How hot does the manifold get? LHT's testing on an S2000 equipped with the Mugen intake shows that the outside of the head by the intake to be 179°F... which will also probably rise even more, given that the coolant can reach temps of up to 200° and higher. External surfaces on the head are usually as hot as the coolant. How does the heatshield work? Simple: by providing a thermal barrier between the head (which radiates right into the airbox) and the airbox itself. Based on the testing LHT has done, the heatshield provides a reduction in temperature (between the motor and airbox) of 64°F- pretty impressive!!!

Where can you get one? Nick (Pappy) on http://www.s2ki.com has been organizing the custom building of these. Go there and PM him for more info. You will find several threads on the design, installation, and sales of these heatshields.

You will probably want to leave it loose for now (to provide you more room), but you will eventually want to remove the following bolt and relocate it here (see the green arrow):

Be sure to replace the bolt you removed (where the harness was) and retorque it to 8.7 ft-lbs. Proper torque is important, this is part of the VTEC solenoid assembly; if the bolt backs out, you could lose oil or oil pressure.

The red arrows in the picture above point to the two bolts you will need to remove and replace for the shield. Remove the bolts (with the 10mm driver) and set them aside. You might want to save these, if you ever turn your car back to stock.

Before actually installing the shield, you need to test-fit it. Assemble the new bolt through the new washer, then through the bottom hole on the heatshield bracket, then through the nylon spacer:

Being careful not to lose any parts, thread the bolt through the bottom hole on the VTEC Solenoid and start to thread it. While doing this, look at how the shield lines up. It should be parallel with the face of the head (and the airbox). If it just out further on one side than the other, or doesn't want to go into place right, look at the coolant line between it and the motor:

I had to move the hose clamp shown above so that it pointed up instead of out:

You might need to do the same. Once installed, on mine, the shield does touch the coolant line...

...but it shouldn't be a problem. Once the bottom bolt has started and you are sure the coolant clamp isn't in the way, assemble the top bolt through the washer, bracket, and spacer like you did the first. Thread that bolt through as well, and you should end up with something like this:

Once you get both bolts in and things look right, torque the bolts down to 10 ft-lbs. Be sure to torque them slowly, as the nylon will compress some as you tighten the bolt. Check for any interference between the shield and the pullies/belt- you want at least 1/16" clearance between the shield and them. If you don't have it, be sure the bolts are properly torqued. If that doesn't do it, loosen them and try to realign the shield (there is some play). Should that fail, try bending the bracket into place with it torqued down properly. Once you finish that, make sure that connector harness is tightened down, the other two bolts replaced, and replace the top of your airbox when you took it off. Congratulations, you're now done!

In order to not have to worry about this, I replaced the nylon spacers included in the kit with some steel ones:

    

The steel ones will not compress on installation or over time. I also added 6mm lock washers to help keep the bolts from backing out with vibration. Loctite would also work.

After talking with Nick, the original concern was keeping heat from the mounting bracket and the rivets that hold the carbon fiber shield to it. Using steel means that the heat from the head is communicated right to the bracket, which might be as much as 200°F. The carbon fiber should be able to handle it, but it does mean reduced effectiveness of the shield. With the other cooling modifications that I have, I wasn't worried very much about this.

Enjoy your new mod!

As always, feel free to email the author with comments, critiques, etc.