Intercooler Piping Insulation

[Tony de Wonderful]

I bought this stuff from the big Bunnings Warehouse (in Canning I think). It is about $14 a meter and consists of bubble wrap sandwiched between layers of reflective material. I figured it would make good insulation for the intercooler piping in my engine bay.

It is very hot right now during that day, and I have no doubt that the hot temperature inside my engine bay is heating my charged air back up between it exiting the intercooler and entering the throttle body. So this is an attempt to mitigate that.

I had considered wrapping my intercooler piping with just this high-temp reflective tape you can buy, but this other material also provides a barrier to conduction rather than just radiation, so I figured it would be better.

I took the pipe off and then wrapped it with one layer and then remounted it. I used tie-wraps. The alternative is to wrap the whole thing in a layer of high-temp reflective tape. One reason I used the tie-wraps is because I want to observe the condition of the insulation over time, to see how it fairs in this high-temp environment. It looks a bit crappy with the tie-wraps but this is not a show car after all!

I had to trim the fan a little more because you lose around 3-4 mm clearance. No big deal.

I used less that half a meter so this is ~$7 + say $5 of tie-wraps. So it is ~$13 to do this mod.

I calculate if I lower the temp by ~10 deg C I get ~3% more power, so on a moderately tuned 33 that is say 6 Kilowatts, so that is ~$2 a kilowatt. Even cheaper than a HKS sticker.

[Hanaldo]

Even cheaper than a HKS sticker.

Come on, a HKS sticker is easily 30kw at the wheels no matter what car you drive!

Lol, would be interesting to see the gains from this Joe, have you got anything like an intake air temperature gauge? Anything that could show the difference before and after?

[Tony de Wonderful]

Come on, a HKS sticker is easily 30kw at the wheels no matter what car you drive!

Lol, would be interesting to see the gains from this Joe, have you got anything like an intake air temperature gauge? Anything that could show the difference before and after?

I've got a thermocouple and digital readout kit which I need to solder up and mount to a PCB. Not decided where to mount the thermocouple on the actual intake yet though. Still it will mean taking the insulation off again if I feel the need to 'prove' its worth as I will need to test with and without the insulation in place.

Basically if you open the engine bay after driving around the piping is very hot. This has to help a bit is my feeling.

[The Bogan]

Looks better than the tape with the tar backing I put on mine which took 3 days to get off.

Use wire to secure the wrap or you can get stainless steel cable ties from a elec wholesaler, dont need the special tie gun, just pull em tight like normal ties then bend em till they snap, they look sweet and will take the heat and air turbulance.

I had simular set up before I went forward facing plenum and after a while it started to tear up so I then covered joins with thin alloy sticky tape stuff which helped stop it from catching air.

[Tony de Wonderful]

Looks better than the tape with the tar backing I put on mine which took 3 days to get off.

Use wire to secure the wrap or you can get stainless steel cable ties from a elec wholesaler, dont need the special tie gun, just pull em tight like normal ties then bend em till they snap, they look sweet and will take the heat and air turbulance.

I had simular set up before I went forward facing plenum and after a while it started to tear up so I then covered joins with thin alloy sticky tape stuff which helped stop it from catching air.

Ok thanks for the tip mlr.

Did you notice any benefit to this insulation? Did you measure temps?

[The Bogan]

Na sorry, didnt do any readings or pre -post tests, but the temp was better as I didnt burn my hand when I held the top pipe.

[Tony de Wonderful]

A bit off topic but does anyone know what this thing is (circled in red on the photo)?

I was hoping it would reveal a port which I can stick my thermocouple in?

[Ehgriez]

thats where i get my boost reading from. i.e. vac line

[Jolinator]

i remember sydneykid saying that heat wrapping piping in this style is someone negligible, given the velocity and mass of air moving through the piping when your really on it. where your intake is getting its air from is most important.

[Tony de Wonderful]

i remember sydneykid saying that heat wrapping piping in this style is someone negligible, given the velocity and mass of air moving through the piping when your really on it. where your intake is getting its air from is most important.

Yes I read that but Sydney kid only offers a qualitative opinion, no empirical or even theoretical evidence.

[Nic_A31]

theoretical evidence?

OK you have a 2.5 litre engine, if you're on 6 grand, you're engine is consuming

6000 x 2.5,

15'000 litres of air, every minute.

Even at idle rpm, the air moves from the intercooler to the throttle body much faster than it would take for a "hot day" to heat it back up.

[Tony de Wonderful]

theoretical evidence?

OK you have a 2.5 litre engine, if you're on 6 grand, you're engine is consuming

6000 x 2.5,

15'000 litres of air, every minute.

Even at idle rpm, the air moves from the intercooler to the throttle body much faster than it would take for a "hot day" to heat it back up.

Yes I know and it means a residence time in the pipe (I insulated) of only ~0.024 seconds.

What is the residence time in the intercooler though? Must be about the same?

Yes the pipe is not designed to exchange heat like an intercooler but that does not mean the air is not being heated back up measurably.

