like me. well, i decided that with a blower, it is my duty to bang the booty and make sure that i do what i can to keep intake air temps as low as possible. turn your intake from this into this .
all you need to do is go to your local Home Despot and pick up these three items: 1) Pipe Insulation, 4" width
2) a roll of insulation tape
and
3) a roll of reflective aluminum tape

then you wrap a layer of the pipe insulation around the intake tube from end to end, making sure no metal is exposed. use some 'lectrical tape to secure the insulation at first. next, add a layer of the foam insulation tape, wrapping tightly and making sure you have complete coverage on top of the pipe insulation, and last, add a nice even and complete coverage of a layer of the reflective aluminum tape. reinstall and then tell they ladies you like to "play it safe" ...
enjoy.

p.s. after a hard afternoon of driving, the intake is MUCH cooler to the touch!!

 

yeah but if that gets heat soaked in traffic all that insulation will hold the heat IN the pipe..

cool idea.

 

I just wanted to give you props on a very clean engine bay, you could seriously eat off of it.. I love seing people take care of their cars, very nice representation..!

Adi

 

thanks. it is my second car so i only drive it on nice days etc etc and clean it after every drive. the heat soak issue i think isn't that bad since the insulation will take a LONG time to pass all the heat to the tube, and there is 3" drier hose to the tub that ducts in cooler air from the fender as well ...

 

very clean engine bay ... but i think you might be better off with automotive heat wrap. that stuff might not be able to withstand such high temps.

 

Excellent idea, I think I will go out to homedepot right now!! but what I really want to know is where did you get that little "tub" that goes around your filter? That looks like something I would love to have in my S/C setup....

 

the tub is actually a massacred $1.99 (or was it $2.99) rubbermaid trashcan from Ace hardware


Modified by vactor at 9:33 PM 6/9/2003

 

creative but why the reflective tape? i don't see any point to it. also the insulation package says "fiberglass and plastic" on top. isn't there risk of those materials easily catching fire? like someone said before, you might be better off getting automotive heat wrap, or ceramic coating the piping.

 

the "plastic" refers to plastic sleeves that came in the package that u can put around the insulation after installed on water pipes to keep moisture off. it's not part of the insulation itself.

 

i'm also gonna go out and datalog this thing with my hondata this weekend if the weather is nice and report back ...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vactor &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the tub is actually a massacred $199 (or was it $2.99) rubbermaid trashcan from Ace hardware </TD></TR></TABLE>

where did you get the foam lip for the garbage can? did you just slit it and slip it on the ridge? i think i need one for my JRSC setup as well....

 

foam lip is window insulation tape. like$4 a roll also from ace hardware. one side is adhesive and stick (sort of) to the can.

 

I've considered doing this to my intake as well, but am more inclined to using "header" wrap. Before and after datalogs would be nice to see if it really made an impact.

 

great write up.

i had no idea the insulation tape was avaliable at HD, but then i remembered its used in HVAC.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by newgsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I just wanted to give you props on a very clean engine bay, you could seriously eat off of it.. I love seing people take care of their cars, very nice representation..!

Adi</TD></TR></TABLE>

Seriously, its cleaner than my apartment

 

thanks for the complimnts on the engine bay. i rarely drive the car like i saidand i clean it all the time. imho the bay is currently pretty dirty, i'll take a larger pic of it and post it as well . btw, you may also want to run some 3" diameter drier hose to the fender from the tub for more cooler air ... i did that as well but didn't take pics of it ... should help a little bit as well ...

 

FYI that foil wrapped bubble wrap for hot water tanks also works VERY well. after driving all day, i shut off teh motor peel back the bubblwrap and the pipe is COLD! not warm, not hot at all, but cold!

 

dang i think thats a great idea. how much was the tape and insulation?

 

altogether parts were about $12 i think ...

 

To be honest, that mod wont really help. Air does not stay in a intake pipe long enough to conduct heat and a intake pip also has no fins in it that will have any kind of surface that heat will radiate from. Its a great idea and is done very well for the right price, but it really doesnt help. Egine bay looks real nice though. Now your sheild around where the air draws from (the filter) that works real well..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ninesecrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To be honest, that mod wont really help. Air does not stay in a intake pipe long enough to conduct heat and a intake pip also has no fins in it that will have any kind of surface that heat will radiate from. Its a great idea and is done very well for the right price, but it really doesnt help. Egine bay looks real nice though. Now your sheild around where the air draws from (the filter) that works real well..</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup that is true the air does not show any beneift from wrap. its been proven time after the gain from your air box separator device is probably your best bet.

 

well, i know there is little surface area inside, but the pipe was getting almost too hot to touch. even if i can cool the incoming air by a single degree, considering the cost of this modification, it will be money well spent imho. i will be doing some datalogging runs next week (going to Canada F1 this weekend) and i will do some back to back 1/2 hour heat soak tests. i also insulated the tub the same way and routed 3" drier ducting to the fender. like i said, since i do not have an IC i am doing whatever i can to lower under hood and intake air temps. i will be getting some header wrap as well, even though the ehaders are already ceramic coated. it gets hot as s.h.i.t. underhood ...

 

Cooling the intake air by one degree farenheight is worth .18% more airflow. On a car making 200 hp, that's about 0.37 horsepower. I don't think that's worth anything more than 1 minute of your time, let alone a trip to the store.

Judging the effectiveness of something based on how it feels probably isn't your best bet.

Cooling the intake charge by ducting in cold ambient air, on the other hand, is a GREAT idea. Underhood temps can easily clear 100 degrees in traffic on a warm day, I've seen over 120 without much sitting around. Dropping that back down to an ambient 80 degrees or so, could be worth up to about 10 hp.

Edited because I can't type.

 

i don't care much about getting more power, i wanna make sure i keep temps down to limit adverse effects of hot air preignition ... here are some more pics. this is for those who though the engine bay was clean ... .

this is a pic of the wrap around the tub, i may do another layer ... . next is a top-down pic shwoing the hose going into the fender. may do some additional work there for a better seal .. if i have the compunction to do so ...
.

like i said, i think heat is bad and am willing to do my bit of fun work to relax and spend a few bucks on keeping heat down. i mean, i know a guy who spends more everyday on sugarfree RedBull than i did on this intake wrap ... i really can't see how it can do anything but help. like i said, next hot day i will datalog the whole shebang ...

 

do you have a cap for that trashcan or is the hood the cap?