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How To: Chrome 520 Exhaust Heat Shield on Smaller Machines
grnlark posted a topic in Restorations, Modifications, & Customizations
Several weeks back I was searching the net for a thread that might address the question: Will a chrome 520 muffler heat shield fit a smaller series machine? I found a few bits of information here and there, but nothing that really answered the question. With that said, I hope this thread finds some of you well. Here’s what I initially gathered from reading the net and various conversations: the 520 guard is too long, it needs to be modified, they still offer the chrome guard new thru Toro and all guards are the same. Let me give you the accurate answers based on my recent experience. The 520 guard is a bit longer (illustrated below), depending which guard you get, it does not need to be modified at all, the chrome guard is NOT offered new thru Toro – only the black, and the guards are definitely not all the same. There appears to be 2 different chrome guards and 1 black. One of the chrome guards has mounting holes on the outside edges and the other has the mounting holes set in a few inches from the edge (mine pictured below). I imagine they differed based on the engine – obviously. The black guard (as far as I can tell) is only offered with the holes set in a few inches from the edge. When I bought my 310, the muffler was totally smooth with no mounting tabs welded to it for a guard. I was able to get a muffler from a 414, which was exactly identical but did have the tabs. I then took a gamble and purchased the chrome shield you see below (from a 520). I only needed to make one bracket for this to be a direct bolt-on without any modifications to the muffler or guard. 1) Piece of mild steel cut to length with three holes drilled. 2) Bracket blasted and painted with high temp black. I slipped sheetmetal fasteners on the 4 muffler tabs and used stainless 8/32 hardware. 3) I used the factory mounting location(s) for both the guard and the muffler. 4) Both are factory muffler tab locations. On the shield, the 8/32 screw fits thru the horizontal slot without modification. Sure, its not the “correct†mounting location for the shield, but personally, I think it’s fine. 5) Attaches the factory shield mounting point to the homemade bracket. On this screw I have a stainless lock washer and nut (vs. sheetmetal fastener). 6) Is there a length difference? Yes. It is approx. 1.5â€-2â€. Quite honestly, it doesn’t bother me one bit, but that’s me – and I’m pretty picky about this stuff. I’ve never claimed to be an expert about these later model WH’s, so if anything I’ve noted above seems to be in error, please feel free to comment. My hope is that this info helps others out in the future.