Anyway this is all academic until I install my temp gauge.

[Nic_A31]

Intercooler is a bit longer.

You'll find this will struggle to differ 1 degree C, let alone 10, or any noticeable difference.

It might be more effective with a front facing plenum, since its less distance to travel and isnt going over the heads / near any heat sources. But again, the difference this makes is very minor.

[Tony de Wonderful]

Intercooler is a bit longer.

You'll find this will struggle to differ 1 degree C, let alone 10, or any noticeable difference.

It might be more effective with a front facing plenum, since its less distance to travel and isnt going over the heads / near any heat sources. But again, the difference this makes is very minor.

You may be right but I would still prefer to actually measure it.

The autospeed article claimed 7-10 deg C.

I'm waiting on a thermocouple extension cable from egay at the moment so will have to keep everyone in suspense for a couple of weeks.

[woggin]

You may be right but I would still prefer to actually measure it.

The autospeed article claimed 7-10 deg C.

I'm waiting on a thermocouple extension cable from egay at the moment so will have to keep everyone in suspense for a couple of weeks.

i reckon it would be keeping the heat in!!!! Think about it turbo compresses air, air gets hot coz it get compressed, air stays hot because its insulated! insulation keeps the heat in! the only place i can see it having a +ve effect is for the airbox! keep the heat away from the airbox, air stays cooler, but then gets compressed and heated. the only other how it could have an affect is if you had a dry ice intercooler, inlet temps acan get as low as -50 anyways though!

any affects post IC would me marginal and not worth it, until i see numbers and proof!

[snozzle]

yeah i agree with most people here, logically thinking, what you have done will make no difference at all

the exhaust side of things is a different story, keeping the heat inside the exhaust system will make it flow quicker away from the engine which is wat a turbo engine wants

your better off investing money into a CAI, u will find that starting off with colder air (more compressed) is a lot easier to achieve than cooling hot air down after it has already gone through an intercooler and is going through a standard intake manifold anyway

nice effort though, at least your giving it a go!

Edited February 28, 2010 by snozzle

[ColdFusion]

i reckon it would be keeping the heat in!!!! Think about it turbo compresses air, air gets hot coz it get compressed, air stays hot because its insulated! insulation keeps the heat in! the only place i can see it having a +ve effect is for the airbox! keep the heat away from the airbox, air stays cooler, but then gets compressed and heated. the only other how it could have an affect is if you had a dry ice intercooler, inlet temps acan get as low as -50 anyways though!

any affects post IC would me marginal and not worth it, until i see numbers and proof!

Umm what? Have you ever felt the pre side and post side pipe of an intercooler after a drive? Fair difference.

The pipe behind the radiator gets incredibly hot thereby reheating the air before it reaches the engine. Insulating that pipe reduces the amount that the heated radiator exhaust air can heat up that pipe. The cool air still coming from the intercooler then cools the pipe back down anyway which should be a minimal increase, unless the insulation is not thick enough and lets too much heat through.

[GTR-32U]

I would think that whilst on the continous move the gains would be minimal.But add stop start traffic into the equation and it may help reduce heat soak into the piping. I would be interested to know if this mod helps spool up in a stop start situation

[woggin]

Umm what? Have you ever felt the pre side and post side pipe of an intercooler after a drive? Fair difference.

The pipe behind the radiator gets incredibly hot thereby reheating the air before it reaches the engine. Insulating that pipe reduces the amount that the heated radiator exhaust air can heat up that pipe. The cool air still coming from the intercooler then cools the pipe back down anyway which should be a minimal increase, unless the insulation is not thick enough and lets too much heat through.

Oh yea, i forgot that skylines had the intercooler pipe go right behind the rad, i kept thinkin, coz i drive a toyota(front facing intake manifold), theres gona be no gain, but it may help on the track but i dont see any huge gains, except not burning yourself on that pipe, you'll just get burnt by everything else thats still 85+ degrees thats around it would be interesting to see real results!

I would think that whilst on the continous move the gains would be minimal.But add stop start traffic into the equation and it may help reduce heat soak into the piping. I would be interested to know if this mod helps spool up in a stop start situation

the only ways to increase spool up on the intake side are:

Shorter intake tract

Cooler inlet temps(dry ice, W-A IC etc.)

water/meth injection(basically same as cooler inlet temps)

fixing air leaks

allowing motor to breathe more

nitrous oxide(stupid for better spool on a small turbo as can be dangerous under 3000rpm)

on the exhaust side theres quite a few things! can get quite complex! but basics are:

smoother exhaust manifold collecter(6 boost manifold usually good at this)

better wastegate integration (bad integration can cause turbulance)

Heat wrapping exhaust housing as well as dump

wastegate actuator line from intake plenum instead of turbo comp. housing

EBC/ ball and spring boost controller

antilag

theres heaps, exhxaust size, materials used, length, etc.

could go on forever!

[Tony de Wonderful]

Heat wrapping exhaust housing as well as dump

So insulation does work!?