We all discuss cars from days past. What our favorite was and favorite memories from those vehciles were. In this weeks tech segment and answer segment we talk about why the exhaust heat shield, Heatshield Armor needs a gap on the pipe. We also discuss keeping air intakes cool, even so called cold air intake systems aren't always flowing cool air.
Episode Notes and Transcript Below:
Announcer:
Welcome to Hot Laps, brought to you by Heatshield Products. Race tested.
Chris:
All right, podcast number three. What's up everybody?
Steve:
Hot laps podcast.
Chris:
Hot Laps.
Steve:
Please subscribe, like, leave a review. Whatever you're listening on, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Google podcasts, however you're getting it,
Shane:
Your analog device.
Steve:
Please leave... it helps us out. And also, if you want to ask questions, you can email [email protected] or [email protected]. Just give us some suggestions on topics you want to hear discussed.
Chris:
All right, so we'll get into the customer questions in a minute here, but just to start off, I got just a quick question for everybody, okay? This topic is remembering the cars we own. Like, this room is kind of interesting, cause we had, demolished, and wrecked a bunch of cars. Shane, real quick, describe the car you owned in the one that you miss the most, and what you liked about it, and why you got rid of it.
Shane:
I think I miss most, my Acura Integra that I had when I was, like, 22, because that thing lived his life at like 7000 RPM. It was awesome for 90,000 miles and when I sold it, it was still running like a clock.
Steve:
Not just living it 7000 RPM. That thing pulled some Gs, dude. I remember going to the Salmon House in Mission Beach. Was that what the name of that place was?
Chris:
Yes.
Steve:
And there was that one corner dude.
Shane:
The one that always floods.
Steve:
I believe that the limit was, I think it says 40 or something like that. We did 90 around. We were like, I just remember being sucked in.
Shane:
That's awesome.
Chris:
What'd you get rid of it for?
Shane:
I got a truck because I needed something with room in the back for my bike.
Steve:
You motorcycle right? Something cool, like a motorcycle?
Shane:
Yeah, my dirt bike.
Chris:
Well there you go.
Steve:
Driven a lot. All Fords, of course, because if you don't drive a Ford in my family, you're cut out of the will. First one was that Grand Marquis, that '85 or '86 grandma car, grandpa car. That was kind of cool. My favorite was the one after that, that I drove the most, or the longest period of time until it was stolen from me when I was up at USC. the '77 F-150.
Shane:
Big black.
Chris:
That was a great car. The Black Widow.
Steve:
Yeah, that truck was fun. It got a lot of abuse. Used to hop some really tall, tall curbs.
Shane:
It caused a lot of abuse.
Steve:
Yeah, yeah, it did. It did. Also had a '71 Mustang that was, it was one of the banana Mustangs. Kind of wish I still have that one, just because it's worth a lot of money now. You know, those things were a pig. I never thought they were going to be worth anything. But, I think if I had to go back and pick one to get back, it'd be that '77 F-150. That was just a fun truck. Good truck. Looked cool. Everybody liked it because it was custom color. I remember the day my dad picked it up. I think that was his first new car, and I remember going over to Red Ritchie's in Encinitas, California, on the day to go pick it up. I can still picture it in my head. It was just cool. It was good. Good truck, good family. I mean, we used to ride around in the back as kids, you know...
Chris:
Right.
Steve:
With a camper shell, which is, well, not what is allowed in this state, but it certainly wouldn't be allowed now. You know, new seatbelts, that kind of crap. It was just fun.
Chris:
I was pretty envious of that truck in high school. That thing was pretty badass.
Steve:
Yeah. The nice thing about that truck was, cause Chris and I went to high school. Parking was a premium.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steve:
But there was a dirt lot and we both opted to park in the dirt lot.
Chris:
Park, doughnuts, you name it. Yeah. I had a shoot ton of cars. My very first one, and probably the reason I was so envious of that black truck, I had a lifted Chevy LUV.
Steve:
Oh yeah, I remember that.
Shane:
Oh yeah.
