Disclaimer: The instructions below are what I did to my car and can be used as a "guide" for working on yours. But, I take no responsibility for what you decide to do to your car. Be sure to read through all of the instructions first before doing anything to your vehicle.

Purpose: Keeps your engine bay cooler so your engine can work more efficiently. But my main purpose was to cover up my Pacesetter header, so that when I go to get my car smogged, hopefully, they won't see it and realize my header isn't CARB legal.

UPDATE: I passed smog !!! And I wouldn't have if I didn't have my heat shield. Read about some tips I learned on passing California smog tests.

Application: 1st Generation '95-'99 Dodge Neons.

Time Required: ~1 hr

Scale of Difficulty: 1 (5 being the hardest)

Cost: ~$12

Tools Required:

• Pen
• Ruler and/or Tape Measure
• Drill and 5/16" drill bit
• 12" x 18" 16ga sheet metal ($10 at Lowe's)
• Metal Snips or Dremel to cut the metal
• Smooth face hammer
• Couple blocks of wood
• (2) Clamps

  If you lost the original heat shield bolts you'll need:

• (2) 8mm x 18mm?? long, 1.25 pitch, bolts (< $1) and
• (2) 5/16" washers (< $1)
• Socket to fit the bolts (mine was 13mm)

NOTE -- All measurements were taken from my '98 DOHC. I'm not sure if the SOHC or different year DOHC's are much different or not, so you may want to double check the measurements before you proceed.

1. Take your sheet of metal and draw all of your cutting and bending lines as well as where the holes need to be drilled (see diagram).

2. Drill both 5/16" holes first, then cut the parts off that you need to, last thing is to bend the edges as shown (see diagram).

3. To make the bends, sandwich the metal in between two blocks of wood lined up with the dotted line you want to bend and secure with clamps on each side. Take your smooth faced hammer and lightly tap the metal the direction you want it to bend. Work from left to right and back again, bending the metal a little more each time until you get that 90º bend you need.

4. Take off any strut bar or intake setup that may be in the way and slide your new heat shield in from the driver's side. Be careful not to slice/cut any wires, cables *or flesh* when your moving the heat shield into place, as the edges of the metal are very sharp. Check the fit and adjust/trim accordingly.

5. Put the (2) bolts and washers in to hold the heat shield in place and don't forget to reattach the ground strap on the passenger's side bolt.

6. You may want to sand it down and paint it with a high temp paint to make it look purty and keep it from rusting.

Here's Mine:

BEFORE	AFTER

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