[pboglio]

Pics below show the process of installing the exhaust manifold. Took ~1-1.5 hours doing everything slowly. Double nut the Mamba M6 studs to pre-torque them into the head to 7 lb-ft with anti-seize (stock factory studs are 9 lb-ft dry). Studs were flipped over and long threads installed into the head to minimize risk of stud/thread pullout. Flipping the studs over and using (2) washers under the nut to gain clearance on the unthreaded stud shank when the EM is installed is the more reliable method with aftermarket studs. Pulling a stud/thread out of the head at this stage is absolutely going to ruin your day so you want the maximum stud length engagement into the cylinder head as possible while using a torque wrench.

The manifold & head flatness play a critical role in keeping the studs/threads intact and it's an important step so don't skip checking that. Stud nuts with (2) washers & EM installed were then torqued to 20 lb-ft using anti-seize (25 lb-ft using OEM studs dry) as well with a torque wrench in the proper sequence. Note here that when I use anti-seize or oil on a fastener I'll torque to 80% of recommended torque to account for the friction reduction, otherwise you risk snapping a bolt. The factory copper nuts are lock nuts so keep that in mind when using aftermarket 12 pnt nuts as the risk of nut loosening is higher.

Anyhow, the exhaust manifold flatness was checked and being new it was dead flat. EM cylinder head surface flatness was not perfect and when I did the cylinder head way back when I took a hand file and made that mating surface flat to about .002" followed by a 320 grit surface finish. Most auto machine shops typically won't touch those surfaces unless they have a CNC so that's something to think about. Picture below shows the factory EM gasket which is a multi-layer embossed gasket which is almost overkill level of design to keep a tight seal. That EM gasket actually came in the $121 engine gasket overhaul kit and worth the money.

Going to install the cam position sensors & crank angle sensors tonight/weekend while I'm bored and waiting on a few things. Next week the remaining engine sensors and coil packs go on order. List of things to do on the engine is getting short.

 

[pboglio]

Interesting pic of an AMG A45 (421 hp) engine being assembled at the factory. Heat shielding on the valve cover is somewhat similar to the Juke. Exhaust manifold is awesome 4-1 design with the Inconel heat shielding on the turbine as well. Oddly AMG don't run an exhaust manifold heat shield at all but you can see the engine block is covered in heat shielding to protect it. While the Juke runs the manifold heatshield with just the upper half, lower is open to the ground and the block is exposed to it.

 

[pboglio]

More shots of the turbine housing and downpipe temporarily installed for now. Really starting to like the titanium ceramic coating color as a nice contrast to the naked aluminum of the engine.

Downpipe is the GTM 2.5" stainless steel with bungs for (3) 02 sensors. Exhaust flex is in the seperate midpipe. I'll be running Proflex 95 duro motor mount inserts to keep the flex minimized so hopefully that'll reduce any problems. There's a downpipe support bracket that'll mount to one of the various mtg brackets used for the transfer case. For now I'll run this but maybe fabricate a 2.75" downpipe and catted 3" midpipe for my next project in the future at some point. This current setup will easily support 350 w.h.p. so it's more of a nice option to upgrade but not a necessity.

I really want a custom Inconel turbine heat shield but it's like $700 to have it done........cannot stomach that. I can buy some stainless heat shielding composite sheet for not too much and see if I can make a 3d-printed mold to form it to give it a go. Have some options for 3D scanning of a turbine housing I have laying around for designing the mold form. Another one of those future potential projects.

Back of the Juke block you can kind of see how the exhaust manifold and downpipe heat could work it's way to the engine block in those situations where someone might be tracking their car and cause coolant temps to rise. I could see this being a problem and looks like AMG A45 kind of solves that with additional heat shielding mounted to the engine block. The cerakote ceramic coating I've read does a great job of minimizing thermal radiation & will greatly help for sure but I'm looking at fabricating a dimpled style heatshield to block some of that. Stock Juke EM heatshield isn't shown here but it's an open bottom design which has some benefits of not trapping too much heat. On the EVO X they rivet a chimney to the EM heatshield and the NACA hood duct fires some cold air to that. For the Juke just re-using the stock shield and adding an engine block shield would work just as well I'd think. The transfer case has it's own heatshields and so the factory have given some thought to the concept. The downpipe is very close to exhaust cam phasor oil control solenoid and it'll probably also get some heat shielding as well. I'm not a fan of wrapping downpipes but there are some simple bolt-on options to mount some half-moon heat shields using supplied standoff brackets to block heat where needed. All that stuff will be done before I drop the engine into the vehicle.