Chris:
Yeah, it wasn't too bad. I think the one that I missed probably the most, and maybe it's not a good reason for that, but for the money that I missed out on, was I had a '73 Land Cruiser.
Steve:
Yeah, the FJ.
Chris:
Yeah. That was all stopped. That probably could have put one of my kids through college right now. I guess the one that I would probably want back was my '95 Bronco.
Steve:
Oh yeah, that was pretty cool. I liked that one.
Chris:
That was lifted, and that thing used to just crawl over everything.
Steve:
The Suburban was cool until it started smoking.
Chris:
Well, yeah. Thank you, Chevy, for the vowel stems.
Steve:
That's probably more of a, emissions. California changing the...
Chris:
Maybe, yeah.
Steve:
That's probably what drove a lot of those things, but that was a cool one. I liked that because it was just, it was ugly...
Chris:
Oh yeah. Brown. Texas brown.
Steve:
But that was the best, when they're ugly... Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a perfectly done car, like a Ferrari or something like that. Having something like that. But God, then you almost get afraid to go take it anywhere. Park it.
Shane:
Especially in California.
Steve:
Yeah, just anywhere, really. Because you're too afraid of the donkeys on the road looking at their phones now.
Shane:
Yeah.
Chris:
And truth be told about the Suburban. I was not allowed to drive it down the driveway at Steve's house when I've used to pick up his sister and go on a date.
Steve:
Yeah, you couldn't park.
Chris:
I had to park it up on the street.
Steve:
It had to be a Ford in the driveway.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steve:
Right. But you go to my Grandpa Hyde, the founder with my dad, and it was the same thing. I think my uncle Peter came over one time in a... Well, he was the rebel, you know. Different upbringing. He had a little more of an upscale lifestyle. We were a little more blue collar. He would have a few different, I'd say nationalities, because anything other than a Ford was a different nationality when grandpa was alive. Chris wasn't allowed to pull the Chevy down to the driveway.
Shane:
Or the Land Cruiser.
Steve:
Or the FJ or, or anything like that. Yeah, that's right.
Chris:
The Baja Bug.
Steve:
Yeah, that was a cool one too. I liked the Baja bug. I think that was kind of a neat car. That's another one that's worth a fortune now. I mean they're obviously worth more stock, but still, there it's just insane.
Chris:
I think I bought that car for 1100 bucks.
Steve:
You know, it's kind of neat. I think both, about that FJ, and like the bugs, the buses, those types of things is, it's always been American cars that have gone up in value, but those are the ones in the recent years that have really skyrocketed.
Chris:
Yeah, that's the truth.
Steve:
God, I wish I had gone around and bought every 912 air-cooled Porsche. They were giving those things away seven or eight years ago. Now they're worth a fortune.
Shane:
Oh yeah. Jeez.
Steve:
But whatever. Hey, live and learn. 914 Porsches. Remember those?
Chris:
Poor man Porsche.
Steve:
I think that when they were dropping the like the 350s and stuff or whatever, and man, those things had to fly. That was like the Monster Miata before there was a Monster Miata.
Chris:
All right. Last question, and then we'll get into some questions from the viewers and our customers. Shane. If you had to drive one car for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Shane:
That's a hard one. I'd say a Land Cruiser.
Chris:
A Land Cruiser what?
Shane:
A Land Cruiser what? Um...
Steve:
Like what generation?
Shane:
The newest generation.
Steve:
New one?
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
I'd take a Raptor, just because I would want off road, but the thing that would kill me is not being able to go fast, so I couldn't take anything slow like a Land Cruiser. I got to be able to go WFO.
Chris:
There's a slash.
Steve:
Hey, I can take a Land Cruiser in my Super Duty.
Chris:
Isn't there a Raptor Super Duty coming out?
Steve:
Yeah, I wouldn't want that. I just, I take the [crosstalk] Dude, if you're going to commit a crime today, like, this is the way I look at it. If you had to get away in a hurry, you know, not the "when the poop hits the fan" vehicle, but if you had to get away in a hurry, it's a Raptor. You can go on-road, off-road, cops aren't going to catch ya.
Shane:
And it's super quick.
