heat shielding the intake system

[notout86]

Oh well............ back to the drawing board. I am chuffed however that this thread stimulated so much debate.

Although I was kidding myself that I could feel a little more pep under post-heat-soak take offs, I will leave the mod on for the slight cumulative gain.

Now, what about the idea of heat-shielding the coolant bottle to reduce evaporation and the battery to prolong its life? They DO work.

[stugray]

Originally Posted by notout86

Oh well............ back to the drawing board. I am chuffed however that this thread stimulated so much debate.

Although I was kidding myself that I could feel a little more pep under post-heat-soak take offs, I will leave the mod on for the slight cumulative gain.

Now, what about the idea of heat-shielding the coolant bottle to reduce evaporation and the battery to prolong its life? They DO work.

Well actually I dont hate all of the ideas that get proposed.
I think we should do "Thermally Isolated Air Intakes" and lightened rotating engine components, and "intake runner lengtheners" and CF hoods when done for the right reasons

And when we use reasonable assumptions to perform the cost/benefit analysis.

I build spaceflight hardware so I know the extremes that engineers will go to, to get that last .01%.
However before there is ever a penny spent on updating something that is already proven to work, there must be a cost/benefit justification and at least some engineering trade offs performed.

Even thermally isolating the air intake is a good idea (just keeping the intake air at a more consistent temp helps the ECU) but is it worth the effort?
Now if you could just plate the inside & outside of the entire intake box in polished Al, that would look nice.

[solidONE]

Originally Posted by stugray

Well actually I dont hate all of the ideas that get proposed.
I think we should do "Thermally Isolated Air Intakes" and lightened rotating engine components, and "intake runner lengtheners" and CF hoods when done for the right reasons

And when we use reasonable assumptions to perform the cost/benefit analysis.

I build spaceflight hardware so I know the extremes that engineers will go to, to get that last .01%.
However before there is ever a penny spent on updating something that is already proven to work, there must be a cost/benefit justification and at least some engineering trade offs performed.

Even thermally isolating the air intake is a good idea (just keeping the intake air at a more consistent temp helps the ECU) but is it worth the effort?
Now if you could just plate the inside & outside of the entire intake box in polished Al, that would look nice.

I'm looking into maybe some type of spray on thermal coating. Seems to be a lot less effort than trying to tape the thing up in gold tape.. Just clean it then spray then wait till it cures to reinstall. simple, assuming the airbox plastic and the paint play well chemically. Any suggestions? I'm assuming ceramic paint (such as header paint) is probably not going to be as effective than the gold film or glass fibre tape.

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by stugray

when done for the right reasons

You mean because it looks good, right?

[churchx]

Ceramic paint for headers .. are you sure that it is applicable and will stick to intake plastics and that you will be able to heat up it together with plastic intake for it to stick?
I'd just add oil rad, sports thermostat and be done with it.

[go_a_way1]

Originally Posted by solidONE

I'm looking into maybe some type of spray on thermal coating. Seems to be a lot less effort than trying to tape the thing up in gold tape.. Just clean it then spray then wait till it cures to reinstall. simple, assuming the airbox plastic and the paint play well chemically. Any suggestions? I'm assuming ceramic paint (such as header paint) is probably not going to be as effective than the gold film or glass fibre tape.

Paint would do jack sh*t for you. And yes the tape was ahell of a lot of effort on a TRD intake and it is already starting to lift in afew spots. gona come off when I wash my engine. I thinking wrapping yourheaders will yield more gains the worrying about AIT. Wrapped headers will flowthe exhaust at increased velocity’s (helps HP) and will reduce under hood temps(help AIT)

[solidONE]

Stugray was talking about some sort of teflon coating with a glossy finish. Sounded like maybe there's a product like this. I guess not. Sounds like the reflective tape is the only effective option. I suppose a heat shield made with thin sheet aluminum attached to the airbox can be made with little effort and can be found at most hardware stores, but I'm not sure if that will work as well as the gold reflective tape being sold for this purpose.

I'll figure something out once I'm there. I got plenty of stuff on the priorities list ahead of heat shielding the intake.

Heat sheilding product w/adhesive backing: https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/hp-sticky-shield

With a little more bling: https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/lava-shield

[solidONE]

I dont think this is enough heat shielding.


Had some of this "handyman" sheet aluminum from Home Depot laying around. Maybe 14~16mil thick?


It's loosely fitted with double sided foam tape, and not completely encased. So far in 100f ambient, it doesn't seem to do much of anything for IAT's. The hottest portion of the intake seems to be the hose that connects to the TB. That's going to need a layer of shielding to see any appreciable drop in IAT, I think,

[churchx]

Looks nice. Much neater then some wraps with lot of wrinkles i've seen.

[solidONE]

Originally Posted by churchx

Looks nice. Much neater then some wraps with lot of wrinkles i've seen.

Too bad it doesn't work very well.

This stuff look very snazzy: https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/lava-shield

[kodyo]

Originally Posted by stugray

The difference in air density at STP between 90 & 100 deg F is ~1.6%.

But since air is only ~20% oxygen, this means you are getting .3% more oxygen.


Or about the same as getting 0.050 PSI of boost.

So driving into a headwind would make a bigger difference in HP.

Your math is flawed. All air entering the box is 20% oxygen. Therefore, a 1.6% increase in volumetric flow would also result in 1.6% increase in oxygen, not 20%*1.6%.

[notout86]

Hi solidONE. Attachment with double-sided tape sounds OK. I imagine just in a few spots to allow a gap for air to circulate underneath. If the tape dries out and loses adhesion ithe shield should still be attached somehow so it does not fall off . As the shield is slightly uneven, direct contact of the shield to the box will be minimal even without tape so heat CONDUCTION will also be minimal.

[go_a_way1]

Hey guys. The gold foil tape is still holding on but I have been thinking that the intake manifold has a lot more surface area on the inside the air contacts and I feel that is where AIT go up the most? Thoughts?

[churchx]

My thoughts is that it's not worth to spend that much effort/time. At most i'd think of adding oil rad and that's it. Slight heat soak when stationary doesn't matter to me, as when car goes at reasonable speed, not much of an issue. Intake heat insulation won't do anything to hot weather/ambient temps anyway.