Well I finished my first attempt at this sheild and I'm not very happy with how it all went together. First off, I will say that I have ZERO experience at doing stuff like this, so I figure that has a bit to do with it. Second, to save money, I used black metal screws instead of rivets. Besides saving money, I can easily and cheaply take it back apart to reuse a piece or modify a piece if need be.
Now, for a few notes on things I didn't like...
Its not very ridged at all. I'm thinking that this material will be fine for the stage of R&D that I am at right now, but I'm not sure if I would want to make a sheild for someone else with it. It was pretty easy to bend the bottom piece somewhat into shape. From there, I was able to use the cut made on the firewall side to mold it just right.
The main reason I am worried about the stiffness of this material is because, what happens after I apply the cermaic coating, paint and clear coat and someone accidentally bumped it while installing it? The coating might crack or something like that. I know that we tend to remove our air filters or intakes on normal basis, so that really worries me.
To combat this, I could use a thicker material for the sides and this thinner material for the bottom. I could apply some thin A/C vent tape to the bottom piece, either to the inside or outside, to make up for the thermal differences between the thinner and thicker materials.
And the rear tab, that acts as a mounting point... Man. I really like this idea and want to stick with it, but it seems to complicate the whole thing so much, that it might be better to scrape it for right now and just concentrate on getting the rest of the unit to a buildable/reproducable state. Then, worry about it as time permits.
And speaking of time permitting... Not to bum anyone out or anything like that, but it turns out that I will have a lot more free time on my hands for the next week or two. Turns out that friday, I got the call to say I was laid off from work after 5 and a half years with the company. So I will be able to put a little more time into this, even if it is at night.