Steve:
And they haul bananas. That's what you'd take. It may not pass a gas station, but if you could at least get away, maybe buy yourself time to fill up and then get away again.
Chris:
Right. I think for me, it would be the diesel Excursion.
Steve:
Oh yeah. That would be cool. I like that.
Chris:
That's kind of a Holy Grail thing.
Steve:
I would like to get a six liter. I know the one that's so taboo, but do all the Bulletproof diesel stuff. Dude, those things will go for two or 300,000 miles, easy.
Chris:
Yeah, four-wheel drive diesel Excursion I think is the...
Steve:
With the Titan fuel tank in it, so you can go from to Utah without filling up.
Chris:
Yep.
Steve:
That'd be the way to do it.
Chris:
All right. Thank you for all of that. Let's check out viewer questions. IM shields, that is...
Steve:
Are we doing tech time now or are we just discussing products?
Chris:
Yeah, I just, I wanted to just kind of...
Steve:
Do a product highlight?
Chris:
Do a product highlight and, actually a quiz. Or IM shields. Does anybody know how many we actually make, currently?
Shane:
Either of us?
Chris:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Steve:
Shane does most of the patterns, but he probably doesn't... Poor guy. He's been overwhelmed with it.
Shane:
I'm just going to throw a number out there and say twelve.
Chris:
Ooh, we're very close. Thirteen.
Shane:
God, I was close.
Steve:
I didn't get a guess? So you just shot me down.
Chris:
Oh, sorry. Sorry, Steve.
Steve:
Actually Shane, I was going to say twelve, too. That was [crosstalk 00:10:48]. Actually, that Subaru one is probably going to get discontinued so it will be twelve just cause we don't sell them. Which is crazy. I don't know why those guys, especially... Anything like the boxer or a V-motor. My gosh.
Chris:
So, the IM shield. We really push it as a cheap way to get rear wheel horsepower, but Steve, can you elaborate a little bit more on why you would want to do that, and maybe just some of the stuff that you've seen that we've researched and how it works?
Steve:
The biggest advocate for this, currently anyway, for the concept behind this, would be Gail Banks and his mad manifold air density. That's essentially what you're doing. Much like the guys in the old days, when they used to put ice on their intake manifold, and they're drag racing until they decided, you know, maybe spilling water all over the track isn't maybe such a good idea. Even that's another reason why there's fewer severe accidents now. There's less of that kind of shenanigans going on.
Steve:
But basically what it is, is essentially like, "Why do you put in an intercooler on a supercharger or a turbo? You're trying to increase the air density. Of course, the turbo in a supercharger, the compressor. It's kind of like a Santa Ana out here, where the air compresses and it gets hot. So that's a big reason why they do that. But a lot of these car aftermarket air intake companies, they tout it as a cold air intake, which I haven't seen any one of them offer an actual heat shield to lower the intake. Some of them actually just throw out more hot air.
Chris:
Yeah, cause they're taking it all from the engine bay.
Steve:
Yeah. Yeah. You definitely want to... Going off on a tangent here, if you want to get a cold air intake, look for one that's taking it from a pick up on the front of the car, maybe the stock OEM pickup location. Because OEMs know that, "Hey, this is critical to the fuel mileage performance." That kind of thing. Flowing. Yeah, flowing more hot air is not better than flowing less cold air from a factory or a stock pickup. But, the idea behind the intake manifold shield is, as you're traveling down the road, or a lot of times if you're racing, or even if you're just like driving in traffic, stop. Driving in traffic, stop. So your motor, your engine. Again, this works on a V-configured motor.
Steve:
So anything with a V or a boxer... Rotaries, I don't know what the new one's going to be like, but the rotary motors, too. The intake manifold sits right above the engine. Heat rises. That's why everybody wants to be on the bottom bunk when you had a bunch of chili near the cabin, you know, skiing or whatever. You want to be on the bottom bunk, cause the hot air rises. The guy in the top there is going to be choking in the middle of the night. So same principle applies. You're trying to prevent that heat from saturating the manifold. It's a hare-brained idea I had way, way back when, if I had half a brain back then, or had the means, I would've done a test on my old '66 Mustang. And the original one was just basically some of the aluminized glass cloth we made. But as technology improves and escalates... excuse me, I didn't do it church style, I need to silence my phone. Everybody do that if you haven't done that yet.