Other pics just show the reman OE alternator and new A/C pump installed with the new OE accessory belt. The engine was originally removed with the full downpipe, transfer case, CVT transmission, & engine harness installed so basically that's how it's going back into the Juke.

 

[pboglio]

Few more pics for now.

Just checking the vibration isolator support for the Injen pipe. Never much liked the flexible isolator mounts since this part of the pipe/engine aren't moving relative to each other. Might replace that with and adjustable standoff so the pipe is perfectly clampe down and secured. I'm also going to be running a silicon hump hose connection off the red charge pipe to take some stress off of it since there has to be some give in the charge plumbing.

The downpipe you can see the OE heavy duty bracket that typically supports the weight of the stock downpipe w/catalytic converter. I'm just checking fitment for now and making small tweaks to get things lined up. That rusty bracket will get media blasted and ceramic coated Glacier Silver and have better corrosion resistance than new. Might have a custom laser cut bracket made for the lower downpipe support off the transfer case. This should keep everything fairly rigid while keeping all of the factory OE hardpoints intact.

Bottom pic is the turbo temporarily installed minus oil & water feeds/returns. Black wrinkle coat compressor housing actually looks good, so I'm keeping it. If I ever switch to black charge pipes it'll matchup perfectly. That has to come back off though to ceramic coat the CHRA and install all the oil & water pipes/tubes, hopefully by next weekend.

Spent some time installing engine sensors. Intake/Exhaust cam position and crank angle sensors were installed, no biggie and not much to say. Still need to install the oil temp, oil pressure, knock, engine coolant, front 02, rear 02, aftemarket wideband 02, coil packs, & spark plugs. Oil dipstick get's installed after the engine is in the car to avoid damage.

The rest is just painting/ceramic coating heatshields & a multitude of brackets and buying some more mounting bolts for that stuff.

In the coming month I'll be spending more time on suspension work.

 

[pboglio]

One of my goals was to improve on the strong points of the AWD system and that was the handling in particular. Being a CVT I'll have to have the power tuned conservatively so the handling/braking will make up for that in terms of fun factor and I think it's the correct choice.

The following is the short list of front suspension components needing to be purchased. At the moment I'm holding off on an actual coilover suspension upgrade but I'm looking at the BR Racing or RS coilover kits. Next year when the budget allows I might purchase that but for now some replacement OE struts will get me by.

The plan is to get these parts ordered up starting end of May and thru July as I can budget month-to-month. I'm expecting the suspension to be complete by end of September and of course the engine will already be in the vehicle at that point. I have a whole bunch of painting/ceramic coating going on starting this weekend so while I wait on parts orders that'll take up some of my time.

Next big project will be the front sub-frame restoration/upgrade and then the engine can drop-in hopefully some time in July/August.

Below is a pic of the suspension bushing install tooling I'll need for the front polyurethane bushings which I'll use with my 12-ton hydraulic press.

Suspension Parts List:

• Siberian Bushing (Poly bushing, Subframe Rear (Qty-2 per)
• Siberian Bushing (Poly bushing, Subframe Front (Qty-2 per)
• SuperPro Front Control Arm Poly Bushing Set (SPF3962K)
• PowerFlex Poly Bushing, Sway Bar 23mm Front, (Race) (PFF46-803-23)
• PowerFlex Poly Engine Mount, Upper (Race) (PFF46-820)
• PowerFlex Poly Engine Mount, Lower (Race) (PFF46-821)
• Whiteline Racing Endlink, Swaybar, Front (KLC140-255)
• Control Arm Transverse, Front, RH, RS version(54500-5SN1B)
• Control Arm Tranverse, Front, LH, RS version ( 54501-5SN1B)
• Stillen Rear Sway Bar (2011-2014 Juke AWD)
• Nissan Tie Rod, Steering, Left (E8C40-3SG1JNW)
• Nissan Tie Rod, Steering, Right (E8C20-3SG1JNW)
• Nissan Hub, Front Wheel (qty 2)
• Nissan Shaft Assembly, Front Drive, RH (39100-1KD0B)
• Nissan Shaft Assembly, Front Drive, LH (39101-1KD0B)
• Ultra Racing Front Strut Brace, Upper (TW2-2335)
• Ultra Racing Rear Strut Brace, Upper (RE2-2336)
• Front Subframe (refurbished/restored)
• Front Steering Knuckles (refurbished/restored)
• New Nissan bolts

 

[Macgyver]

Gonna be a new Juke soon .

