Exhaust heat shield rattle

I have tried a punch and put a dent in some of the areas where it might tighten the shield to the header, the material is fairly soft and the punch could go right through if not careful, so was a good idea and maybe solved for one loose area but not a great solution. Also tried some exhaust rated epoxy type material to slather in the ends where the pipe to shield area is open. Worked, but then over time the material must have vibrated loose, dries very hard but probably needs to flex a bit to hold. I wish there was a very high heat paste that would harden but still flex just a bit. Have not found anything like that as yet. Maybe something for industrial blast furnaces or other applications?

 

I had it all removed then ceramic coated inside and out. Looks better and no rattles and much much less heat in the compartment .

 

I've tried three ways to eliminate rattles in my aluminum clad exhaust manifold heat insulation:

1. Crimping the aluminum with a big honking pair of Channel-lock pliers -- It is very difficult to get the pliers in position to make a crimp and the aluminum is so soft, it all just loosens up again in a short time anyway. Fail.

2. Drilling holes through (only) the aluminum for sheet metal screws -- The idea is to tighten the tip of the sheet metal screw against the exhaust manifold so that the aluminum can no longer move. This works, but the screws back out quite quickly due to the soft aluminum and the amount of vibration. I have drilled and wired several screws heads together so that they can't turn, but it was a lot of work for some dumb little piece of aluminum. It works (with the wires).

3. Use plain old hose clamps -- Wrap an appropriate diameter (large) hose clamp around the end of the aluminum which is loose. Just cinch it down with a socket wrench and the aluminum squishes down. (Hose clamps come in surprisingly big sizes when you look for them at a hardware store.) I found this method to work well and I have several on my car. With a little perseverance, I managed to get a few on the engine end of the front manifold. As usual, you need to work with 2 fingers when 3 hands would be better. Best method.

Usually when the engine is cool, you can push the cladding around and figure out where it moves.

 

Are you sure it's the best shield? Lots of things. Me an make noises like hoses on the intake air tube etc. have you tried to re align the shield? There is some play for that.

 

See my thread "While You're in There". Some good pics of the exhaust, heat shield, before and after ceramic coating