s4play

hey guys,

I just got an ARC aluminum heat shield (the one that goes near the headers and wraps over the fuse box in front of battery.

I did some searching and saw (x3) 10mm bolts holding it in place. The first two are near the oil filter so I can reach down to remove it with a socket but how do you guys get to the 3rd bolt that is all the way up near the firewall????

I can see the 10mm bolt from the top but it's almost 12" down and the header is right up against it. Do I have to access this bolt from below the car?

I've seen many of you do this install so must not be that hard....please advise!



rk

Stratocaster

Clue

There is 4 bolts. The last one is all the way back, on the firewall. It just needs to be loosened. The other three need to be removed.

Yes, it can be reached from the bottom of the car, it thecar is on a lift. On the ground, you will never get your arm up there (I have tried) Also you arm will need to be thin.

I have done it by removing the first 3 and tilting the sheild up and reaching back from above. I also used a ratcheting hand wrench for the job.

s4play

ok I removed the 2 bolts towards the front of the car - piece of cake....the rear most one is slotted I can see that so I only need to loosen it.

But that's a total of bolts, where is the 4th?


rick

SilentWhiteNoise

I only remember 3. Yes it is a pain and when installing my header I found that I could not do it from the bottom.. I used a REALLY LONG open end wrench. It still took some time.


Good Luck

S2000_Havens

Remove the three and reach like hell with a racheting wrench.

Good luck.

s4play

I got it guys....

There is actually 4 bolts

The 3 frontal ones are a cinch to get to with a normal socket but for that 4th bolt here's my method. Luckily you don't need to remove it and only loosen it!

I tied a loop on one end of my open-ended wrench to prevent me from holding it. Then I dangled it down and used my right hand to align it over the bolt and I would turn it a bit, then pull it up and keep repeating the process till loose. This method prevents you from accidently dropping the wrench....hahaha

**I also found it useful to remove the one 10mm bolt near the A/C line so you can kinda push the heatshield out of the way for more room.

Time to install my ARC heatshield later this week

thanks guys,
rick

epicanthal

Hi guys, I started to attempt a header install when i came across this same issue right off the bat. I tried tying the loop like OP but i just couldn't get the wrench (non-ratcheting) down there far enough, although the loop saved dropping it through down to the ground . I stopped at Sears for a 10mm ratcheting wrench, but they were out of stock. I considered the extended length 10mm (non-ratcheting) wrench, but it just didn't look much longer to make a difference. So I started googling.....

I finally stumbled upon ez-red nr5m ratcheting spline wrench set (search ebay or amazon for "ez-red nr5m")

I only needed 8/10mm from the set, but i didn't have any ratcheting wrenches so I decided to buy the set....found one on ebay for $115 shipped.

The 8/10mm from this set is ~12in. length. When i got it on the 4th heatshield bolt (from the top) it was long enough that the head of the other 8mm end stuck up above the valve cover. Its still a minor chore to get the wrench down there to grab the bolt, but does the job. Once the wrench was on the bolt, I could get one or two clicks of turn. Worked perfect IMO. Expensive solution, but now i have an awesome set for all those other s2k mods/chores I'd wished I had a ratcheting wrench for in the past . I haven't gone back to do the header install yet....maybe do that over the holiday weekend.