My roots are in this forum so I wanted some Type R owners to hopefully chime in with experience and knowledge. I posted this in the all-motor forum and haven't gotten any responses as of yet. Copied and pasted

"Has anyone designed and used 304 stainless as their 3 inch piping for their NA built motor before? Assume this would be wrapped in header wrap to shield away from the heat of the engine. Is there any detrimental effects to using this type of stainless steel in lieu of aluminum such as the AEM CAI?

The filter itself will have a sheetmetal all around it to shield away from engine heat but I am worried about the actual piping material being 304 stainless in that it will become too hot even with the header wrap on it.

Discuss.

 

If it was stainless I would get it coated before wrapping it.

I doubt you would see any gains in terms of hp or power compared to another 3 inch intake tube.

 

I would get it coated as well.

 

Like others have already mentioned, if heat-soak is a concern, a (ceramic) thermal coating would be a good option.

 

In a perfect world i would send it to JET HOT but i don't have the time right now as it usually is a 3-4 week wait depending upon how busy they are.

I guess I am trying to figure out the reason companies like AEM use aluminum - is it cheaper and more readily available, easier to bend, ease of painting, etc? I just want to make sure i am not making a mistake and going backwards in terms of airflow to my built engine.

 

Aluminum will dissipate heat much faster than steel. For example, 6061 T651 aluminum has a thermal conductivity of ~1160 BTU-in/hr-ft²-°F, where 304 SS is ~110 BTU-in/hr-ft²-°F.

In addition, the aluminum intake piping will be lighter.

Steel will be cheaper, and "easier" to weld. But aluminum is the better choice.

 

man there are smart people in this forum, I am not really sure what you said but it sounded good

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92TypeR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Aluminum will dissipate heat much faster than steel. For example, 6061 T651 aluminum has a thermal conductivity of ~1160 BTU-in/hr-ft²-°F, where 304 SS is ~110 BTU-in/hr-ft²-°F.

In addition, the aluminum intake piping will be lighter.

Steel will be cheaper, and "easier" to weld. But aluminum is the better choice.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i was definitely going to mention the weight. aluminum is significantly lighter than steel, and more appropriate for an application that doesn't necessarily need much strength.

the dissipation numbers are good help also!

-vert