Steve:
Anyway, the idea is to keep the heat out of the intake manifold. What does that do? Well, that allows the air to be cooler, which gives you a more dense charge. More dense oxygen or air allows you to throw more fuel at it, which creates a more powerful, more efficient explosion in your engine bay. You know, there's all kinds of ways to do it, like trying to keep your fuel cool, your air cool, everything, and they all work together. These are like truly the little hidden ways to find horsepower to help your car, help you get an advantage on the competition, or even just cruising down the road. It can really make a difference.
Steve:
I'll tell you, the people up in altitude. Colorado, up in Denver and in large cities like that, or even small towns, it doesn't matter. Any time you're up in altitude, keeping your air, that charge, as cool as you can really helps them out, cause they're really starving for it, right? So it's a big deal. That's the science behind it. It's essentially an intercooler for your intake manifold. It'll work on a non-boosted application. Absolutely. In fact, initially, the first dyno was 13 at the wheels, and that was a guy, single turbo, coyote, Paul's automotive engineering in Illinois. And then we had some naturally aspirated stuff which was really gaped by anti-venom down in Florida. The one that we have documented was 17 at the wheels. The one I never got the dyno graph for was where they said... That was on a mostly stock C5. Stock bottom end, headers, cold air intake, and then he put the IM shield on there. The one I never got the dyno graph on was the Camaro where they said they picked up 20. But that's not one we really try to count. We just say up to 18. It was 17 and a half at the wheels.
Chris:
Right. To go back on my question to you guys, we actually do have 12, cause one of them is universal kit.
Steve:
Right.
Chris:
So the universal kit, I mean we them for Mustang GT, the Boss 302, the Cobra Jet, LS, Coyote. We've got all kinds of different things.
Steve:
LT4, LS7, LS3.
Chris:
But if we don't have the size, tell me about the universal kit.
Steve:
Shane's probably a little bit better at that, just as far as installing it would go, cause he's had more experience with it. But again, the idea is, we're limited by two things. Number one, we always try to go after the most popular. Like what sells the most.
Chris:
Right. Absolutely.
Steve:
And number two, for us, it's a little strange. Like, I would've thought we would've had at least one Mopar guy around us. I'd love to do some HEMI ones, but we just don't have access to the manifolds. And we're just not going to go out and buy a bunch of manifolds to do stuff for.
Shane:
Yeah, send us your manifolds, and we'll see if we can make one.
Steve:
Yeah, if you got down time.
Shane:
We'll give you a free one.
Steve:
Yeah. So basically, the idea behind the kit is that it's really easy. It looks intimidating. It's, same base materials of Sticky Shield. We just package it differently. It comes with more tape. People ask, "Well, why is it more expensive?" Well, there's more edging tape in a universal kit, which is what you need. Because some applications, you get away with a nice big flat panel. Some applications, you've got to cut things from the runners, because you've got so many different surfaces there. So, the idea behind the universal kit, you'd put it on anything. The big trick is, don't try to skip it over a bunch of...
Chris:
Like a bunch of irregular surfaces.
Steve:
Yeah. Surface irregularity. That's it. Yeah, exactly. You want to get as much contact as you can. So think of a gravel road and pavement. There's more contact points on pavement, like when your tire goes over it, versus a gravel road, where you got all those little dips, you know, little valleys and things like that. So think of the adhesive film. It's a flat surface, kind of like a street tire. I'm not talking an off road tire. That's obviously a little bit different. I'm talking a street tire. You get much more contact on a paved surface, versus like a gravel road. And that's what you're trying to avoid with that. You want to get as much flat surface contact. Another thing it doesn't like is a lot of like real hard, or multiple bends. So anytime you got a bend, make a cut, make a strip, make an angle, make a triangle, make a circle, make a trapezoid, and then use the edging kid around that. Again, that's why it includes so much more edging tape than a standard Sticky Shield kit. The edging tape helps.