 

[pboglio]

Gonna be a new Juke soon .

Definitely, can't wait to get it running and throw it around some corners.

 

[Storm Trooper]

Gene - do you know that in 2 days it will be officially 3 years since you started this thread? All I have to ask is, is it done yet!?

 

[turbo noob]

I hope he never finishes so that we can keep receiving updates on the most ocd build I've ever seen

 

[pboglio]

Gene - do you know that in 2 days it will be officially 3 years since you started this thread? All I have to ask is, is it done yet!?

Looking at August/September of this year time frame realistically before I fire up the motor and start tuning it and having some fun with it.

Honestly, those 3 years felt like 30. Lot's of life-stuff going on over those 3 years with a good dose of lack-of-interest and of course the huge financial aspects that come with these types of builds. Basically I have (4) major parts orders spread out over 4 months left to complete the engine, transmission, & suspension and get the car tuned & running.

There are guys going on 9 year builds......so I'm doin OKAY by comparison I guess....lol.

I hope he never finishes so that we can keep receiving updates on the most ocd build I've ever seen

The OCD part is definitely present. It's actually getting worse as I get closer to finishing so I'm kind of pushing myself to just get it 90-95% good and move on cause the extra effort isn't worth the time delay. The trick is to know when it's good enough but that's a metaphor for life I suppose.

But glad you enjoy the updates and I'll keep them coming until the build finishes up.

 

[pboglio]

Just stumbled upon some turbo heat-shields for the Juke.

I haven't tried any of the Juke turbo blankets sold thru 2J or FR but actually the Honda Type-R 2017+ FK8 engine uses a stock turbo shaped a heck of a lot like the stock/Mamba style turbos. Juke has kind of a wide turbine housing basically which is tough to find a turbo blanket that fits properly. The turbo blankets below look like it would fit a Mamba turbo fairly good but a test fitment might be needed.

My thinking process on these turbo blankets is maybe to do something a little different. I like the look of them, but I seriously don't like the safety aspect. These typically also don't last too long either before they burn out. That also means I'd have to carry a fire extinguisher in the vehicle just in case. So the thought is actually to wrap the stock heat-shield which would also be double-ceramic coated (inside/outside) with this turbo blanket to give it some bling and some additional heat shielding to boot. The typical fancy expensive Inconel heat shielding actually use an Inconel inner shell, internal heat-insulating blanket, then an outer Inconel shell. So this isn't too much different except the turbo blanket is just left exposed which it's designed for anyway. The idea here is to maintain the critical air-gap space above the turbine housing using the stock ceramic coated heat-shielding to keep the surface temps way down to avoid burning the turbo blanket while it does it's heat insulating thing and if nothing else just looks plain better. The other positive aspect is that there is some heat dissipation that would occur out the exposed sides to avoid over-cooking the turbo and cracking it.

Not sure if it'll work but I'm willing to give it a try for the bling factor if not reduced under-hood temps.

USR Turbo Blanket for 2017+ FK8 Honda Civic Type-R

For custom serial number order, please put a note on your order or email us at [email protected] Custom serial number orders will take 6-8 weeks prior to shipping. The new 2017 Honda Civic Type-R has arrived. The Type-R has won many magazine car of the year awards and is a blast to...

www.unitedspeedracing.com

Titanium Turbo Blanket, Fits Honda Civic Type R (FK2/FK8) 2017+

Help reduce the heat in your 2017+ Honda Civic Type R engine bay with this Mishimoto turbo blanket. One of the main drawbacks to a turbocharger is the massive amount of heat that it produces. That heat can severely affect intake air temperatures and rob y

www.mishimoto.com

 

[Macgyver]

There are materials that do not look good but are way more fireproof / durable. Put them on first and then put a blanket on top. Thats what I would do. We used stuff at the steel plant. It was white fibrous batting. They lined Hot boxes with it to transport the red hot bars of steel. I will see if I can find the name of the stuff.

 

[Macgyver]

Fibermax. Yeah this stuff.

If I still worked there. I could get a lot off a roll and ship it to you.

Anchor-Loc® 3000 Module | Products | Unifrax

Anchor-Loc 3000 ceramic fiber modules are manufactured in several configurations.

www.unifrax.com

 

[pboglio]

Fibermax. Yeah this stuff.

If I still worked there. I could get a lot off a roll and ship it to you.

Anchor-Loc® 3000 Module | Products | Unifrax

Anchor-Loc 3000 ceramic fiber modules are manufactured in several configurations.

www.unifrax.com

Exactly, good catch. If you can score some I'll send you my contact info thru PM, otherwise I could try and find it online somehow.

