The idea of heat shield is not to absorb the heat, it will melt if it had to.. The idea is to reflect it back. I am not sure if any heat shields are better than others, just saying stock one is more pliable.

 

You can find Embossed Aluminum Heat Shield material on eBay and Amazon. It's basically the same stuff as the OEM shields but you have to form it to fit yourself. You would probably also have to attach it with stainless steel zip ties (and probably some grommets) vs. the OE bolt-on approach. It's a very cost effective option but not nearly as clean as a $300 purpose built product.

Something like this:
https://turbosource.com/pages/inconel-custom-made-heat-shielding-ordering-form

 

I don't believe the OEM heat shielding is aluminum. It is Inconel like what you posted.

For the ultimate in heat shielding, send your parts to ATP or TurboSource for heat shield wrapping. It keeps the bay temps lower than stock, keeps the heat in the exhaust, AND doesn't void your warranty like a fabric wrap would do.

 

Yeah, the Iconel stuff is the way to go if you can afford it. The Aluminum sheet would probably need to be air gapped a bit to be safe and probably wouldn't last as long.

All of that said, you should be able to bend up the OE pieces quite a bit. If you're running the stock manifold, you should be able to get the top bolted on and bend up the downpipe portion to still cover the exhaust.

 

I wanted to get a custom made one at a local metal fabrication shop but realized I might as well use my stock one and just bend the shit out of it. I have a MAP Cast with a MHI-18k and didn't want to go that route, but track temps are no joke with the manifold exposed the way it is now. I really like the Titanium one and could have bought it used for $180 but not sure it'd fit with my manifold.

 

Thanks for the replies - I was leaning more towards molding the stock shield and bolting it back on with the few attachment points that are on the manifold. I also came across some Turbomotiv OEM/MAP manifold blankets and stock frame turbo blankets. Somewhat pricey for both, but at least I can re-use the turbo blanket if I upgrade the turbo in the future (it's my daily, so I don't really plan on going much larger than an 18k if I do). They also make a blanket for tubular manifolds as well. Does anyone have any experience with manifold or turbo blankets?

 

Oh, I had no idea they made those - thanks for sharing. I guess I'll add it to my list of things to keep an eye out for.

But for $200, I think a custom Iconel heat shield like posted above is a better investment. If you look through the build thread for Razorlab's racecar build and flip back a few pages you'll see what a sick job they did for his turbo kit.

 

you can always just wrap it or have it ceramic coated if you're feeling fancy