Chris:
And Shane, you would say, definitely, mess with a few patterns with paper or cardboard or something.
Shane:
Yeah, where you're trying to lay it down.
Steve:
Yeah. Cardboard is probably the best, I think. Like, thin, light cord cardboard.
Shane:
like card stock.
Steve:
Yeah, that'd be good. Or a thin cardboard, because that's the closest thing performance-wise when it comes to bending and folding it.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
You know, you can see where it's going to crease up and that kind of thing.
Chris:
Cool. Well that was the IM Shield...
Steve:
Product spotlight?
Chris:
Yeah, product spotlight. You can check it out on our website. The other thing is, YouTube's got a bunch of videos that shows Shane installing, so if you have questions, you can always refer to that.
Announcer:
It's time to answer those burning questions. It's Tech Time, here on Hot Laps.
Chris:
All right, so let's have a few questions here. Tech time. Let's see. This one comes up a lot. What product would you recommend for keeping the temps away from my car under a catalytic converter?
Steve:
Yeah. That's, that's kind of a loaded question there. There's a lot of different ways to answer that. One of the big things that, I guess it's confusing to people is, do I use an insulator which goes on the exhaust, or do I use a heat shield barrier, which would shield heat away. So almost as critical as which material you use to shield heat away is going to be the air gap. The distance between the floor pan and the catalytic converter.
Shane:
That's a big variable.
Steve:
That's a huge variable. The standard ASTM testing is one inch away and rating for reflectivity. You know, we've got three products that'll do over 90%, but one that's just the absolute best. So if you're going to stick something up under your floor pan, use the sticky shield. That'll exceed 90% of radiant heat all day long according to that AFTM standard.
Steve:
Now, if you have less than an inch, it can change significantly. So if you're trying to use, say, the heat shield mat, or the Thermaflex Cloth, or even like the heavy duty Lava Shield under there. Those products in particular, Lava Shield's more like an 80%, whereas the Thermaflex Cloth is right there as far as reflectivity goes at that one inch thing with the sticky shield. Those could all get cut down to 30% because having a lack of air flow, having a shorter distance between the heat source can really change those numbers. If you had a half an inch of clearance, I would take the heat shield armor...
Chris:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steve:
And I would cover that top half of the cat, because at that point all you can do is just try to keep the heat. You do not wrap the whole cap cause you'll shorten the life of it. They're designed to get hot, but not be overcooked.
Chris:
Right.
Shane:
You're just redirecting it.
Steve:
Yeah, exactly. You're just trying to control which direction the heat's going.
Chris:
We get a lot of questions about sleeving and sizes, OD versus ID. A lot of that comes down on fuel lines as well.
Steve:
Especially AN.
Chris:
Yeah. Can you just give us a quick insight on when you're picking a sleeve from heat shield, what you should look for, and maybe somebody can throw in a little bit about the wrench trick.
Steve:
Yeah, I like that one. So, especially for guys using AN sleeving, you know, "Hey, I've got a dash six line." AN is actually referring to the inside diameter. That's the standard, not the outside.
Shane:
So they fluctuate.
Steve:
They fluctuate. Different manufacturers will have different outside diameters. Now, dash six I think usually, almost 99% of the time, you can get away with a 3/4-inch sleep. We do offer an AN calculator on the website there. But we always say double check. Check your outside diameter.
Steve:
Every sleeve we have, the nominal... So if it says it's half-inch. So when the sleeve is resting nominally, you know, that's what we call a nominal measurement, it's a half inch ID. If it's one of the Velcro sleeves or, I'm sorry, with a hook and loop closure, not Velcro, you have some adjustment there. You can make it go a little bit bigger, a little bit smaller. If it's the hot rod sleeve, that's like a Chinese finger trap, so you can kind of expand. If you shorten the length of the sleeve, it increases the diameter. If you stretch the length of the sleeve, it'll decrease the diameter. That's kind of how it's able to get over fittings in those types of things. If you're totally unsure, you don't have a set of calipers. And hell, I mean, we've got calipers here. I still like the "Go grab a wrench"
Chris:
Wrench trick.