 

[pboglio]

Having recently done a decent amount of ceramic coating on the turbo & heatshields using Cerakote, figured I'd post up this link of some fascinating technical data from Cerakote. Usually I'm dubious of claims but the testing was extremely thorough. Good comparison of heat shields vs. ceramic coating performance as well.

Cerakote High-Temperature Ceramic Coatings - Mad Custom Coating

Cerakote High-Temperature Ceramic Coatings have become the industry leader for exhaust components and other applications where heat breaks other coatings down. Available in a wide-array of color options and withstanding temperatures greater than 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Not only do these...

madcustomcoating.com

How all this factors on my setup will be interesting to note. Heat management on a turbo application is no joke. I've heard of a few fires in regards to pulling off heat shielding so anything and everything I do is done along the same lines as what the factory Nissan Engineers would tend to do. This bears mentioning but the power output is increasing from the stock 188 h.p. to a potential ~340 h.p. so essentially I'm nearly doubling the BTU heatload and it's going to showup on the EGT for sure, especially with leaner A/F and aggressive tuning. Nissan have done a good job providing heatshielding all over the place in addition to heat sleeves on: rubber hoses, oil feed lines, harnesses, etc. but there is still room for improvement. Most of my build you'll notice I'm a big fan of modifying/reusing OEM factory components because they are extremely well tested and engineered.

Anyhow, I finished ceramic coating the CHRA and stock heatshields and various brackets that supported the downpipe so it's mostly all done and installed on the exhaust side. Picture below show's the stock manifold heatshield which I blasted with 120 grit and applied C-7700 Glacier Silver ceramic coating to. Not shown is the valve cover heat shield which is also ceramic coated in silver. Kind of figured there was enough Titanium color on the turbo/exhaust so the silver kind of breaks that up and gives it a stock look but with a more "matte" finish. I also spent some decent cash on high quality stainless hardware to mount the EM heat-shield. Switched to stainless screws & washers on the upper heatshield mounting & stainless studs & copper coated steel nuts (need to order those) for mounting to the exhaust manifold directly. Had some issues with these little fasteners breaking off previously and I want to avoid that for future maintenance. You can also see I purchased a new OEM oil feed line (not bolted down yet) as it's a better engineered product than anything you can buy aftermarket. Another interesting point is the turbo water feed/return and oil return lines which are OEM stainless steel. I polished up the oil return line with some 220 grit lapping compound to give it an OEM matte finish, while the other lines were nearly pristine but with some patina. I threw all (3) into the Ultrasonic cleaner and they came out looking brand new, saving me over $150 not having to purchase new ones. The remaining water hoses, turbo lower oil return hose & pipe, bolts, banjo bolts, gaskets, crush washers, etc. were all purchased brand new.

Cerakote say the coating cures fully in 5 days but in reality if you can wait 30 days for it to fully air cure it'll be harder/more scratch resistant. I'm now using washers under the bolts/screws to protect the coating and it's working out great at eliminating any chipping. I'd have to say the scratch resistance is good but it should be treated more like a paint and not like some type of plating which it isn't meant to replace. The C-7700 Glacier Silver is the color I picked to simulate a plating which it does a pretty decent job of doing.

I'm spending some time now in ordering up some DEI thermal sleeves to protect various components. Since I lost the downpipe heatshield I need to protect the VVTI oil control solenoid(s) & harness as they are vulnerable to radiation exposure from the hot exhaust. Working on some mounting solutions for a DP heatshield that'll look clean, absolutely no wraps will be used on the downpipe. Kind of wish I welded in some screw bungs on the DP so I could mount up heatshields but I'll use some existing hardpoints to mount from. Oil feed line also needs an additional heat sleeve/wrap as the turbine housing is more exposed now. Might put some reflective gold foil on the back of the wastegate actuator bracket to keep it cool which'll be easy to do since it's a flate plate. Also thinking of putting a heat sleeve on the WG actuator arm to keep the heat from traveling back up to the WG diaphragm, that rod always tends to rust from the extreme heat exposure which is annoying.

Regarding the gold wraps......not sure that'll be my thing so I'm using it sparingly in various locations. Seen it done now mainly on charge intake pipes and for a WRC Rally car I'd say it looks cool. On a street car it's getting a bit played out but we will see. Since I have such nice paint jobs I'd hate to wrap over a perfectly good painted pipe, seems silly to me. Any custom intake pipes or CAI will automatically be ceramic coated anyway as a "primer" coat, then painted a final wrinkle coating. Thus a stealthy way of providing some heat blocking.

