heat shielding the intake system

[go_a_way1]

I decided that I am going to do this to my TRD intake. It is a massive black box that gets so hot I can't even touch it (Borla UEL right under it, I will be wrapping those too after I get some data for you guys). Gold foil stuff is on order and will be here on the 1st. I will try to do some data logging before and after to see if it helps. I am most interested to seeing if it keeps air intake temps down in heavy traffic.

[avishenoy1]

Originally Posted by go_a_way1

I decided that I am going to do this to my TRD intake. It is a massive black box that gets so hot I can't even touch it (Borla UEL right under it, I will be wrapping those too after I get some data for you guys). Gold foil stuff is on order and will be here on the 1st. I will try to do some data logging before and after to see if it helps. I am most interested to seeing if it keeps air intake temps down in heavy traffic.

Wrapping your header with [ame="http://www.amazon.com/010127-Titanium-Exhaust-Header-Wrap/dp/B002R4U72I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440613260&sr=8-1&keywords=dei+exhaust+wrap"]this[/ame] stuff is going to make the biggest difference on your under hood temps and thus your intake temps.

If you really want to wrap the airbox and inlet tube (which I don't think is necessary since they're silicone), you should use [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Thermo-Tec-13575-Adhesive-Backed-Barrier/dp/B00029KC2K/ref=pd_sbs_263_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0R0XV5TMSZ3B62K9R7 KP"]this[/ame] stuff because the silica weave fabric will insulate much better than aluminum alone.

[go_a_way1]

Originally Posted by avishenoy1

Wrapping your header with this stuff is going to make the biggest difference on your under hood temps and thus your intake temps.

If you really want to wrap the airbox and inlet tube (which I don't think is necessary since they're silicone), you should use this stuff because the silica weave fabric will insulate much better than aluminum alone.

http://www.mishimoto.com/heat-defens...tive-tape.html

http://www.mishimoto.com/titanium-he...g-tie-set.html

Those are what I have on order. The plan is do get logs with no mods (well no heat shield), Then a few logs with just gold foil, then with both foil and header wrap. They should be showing up on the first so we will see when I get around to installing the gold foil. Wrap for headers might be a few weeks till I have a hoist to use.

[OkieSnuffBox]

I would bet at speed air is moving fast enough through intake to not have any appreciable temperature gain. I realize it will heat soak in traffic........but so? Are running the stop light gran prix against the caravan next to you and need the extra 0.5% in HP?

[Gear_One_Performance]

We wrapped the bottom of our intake and the bottom of our intake manifold in gold foil heat shielding. While we don't have any before numbers of intake temps I can tell you that to the touch there is a noticeable difference in temp of the parts.

[go_a_way1]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

I would bet at speed air is moving fast enough through intake to not have any appreciable temperature gain. I realize it will heat soak in traffic........but so? Are running the stop light gran prix against the caravan next to you and need the extra 0.5% in HP?

BINGO! hahaha! jokes aside, I bet you are right with the air speed being enough under WOT to get cooler air into the cylinders quickly, but what about throttle response for those first 2 seconds or however long you will be pulling it hot air? The general rule is every 10F = 1% HP so we will see if I notice any difference on the butt dyno.

[go_a_way1]

Hey guys so after various tests using the torque app on my head unit I can say my air intake temps are about 10-15C higher then ambient temps while driving around. To my surprise the air intake temp rose really fast while sitting in traffic. Like it would creep up 20-30C fairly fast and then drop fairly quick until I stopped again then shoot right back up. Is there an effect on performance, probably not much but I will heatshield it just to see what happens.

This is with borla UEL and TRD intake. Also fun fact highest intake temp i saw was over 75C sitting with the car off in my driveway. No wonder I cant touch that plastic haha!! Highest temp I saw in traffic was 60c in 25c heat. The car was never really stopped for more then a minute or so.

[notout86]

Oh BOY I am looking forward to your measurements go_away_1.

You said "the general rule is every 10F = 1% HP" but now you have gone metric with your Celsius temperatures. What is the general rule with degrees Celsius and KW? With the passage of time I am uncertain about the physics and relationship between temperature and power and remember that Absolute temperature should be used in the calculation but with the differences between intake and ambient figures you are seeing I suspect small but worthwhile power gains.
I will repeat that the gains are cumulative with time.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

I would bet at speed air is moving fast enough through intake to not have any appreciable temperature gain. I realize it will heat soak in traffic........but so? Are running the stop light gran prix against the caravan next to you and need the extra 0.5% in HP?

Follow up, I used my OFT to look at intake temps the last few days.

In around town traffic, it would heat soak quickly at a stop, say 20-30° above the what the dash claims is ambient. Start moving and it dropped very quicklyto within 15-20°.

At speed? On the highway? Or around town but no stopping for awhile? The temps were consitently within 8-11° of ambient.

[go_a_way1]

Originally Posted by notout86

Oh BOY I am looking forward to your measurements go_away_1.

You said "the general rule is every 10F = 1% HP" but now you have gone metric with your Celsius temperatures. What is the general rule with degrees Celsius and KW? With the passage of time I am uncertain about the physics and relationship between temperature and power and remember that Absolute temperature should be used in the calculation but with the differences between intake and ambient figures you are seeing I suspect small but worthwhile power gains.
I will repeat that the gains are cumulative with time.

Thanks the heat shield stuff should be here today my rule does come from the V8 world so I am not sure if it still applies to our engine. You could convert the Celsius to F via a google caculator I was just a little lazy last night haha! The air intake temps drop really fast when you start moving so I am more interested if I can get them down to really close to ambient. I was surprised they were that much higher while moving TBH. I would have thought that enough air flows fast enough but apparently not.

[solidONE]

Let's just say it does not lower intake air temps while wide open. So what? It will surely improve IAT under part throttle. Improvement is improvement. Even under track duty you will have situations where your only partially open(throttle). Also it not like these heat reflective stuff cost a lot to begin with.

Just do it. Nike.

[OkieSnuffBox]

No, it will only help with heat soak while NOT moving. Any movement at all quickly brings down the IAT, full throttle or not.

[solidONE]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

No, it will only help with heat soak while NOT moving. Any movement at all quickly brings down the IAT, full throttle or not.

Just for that, I will test your theory myself. Who has a spare stock airbox laying around?

[stugray]

If you want to provide any benefit, you want an external blanket material that has a high emittance and a low absorptance.
This means it is good at radiating heat, but poor at absorbing it.

Low "absorbtance to emittance ratios" are typically made with Clear teflon coatings with a shiny surface mirror finish.
And they are directional.
For this application you would use a "second surface mirror" teflon flim with the aluminized surface down towards the intake tube.

So a DIY solution would be to apply real gold leaf (actually not that expensive) covered in a teflon based clearcoat.