Exhaust manifolds - it's a wrap!

The exhaust manifolds on the S cars are quite different to the 8v. As I'm fitting the later versions I wanted to cover them in heat wrap before installing.

After soaking the heat wrap in water, it was simply a matter of winding it around the manifolds - I used a 5m length for each.

The ends are secured with stainless steel ties - I found using a vice grip made it easier to tighten them up.

Not the prettiest looking stuff but the idea is to keep engine temperatures down as much as possible - plus it's something I wanted to do....

Getting the manifolds in place proved to be impossible until I lifted the right hand side of the engine with an engine hoist - so it tipped towards the opposite side of the car. Loosen the engine mount bolts on the right hand side! I attached the engine hoist loop from the alternator bracket using the threaded hole for the water return rail.

Remove all the engine studs also using the double bolt method as it makes moving the manifolds around much easier:

With the gap between the suspension turret and engine now big enough the manifolds slip in with a little manoeuvring - I started with the outside (1-4) manifolds then the smaller 2-3 slipped in.

Push the larger manifold down as far as possible before sliding in the centre one - then reattached the studs and put the headers in place.

Add some copper flashed exhaust nuts:

All bolted down...

And looking good with the heat shield installed!

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