shane, of you-
Shane:
It's almost like lacing a shoe with some wire.
Steve:
Yeah. Just a little bit easier because there's not as many laces.
Shane:
Yeah, exactly.
Chris:
And it already comes with the gap there.
Steve:
So yeah, all the guesswork is taken out.
Shane:
Exactly. Just take your size and go.
Steve:
It just makes it easier on everybody.
Shane:
Yeah.
Chris:
Sweet. All right, well that's it. Thank you for listening. Please drop us a review. And Steve, can you tell the people how to get in touch with us?
Steve:
Sure. It's HeatshieldProducts.com shoot an email to [email protected]. Any tech questions or guests you want to see, we'll do our best to try to get them on. And then social media, just add Heatshield Products, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, all of it. I think we even have a Pinterest account, but I don't know if anybody even monitors it.
Chris:
A LinkedIn.
Steve:
Yeah, a LinkedIn too. Company page. Yep.
Chris:
Yeah. We also want to thank Jim and Mike Ring, or Mike and Jim Ring for being a special guest on Hot Laps. If you haven't checked out their work, you're missing out honestly, you can check them out on their website. It's Ringbrothers.com. Their Instagram is Ringbrothers as well.
Steve:
If you see one of their cars, or you hear one of the cars is going to be at a show in your area, you should go just to go check out their car.
Shane:
Yeah, it's super cool.
Chris:
I agree with that. So anyway, thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.
Announcer:
From everyone at Heatshield Products, we thank you for listening to Hot Laps. Leave that review, subscribe, tell a friend, and most of all stay cool. We'll see you next time. Right here on Hot Laps.