Steve:
Yeah, go grab a like a 3/4 inch, half inch. We do everything in American sizes here. You just slide it over there. If the 3/4 is super loose, go grab a half or whatever you got. Slide it on there, get your diameter, and that's the size sleeve you need to order. So if you get some, and it's coming up at 3/4 inch. Hey, that three quarter inch sleeve? That's the one to order. If you're at, you know, 9/16, 5/8, something like that, a little bit bigger, depending on which sleeve you're getting, you may need to step up to that one inch. If you're getting the Velcro one, you've probably got enough room.
Chris:
Right.
Steve:
Another thing, too, with the sleeving, it can be loose. So if the sleeve is loose on the line, or the hose, or whatever, that's totally cool. You just need to make sure those ends are snug so the heat isn't going in behind there.
Chris:
Yeah, because that'll just trap heat, too, [crosstalk] you're trying to protect. I mean ideally snug on whatever it is, the fuel line, metal line, power steering line, whatever. Snug is better, but if it's loose, that's okay. Just make sure the ends are nice and secure.
Shane:
Yeah, we put shrinks in that hot rod sleeve, the fire sleeve. That stuff helps.
Steve:
Yeah. Absolutely.
Chris:
Cool. And I will mention again, YouTube. We install sleeves all the time.
Steve:
Yeah, so if you're watching a podcast on YouTube, just subscribe to the channel and watch some of those videos.
Chris:
All right. Next question. This one that comes up a lot. HP boot. Will the HP boot keep my plug wire from burning even if it is hitting the pipe?
Steve:
90% of the time, yes.
Chris:
Okay.
Steve:
Yeah, that's an easy one. Sometimes the heat is so great, especially off of, like, emission controlled cars, or really finely tuned cars. A lot of these guys, most of you drag racers, they know what they're doing. They're trying to get as much... they're constantly squeezing and messing with the air-fuel mixtures. I mean, among a lot of other things that they do. It's above my pay grade. I know some basics, but I'm not going to claim I know anything. The leaner the fuel charge is, the hotter the exhaust is going to be. So sometimes, because the header is so close, or sometimes the exhaust is so hot, the standard either Lava or fiberglass boots aren't going to work. But about 99% of the time, the HP boots do. They're expensive. It's not going to be cheap. It's not pretty. But they'll work.
Chris:
But it's a fix.
Steve:
Yeah, but it's a fix.
Chris:
Okay. Next: I have a carbon fiber hood I'm going to install on my Camaro. Can you advise which product would be appropriate to insulate the underside from the heat of my engine bay?
Steve:
Yeah. Again, Sticky Shield is the alpha. That's the pinnacle as far as reflectivity goes. The big thing with a carbon hood or a fiberglass hood, we always say, "not recommended for unfinished carbon or fiberglass," and it doesn't mean the gel coat has to be shiny. It just means it has to be smooth. It happens way less often in carbon, but there's some Chinese stuff out there that is suspect. But mostly referring to fiberglass, kind of going back to the whole tire.
Chris:
Sure.
Steve:
Street tire drag radial on pavement versus a gravel road. It's okay if it's not a glossy gel coat or anything. As long as that surface is smooth, even just like little, tiny, you know, you can feel it and it's consistent. You know, there might be bumps, but it's consistent. But the ones where the fibers are sticking way up and way down.
Chris:
Right.
Steve:
You either have to somehow try to find a way to smooth that out, sand it down, and then you can use a peel and stick. Unless it's smooth. So, getting back to the original question, Sticky Shield is number one. A lot of people don't like it, cause it's in your face. Bright and shiny. Especially guys with the carbon fiber hood. If it were me, and it's what I'm going to do on my carbon fiber hood, I'm going to put the lobby shield on it, the thick one, the 0.03, the thicker one, and use that on there to give it a really cool finish.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steve:
Like when you cut it, sharp knife, like Shane always likes to do with the videos, and he's right. Always use a sharp knife or sharp scissors. And then you can do two things. You can use like some clear engine paint on the ends to prevent fraying, or superglue.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
Is that it? We're done?
