My downpipe sits pretty darn close to my oilpan so I was contemplating using some of those adhesive heat wraps from Thermo-tec or DEI such as this:
http://www.thermotec.com/produ....html

Just wondering if anyone has tried it before, and specifically, will the adhesive stay sticky when the oilpan gets really hot? TIA

 

I really don't think the radiant heat from the downpipe will really make the oil pan any hotter than it already is.

 

waste of money.

 

meh...no point.
but if ya want buy some thermal wrap(cheaper then that adhesive stuff)

 

It should work....if your exhaust temps are greater than your oil pan temp(which they should be or else you are in trouble) then yes it will prevent flow of heat into your oil pan.

 

Hmm... I think if you put that stuff on your oil pan it would act more like an insulator than a reflector of heat.

In other words... your oil will be hotter because it is retaining heat it would normally shed away thru the thin sheet metal into the air.

 

trust me...heat flows up...the heat being rejected from the oil pan bottom is less than what is being lost thru the sides...toss into that equation the fact that downpipe heat is not being introduced thru the bottom...and you have oil that is less hot.

 

Maybe a better solution is to wrap the downpipe instead of the oil pan.

 

good thinking....although it would have to be used adhesive side out...and tied to the dp using those cheap bands with the screw.

 

Maybe it's a misconception that just because "hot air rises" that heat flows up. Heat doesn't flow "up" it flows from hot-to-cold. When your car is moving, there will most likely be convective cooling from the bottom of its oil pan. Is this cooling actually beneficial enough to warrant your concern...I'd seriously doubt it.

However, I do agree if you're going to obsess about your downpipe, a thermal wrap would be your best course of action.

(ME570-heat transfer...do they teach that at Columbia?)

 

it is not a misconception....hot air rises...if you have a heated plate which is laying horizontal then you will see the heat move along the bottom of the plate until it gets to the sides then keeps flows. And yes..for heat to transfer from one body to another there definitely needs to be a temperature difference between them. I guarantee you dp is at a higher temperature than your oil pan.

 

Sure, that's great for a heated plate sitting in still air, but where does the heat flow off of a plate immersed in a turbulent fluid flow where Tplate>Tfluid? The answer is not "up." Of course, if the air under the oil pan is completely stagnant while the vehicle is moving, this is all a wash....but I don't think it is.

Hot air isn't heat.

 

True indeed....there would be no benefit if you lived in a place where severe traffic was not a problem. Now if you lived in lets say Miami or New York(hot and humid summer day) and you were bound to see at least an hour of traffic...then the dp covering idea would be beneficial. That is all I am saying I am not going to sit here and theorize anything or start assuming the million possible conditions an oil pan will enounter.