Hi all,
Can anyone offer any advice as to how to go about removing the manifold heatshield?
There’s two bolts on the top, and 3 around the sides, I’ve managed to remove 4 of them (1 snapped) but I cannot get to the one that’s round the side against the firewall and so I’ve all but given up. I can’t get enough access to put a proper socket on it, and my ring spanners are slipping, again, because I can’t get them to seat properly.
Is there a way around this at all, surely it’s can’t be a case of dropping/lifting the engine?
Dont know BUT curious as to why you need to remove it . . .
So I can have it ceramic coated to finish tarting up my engine bay!
Fair enough!
I just sprayed mine black with high temp paint.
Easier and cheaper BUT less good looking ;-(
I hammered a smaller socket on an extension bar over the nut. Lots of WD40 and some tentative application of pressure and it finally moved. LOTS of swearing and bruised knuckles to get to that point though.
Dremmel, and cut them off.
M-m
That wouldn’t work, because then I wouldn’t be able to bolt it back on…
Slight correction, if you’ll allow me: you would be able to bolt it back on – to 80% of the original spec! 
Perhaps the better question is why you would coat your headers in ceramic (the point of which is to manage heat in the engine bay) and then remount the heat shield (the point of which is to manage heat in the engine bay), with the further observation that replacing the heat shield means that you wouldn’t have tarted anything up in the engine bay because no b*gger could see the upgrades, just the existing plate ally, which is decidedly non-shiny!
The heat shields in the NC are all totally visible and would look much nicer… I’ve already done the ABS pump shield which looks great.
Doing it to 80% of the original spec (I assume you mean just bolting it back on with the remaining bolts) wouldn’t be ideal as it would most likely rattle.
In that case, given that the Mazda R&D has determined a sufficient degree of heat management, my following question would be what you hope to achieve with the ceramic coating, except bling and, if that’s the case, why you would do that and then cover it over with the original heat shield such that no-one can see the bling?
The point of ceramic coating headers was always that it’s done in place of having a heat shield so that anyone looking in the engine bay sees the headers directly. Choose one or the other, not both!
At the same time, I’m not remotely suggesting that you shouldn’t do what you’ve set out to do to your own car, it just seemed slightly internally inconsistent which led to the question purely from the perspective of seeking to understand the thought process.
They are going to snap any way bud.
M-m
They won’t… I got all but one off without them snapping, and that’s because there was sufficient access to do it properly.
@Jitsuka, I’m not sure what you’re missing, but you are missing something…
As I said, I want to have the shield ceramic coated not because it’s going to serve a functional purpose, as the shield itself does that.
why you would do that and then cover it over with the original heat shield such that no-one can see the bling?
I’m not doing the headers, I want to do the heatshield…
As above, this isn’t about improving heat management, I’m purely doing it for cosmetic reasons and that’s that and so with total respect, I only asked for a solution to remove the inaccessible hardware, I don’t need a deep dive into my logic or thought process.
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I had missed that you were dressing the heat shield itself, which is my confusion which led to the whole discussion. Hope you achieve the result you’re looking for!
I ended up buying a set of Sealy low profile through sockets as you can squeeze these into some tight areas. If I remember correctly I used a ratchet spanner on the nuts that are hidden underneath the heat shield. I’ve got a new manifold to put on but will be re-installing the heat shield so while I’ve got it off I might detail it - If your local (Notts/Lincs) I’m more than happy to lend you the tools
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