Chris:
Yeah, I think we got time for one more. That puts us in our time. Let me find a good one. How are you feeling on moto questions? We haven't done a motive question.
Steve:
Yeah, I'm good with that.
Chris:
We get moto questions. Yeah, we mostly sell cars and trucks.
Steve:
Cars are what we love.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steve:
We can do some kitchen. We get a lot of kitchen questions, barbecue questions, those types of things, too.
Chris:
Moto question. What are your thoughts on a OEM metal heat shield on exhaust pipes? Can I wrap my exhaust pipe, then replace the metal heat shield?
Steve:
Yes. A lot of people want to do that.
Shane:
This is like, for the look, it might be a cool look [crosstalk 00:31:06].
Steve:
Yeah. Or, if you're using exhaust wrap, right. Exhaust wrap is wonderful, but it's a textile. So what does it not like? Abrasion. So if you're on there with your foot, shifting the clutch, brake, back and forth, whatever, especially on a motorcycle. Yeah, absolutely.
Shane:
So that shield could help.
Steve:
Yeah, and if you're ever riding around in shorts or something, your leg won't get itchy.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
So, absolutely. Wrap it up, and then throw the factory shield over there. The problem with those metal factory heat shields, and it's not just motorcycle, lot of car OEMs do this. They take hot exhaust, take metal, bolt metal to hot metal.
Shane:
Yeah.
Steve:
And what happens is, that is great for the first, I don't know.
Shane:
For the first five minutes.
Steve:
Yeah, exactly. And then after that, it just conducts heat. The metal conducts through metal, and you just get a hot heat shield. Is it cooler than touching the PI? You bet ya.
Shane:
Still going to get burned, though.
Steve:
Yeah. Instead of maybe leaving flesh on the pipe, you're going to get a huge blister.
Shane:
You're going to get branded.
Steve:
Yeah. You're going to get branded. There you go. That's the best way to put it. So yeah, they just don't create a thermal break. There's no thermal break. Nothing to decouple the thermal energy from transferring from one alloy to another.
Chris:
So if you're a motor guy out there and you have this cool, I don't know, some bikes have this cool metal heat shields.
Steve:
Mostly Harleys. You know, even like carbon, there's some cool carbon fiber ones on some of these things. And carbon itself is an amazing insulator. The fiber itself. Problem is, as soon as you start adding resins and stuff to it. Man, it just totally loses everything.
Chris:
Right.
Steve:
And you're bound to the properties of the resin and no longer the carbon.
Chris:
So you can wrap that and then just replace that metal heat shield. But again, I think the call out here is hot metal touching cool metal doesn't make it cool for a long time.
Steve:
Yeah. It heats it up. The best way to think of it is, like, take a cookie sheet. When you grab it, the oven's hot, you throw in the oven, it's cool.
Chris:
Yeah.
Steve:
You go in there after a minute, you want to grab a mitt dude, you don't want to touch the cookie sheet. And that's all you're doing. You're just getting hot metal touching hot metal, and it's warming up. All right, so that's it for number three?
Chris:
That's it for number three. Thank you for watching, or listening. And watching.
Shane:
And watching.
Steve:
Yes. Yes. So again, please like, subscribe, leave a review, leave comments.
Shane:
Yeah, we like comments. Good or bad.
Steve:
Comments are good. Yeah, good or bad. If you want to see us talk about certain topics, we'll take it. And we're going to try and get some guests in here real soon for you, too.
Chris:
Yep. That's it.
Steve:
Might be phone-in, but that's how it goes.
Chris:
Phone-in? Yeah.
Shane:
Yeah.
Chris:
That'll do it.
Shane:
All right.
Chris:
Thanks.
Steve:
Thanks, everybody.
Shane:
Thank you.
Announcer:
From everyone at Heatshield Products, we thank you for listening to Hot Labs. Leave that review, subscribe, tell a friend, and most of all, stay cool. We'll see you next time. Right here on Hot Laps.