 

[squirtbrnr]

now that looks like a beautifully built engine. I like the matte colors versus shiny. One question I have is on the use of washers. Obviously you're not using them on mission critical things like head bolts or studs, etc, but what are the chances of engine vibrations causing a bolt or nut to back itself off or out because of the washer? I get that a washer is there to protect a surface, but a smooth washer may reduce the bite or grip of the shoulder on a bolt or nut causing it to slip. Would you then consider using bolts with teeth or a locking (wave or teeth) washer in conjunction with a smooth washer to ensure it stays in place? The last thing I'd want is some nuts and bolts wiggling free and now I have a heatshield rattle.

 

[pboglio]

now that looks like a beautifully built engine. I like the matte colors versus shiny. One question I have is on the use of washers. Obviously you're not using them on mission critical things like head bolts or studs, etc, but what are the chances of engine vibrations causing a bolt or nut to back itself off or out because of the washer? I get that a washer is there to protect a surface, but a smooth washer may reduce the bite or grip of the shoulder on a bolt or nut causing it to slip. Would you then consider using bolts with teeth or a locking (wave or teeth) washer in conjunction with a smooth washer to ensure it stays in place? The last thing I'd want is some nuts and bolts wiggling free and now I have a heatshield rattle.

Thanks. The matte is sort of required to bond the ceramic and cover up surface defects so it has a functional purpose too. It sort of matches the vapor honed surface finish on the aluminum.

Oddly enough a nut & washer is superior to a plain nut in the Junker Vibration Test DIN 65151 and ISO 16130 but not by much. You can see the results for various options.

Video: Nord-Lock Washers in the Junker Vibration Test

Nord-Lock washers are compared with other locking methods in the Junker vibration test, which is considered to be the most severe vibration test for bolted connections.

www.nord-lock.com

Absolutely. Washers are a double edged sword. The factory do it with deformed locking nuts where studs were used. In a few locations on the engine I used blue loctite (oil filter housing, oil pump, etc.) where I felt there was some risk to fastener backout. Obviously near the exhaust this isn't an option. Inside the engine absolutely followed the FSM except on the head, mains, and rod bolts where I used molylube as things were getting really sketchy on the cylinder head bolt install without it. But the torque-to-angle install kind of factors the bolt friction out of the equation so Molylube is the way to go. Got into the habit of pre-stretching the bolts which gave me dead accurate clamping loads so that is something I'll do more of in the future.

The heatshield nuts for now are crappy zinc nuts just to hold it in place. The copper nuts on the turbo/downpipe I have on now are non-locking from Mamba but will get replaced also. For the heat-shields I have the M6 copper coated exhaust locking nuts on order from Belmetric Fasteners since I'm using studs in that location. The stainless bolts at the top of the heatshield I'm using are 18-8 which can torque a bit higher. I can always sand blast the washers to increase friction and then those things aren't going anywhere hopefully. In fact I have to go back thru the turbo & manifold and replace those Mamba copper coated nuts which aren't locking with M8 & M10 copper coated Class 8 locking nuts as well. The factory use a deformed locking nut on the turbo and manifold but I like the copper color better for some stupid reason...lol. The rest of the entire engine is using brand new Nissan factory fasteners torqued exactly per the FSM except these couple of spots.

When all else fails, I've used the Nordlocks. I'd only use them if nothing else works. Would work well on a Rally or Road Race car though where there is a lot of heat cycling and vibration, especially on suspension components.

Nuts - Exhaust Nut Copper - BelMetric

belmetric.com

How to determine a suitable tightening torque

I don’t know the tightening accuracy of my tool. How should I proceed with my torque calculation?

www.nord-lock.com

 

[pboglio]

Spent time getting the stock oil feed line wrapped with some DEI cool tape. Little bit tricky of a job. Nissan wrap about the first 1/3 coming off the CHRA but extra won't hurt. Oil feed is finally installed which means the turbo is basically completely installed. The cheap Mamba turbine housing stud nuts were replaced with (4) new Nissan OE locknuts I had ordered just in case, no chance of loosening. Reinforces my belief that most aftermarket parts are junk sad to say. All the ceramic coating, wrinkle painting, CHRA balancing, & ordering gaskets/bolts/etc. took way the heck longer than it should but it's mostly done. The rubber coolant line that runs to the turbo still needs to be installed but that'll wait until after my valvecover is wrinkle painted and re-installed and the intake manifold is on.

