Steering Pinion Heat Shield Modifications

[BXMad]

Apart from being a pain to remove, the heat shield is awkward to refit. Holding the heat shield in the correct place, along with nut, washer & spanner whilst screwing in the M5 bolt is awkward and often results in bits rolling around on the floor or worse caught somewhere on/in the subframe!
So once I’d removed it, I cleaned it up, spot welded a nut/washer and painted it with black heat resistant paint. Getting it re-plated is preferable but I needed to get the car ready for its MOT retest the next day. A finishing touch is to add a dab of red paint on the bottom edge to make it easier to see the correct orientation when putting it back.
The other suggestion is to use an Allen bolt instead of the original hex bolt as its much easier to hold/guide into position and screw in by hand. Then you only need a wrench to nip it up.
BTW, do not forget the long thin spring used to dampen the heat shield rattling around and making a nasty noise.

[RobC]

Nice job! A job on my to do list

[Jaba]

Thats missing on many I think. Not on mine though.