VAC Project: Experimental Heat shield

Noticed the other day that the heat from the exhaust elbow comes dangerously close to the hood, and as I ran the engine, the decals began to get a small bubble. Not wanting to ruin the finish, I pulled it back inside and checked it out. Seems after referring to some of the tractor show photos I have that many VAC's have at least a discoloration on the hood caused by this heat.

I built a small heat shield out of some muffler pipe. It sits about 1/4" away from the elbox, and seems to have solved that problem. I was wondering if anyone else has had the same trouble, and if so, how did you fix it?

I still need to finish the shield to pretty it up just a bit, then I'll apply some heat resist stainless steel paint.

Frank

Looks like a good job to me, and a good idea.

When I bought the NAPA muffler for my tractor, I didn't notice that there's a small "drain" hole in the base of the muffler. I guess that's to let water out if you leave the cap off of it.

And, of course, a small amount of exhaust comes out of this pinhole, too.

Now... WHICH way do you suppose that I happened to mount my muffler on the tractor? Yep- you guessed it- that drain hole was pointed right at my new hood paint. Got a nice black mark before I knew it.

Oh, well. Live and learn.

-Schotte