Need to order up a lower rated WG spring for the Turbosmart 14 psi actuator. With the wastegate preload they recommended I'm getting about 19 psi to actuate which is way too high for daily driving on a CVT. Looking at maybe a 9-10 psi spring or something around there which'll cost ~$45. Dropping the spring rate should allow me to baseline tune around 12-14 psi once the exhaust backpressure is accounted for. For now I'll run a quality MBC for boost control but eventually the programmable HKS EVC will get ordered up.

Yeah, so the whole turbo blanket thing isn't going to happen. Apparantly turbo shops say it's no bueno for the turbo reliability. The Cerakote ceramic coating should still make a big difference in managing heat but additional turbine heat shielding will probably still be needed. Obviously don't want to use the stock heatshield unless I'm forced to. I have a couple of concepts for a different style of turbine heat-shielding that I'm working on.

Finally, I'm spending time now going thru the engine & engine bay to see where I can heat protect components with DEI cool tape, cool tube, or dimpled aluminum heat shielding. The electrical harnesses will get additional heat sleeve protection on top of the factory protection. DEI sell some nice dimpled aluminum heat shielding almost exactly like the Nissan OE uses so there might be additional shielding added to the upper firewall near the drip rail and the hood liner location too. The transfer case heat shield bracket broke which explains the rattling I was having. A new one needs to be ordered up and a TIG welded gusset added so it won't break again.

 

[pboglio]

Here are the pictures of the oil line install. You can see I fully DEI cool wrapped the line. Ironically Nissan updated this oil line to be wrapped with insulation on 1/3 of the line near the turbo CHRA. The wrap I bought is a close approximation of what Nissan uses so it nearly matches. They must have been having oil coke issues and heat insulated it to reduce turbo warranty claims since the original line has no wrap at all. The CHRA ceramic coating will minimize the heat exposure to the oil feed. Since I'm running an exposed downpipe I wrapped the entire line just to be on the safe side.

I have a Mishimoto aftermarket braided oil line in a box but it will not be used. Important feature is the stock OE oil line mounting tab which isn't shown in these pics. Without that tab the line can be pulled and the banjo fitting unscrews itself. Thus aftermarket lines need to use the same head mounting point with a cushion clamp to secure the line near the banjo fitting. For what I'm doing the OEM line will work well & my original went 80,000 miles without any issues.

Didn't enjoy that job and it'll never come out perfect but functionally it'll work. Trick to wrapping it is NOT to spiral wrap it. I take a small piece about 3/4" wide and wrap it straight about 2 times only, leaving the cut edge facing down to hide it. Then step over 3/4 and overlap and go thru the same process. Not spiral wrapping keeps the wrap from wrinkling and damaging the aluminum coating. Some spots I had to pull it tight to go around the bend which stresses the wrap but it's unavoidable. This wrap is about 10 layers deep so the thermal protection will be fairly good.

The second picture shows just how much stuff is sitting next to the exposed turbine housing. The red upper intercooler pipe on the compressor outlet is also going to need protection. For that I sourced a steam pipe 90* fiberglass insulater that has an aluminum reflective coating secured with velcro straps. That'll get installed tomorrow and I'll see how that looks. I might remove the velcro straps and just use some cool wrap reflective tape on the straight sections to strap it together for a cleaner look.

The third picture you can see just how close the downpipe is to the oil feed on the cylinder head and the VVTI solenoid. I mark the banjo bolts & fitting so if the bolt backs out I can detect it visually. Still working on an upper DP heatshield option cause it's going to potentially cause issues but I'm upgrading stuff as I go.

Final picture is an AMG A45 engine being assembled. Note the careful use of heat sleeve wrap on the oil & coolant lines, E-wastgate actuator heat-shielding, etc. This is a pretty good template of how to heat protect an engine for reliability. Crazy that they don't just use an exhaust manifold heat shield but instead just heat shield everything around it.

 

[pboglio]

Received my Turbo outlet 90* heat protector (I.D. 1.875"). McMaster Carr #46015K815 ($30.19). The supplier is Axion Thermal which also do turbo blankets for heavy industrial applications

Fit's good but need to punch a hole thru it for the turbo pressure nipple fitting. I'll use a brass grommet & punch/die to seal up the hole edges. Anyhow, I pulled it over the compressor outlet a little bit to protect the paint. Tight fit past the coolant line but with some playing around it'll do it's job nicely. It has an internal fiberglass mat with a shiny aluminum reflective foil outer rated for 450*F.