I have the Dragon Fire exhaust that they of coarse claimed wont melt the plastics as no heat shield with it but it does even with it ceramic coated. Some have even melted their plastics with stock header/exhaust. Mine melted it so bad it created a large gap behind the passenger seat that let heat in the cab (maybe a feature LOL) and likely alot of dust (like we need any more in there). So, ordered up the $90 piece of plastic that sits behind the passenger seat and bought a 12x18 sheet of thin sheet metal and cut it to 10in by 10in with tin snips after taking some measurements. its as big as you can go and stay away from engine a little and tuck up under plastics on outer side. Sprayed it with high temp black paint to hopefully hold the rust off and hide it a bit. Just drilled two holes in the frame just behind the header and it slipped in just fine and mounted with small sheet metal screws ... $12 fix. There was also a hole drille din both my original and new plastics in the area that melted/warped really bad but there was no hole in the frame to make use of it ... drilled the hole here and screwed it down so that if this does not work it should not warp the plastics to the point of needing to be replaced like I had too. Dont know if this mod is for you trail riders who catch stuff on fire up there ... might help or hurt ... dunno ...

My Melted plastic:


New plastic with silver bolt screwed in this time:


New heat shield mounting location with holes drilled:


Heat shield mounted:

I know what I'm doing tomorrow.
I do have a question though, would it be better to clamp a protective shield to the header pipe versus mounting the plate to the plastic body??
Maybe both??
Possible header wrap?

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My RZR Project

Keep It Wet and Dirty!

you need to cover your heat shield with heat deflactive tape.you can get it at the hardware.it looks like a roll of tin foil duct tape. i had case tractor that i gave a new paint job and the header bubbled the paint. i talked to dealer and it comes that way from factory. i dident think it would work. but it worked great. rzrider im putting some on the inside of my plastic. i have stock exhaust. i think it will work for your mod exhaust also. but that needs to be your call. i think you can get non-flamable insalation with heat foil backing.

I like that. The other ones I saw went up against the plastic and this one has an inch of open air between the plastic and the heatshield.

I am fairly sure this will do the trick as mentioned it mounts to the frame so there is a gap between the header and the plastics. The heat defective tape is also good but with how dirty and possibly wet it might be getting down there not so sure how long it would hold up with just a sticky backing ... I would rivet it or something possibly. I did a very similar custome heat shield on my old Raptor quad as the mid pipe would burn my leg and melt my pants ... insane amount of heat ... just cut a piece of diamond plate Aluminum and it was even attached just to my plastics and its amazing how just a thin sheet of sheet of metal with an air gap between the heat source will deflect the heat. Hint ... you can buy diamond plate also which is probably even better as it is a typically a little thicker, lighter in general, conducts heat even better, and wont rust ... I just did not want this heat shield to "show" ... I went stealth but may switch to an Al piece of one type or another down the road. As long as the paint is high heat type it should hold up assuming the piece of metal it was sprayed on was cleaned really well before painting it.

twvette
Your shield may even be better than the Trail Armor shield that cost me $40

Trail Armor RZR Exhaust and Engine Heat Shield - Custom ATV Accessories by Trail Armor

RJ

I like diamond plate idea it would look good polished. i will still use heat tape for a little extra help. also my right fender is looking a little warped near the exhaust area. (just a little) the tape will work good there. and its easy to get to if i have to replace it.

Yeah, I am thinking the diamond plate might be the way to go now as again it is thicker and Al is a better heat sink. My thin sheet metal is deflecting alot of heat but the plastic still is getting very hot. Maybe I will just switch to diamond plate and spray it black too.

I was thinking the heat tape right on the plastic and a shield like this in front of it.

Good job btw, unless you knew it was an add on I'd think it came that way from the factory.

So I just now unloaded my new greany.

I'm looking at the plastic and it is actually touching the small heat shield that is mounted on the exhaust.

3 minutes run time and its melting.

What else do I need to fix before I ride it the first time?

hey vette, if you still have heat problems, pull that piece of steel out of there and put a piece of aluminum in. it will do a much better job of dissapating the heat.
see (in pic) how close my exhaust comes to the back wall?
its kinda took apart in this pic, but when it's all together i have an aluminum heat shield there and my pipes get cherry red when i ride hard with no melting problems.

Mine did the same thing and I have stock exhaust.

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www.UTVGuide.net

12 dollar piece of aluminum (doesnt even have to be thick) would have saved it..
i dont know what the new plastic costs for that piece but i would definately put a heat shield in .

because only some fo the rzr's melt the back panel, i am led to believe that part of this could be an exhaust leak. where hot exhaust is blowing out and causing hotspots. this kind of plastic is heat resilient up to a point.. once it's too hot it fails quickly.

Common thread between Todd & I is we both ride in the dunes. Full Throttle for long periods of time is what we do.

Can someone provide a source for the aluminum heat tape. I'm assuming that it is similiar the the tape already installed on the Air box. I would like to install some on the plastic near the header heatshield. I installed an Polaris FMF pipe and it seems that the header is now much closer to my plastic fender well.

Thanks