Etohprn247

Hey fellas...just curious to know if any of you experience the heat sheild on the stock header making LOUD noise/vibration when you let go of the gas...say on high rpm?

ie. I would be driving in 3rd gear revs up to 5000rpms and suddenly let go/off the gas pedal and I hear this loud buzzing noise either from cat or header heatsheild. (the sheild on headers not the black piece next to battery) I'm assuming its the heatsheild so I remove the top portion of the sheild and it has less buzzing noise.

My point is...I just received my Ricks header....should I put the stock sheilds on it? If not then will the underhood temps seriously really affect anything? I'm very annoyed by the buzzing it makes the car sound like its broken or cheap...my wife thinks theres something wrong with it and scared to drive it? lol... TIA.

xviper

It's not your heat shields that's buzzing. You have the "clutch spring, deceleration buzz". This is typical of early model (and some later model) S2000s. It's not a mechanical problem as such. It's just a noise. You can reduce or eliminate the buzz if you put in a new clutch disc.

Etohprn247

Thank you sir!

Man then hopefully I didn't waste my money on the Ricks header. Imma install the header anyways since I've already bought it.

So I need a new clutch eh? A new setup? What do you recommend?

Thanks.

Etohprn247

When I install the Ricks...can I just leave the heatsheild off?

I don't want to worry about my hood paint warping/discoloring etc.

xviper

Any header without a heat shield will elevate the underhood temps significantly. Personally, when I put on my Toda header (no heatshields provided), I found the temps to be too stifling and I got a vented hood to help alleviate this situation. Whether or not a high underhood temp is of any negative consequence, I can't say for sure, but I just didn't like it. It got hot enough when stock (70*C) near the intake manifold.

As for the clutch buzz, like I said, it's just noise and has no bearing on how it works. Change it if you actually need a new clutch (slipping?). Don't do it if you can live with the noise and the clutch is working fine.

Reports would have it that the Rick's header is a nice piece. No header will give huge gains anyway. It'll take off a few pounds and it may change the throttle response to your liking. I don't think it's a waste of money.

StarvinMarvin

Put that Rick's header on w/out the shields, as I did, and enjoy it. It looks great, throttle response is a little better, you will notice the car pulls better when vtec'd. If you feel the engine bay is too hot put the shields or get a vented hood, or both.

S2Rice

Okay thanks!!!! Definately some great info and knowledge.

Thanks a bunch "xviper" and "starvin marvin" really appreciated.

ONE MORE THING......I JUST FINISHED installing the ricks header...a very nice piece indeed. When on almost perfectly w/o no battlescars but a bruise on my right wrist. Somehow I banged it on a sharp screw/stud and went NUMB and Painful I might add for about 10mins....and still is aching...

Here's my problem after the install I clean up, wipe down smudges etc. I DISCONNECTED the ground on the battery for a couple minutes only to reset the ECU because thats what I read on here (s2ki). I went to go start her up and she purrs smoothly.....then I tried to turn on the "instrument lights/gauges etc. NOTHING NOTHING No RPMs NO lights ...

Only lights on were the brakes, all exterior lights, parking, HIDs, turn signals are working fine....I just can't drive it cause I can't see the speedometer or rpms.....

ShieeeeTTT now how am I suppose to go to work tommarrow? I guess I got to go late and wait for the sun to rise first. Shucks.

OH BTW....I checked ALL the fuses in kick panel and fuses under the hood too...all is fine none blown....What happen????

Should of left it all alone when nothing was broken......Sighing......HELP.

Sorry so long.....TIA yalls the best!

S2Rice

Just did a search and found somebody with similar problem back in sept. 04' everything working but my tach gauge rpm fuel etc. everything works fine....all I did was disconnect the battery terminal and put it back...very securely. All fuse is intact....shiet this s2k is just as bad as my old bmw....(High maintence with a Headache to match.) uuuggghh.

My arms still hurts from the install...I'll look into this tommarrow...thanks for your time fellas...

Goodnight!

xviper

Next time you want to reset the ECU, don't mess with the battery. It's far easier (and obviously, much safer) to pull the "BACK UP" fuse in the footwell for 1/2 a minute. Or don't reset it at all. The ECU will learn any mod in time anyway.

You may have created a power surge and knocked out those systems. Can't be sure. You may need to circuit test all sorts of things to figure out where it's blown. There may be fusable links or breakers that can't give a visual indication that they have blown. Maybe you'll luck out if you try to disconnect the battery again, but leave it off for much longer (maybe 10 minutes).

cdelena

There is no negative to using the heat shields, and no gain in leaving them off. The radiated heat without them will result in shorter battery life and overall higher underhood heat.