I melted the insulation off my AC line because it got too close to my turbo. It actually caught fire and luckily no other damage was done. I ordered a heat shroud from Summit to wrap around it but Id like to replace the insulation.

The problem is you cant buy the stuff from any OEM parts supplier, they dont sell just the insulation. And I cant find a suitable replacement from a pipe insulation company. Everything they make is way to thick and it puts the insulation less than half an inch from the turbine. Even Mcmaster.com has a good selection of pipe/hose insulation but they are too thick too, usually the same thickness of the pipe that it is wrapping.

The AC line in question is 5/8" so most insulation for that size pipe is 5/8" thicker which would make it way too big.

Any ideas?


Modified by Muckman at 12:15 AM 3/9/2004

 

Will the AC system be effective without pipe insulation?

 

The heat insulation that wraps around the ac lines is there becuase it sits pretty close to the exhaust manifold so it protects it from the heat. If you run your turbocharged motor without the insulation then you may burn through the ac lines, which then you'll have to buy new ac lines from the dealer and it'll probably come with the insulation. So either way you still end up buying new ac lines from the dealer or you can probably pick'em up at the local junk yard for a good price.

Here's another option, take the insulation that you said was too thick and trim it down if you can. It may not work as well but its better than nothing.

 

Just wrap it with some header wrap.

 

It just melted the insulation off the line but the line itself is undamaged.

Is the insulation designed to keep heat out or cold in? because it does a shity job of keeping heat out heh. If I just heat wrap it will that be sufficient to keep the cold in?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Muckman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Is the insulation designed to keep heat out or cold in? because it does a shity job of keeping heat out heh. If I just heat wrap it will that be sufficient to keep the cold in?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes, although it doesn't matter all that much.

 

Save yourself the hassle.......get new custom a/c lines or modify your existing a/c lines and reroute them around the turbo. You can get them made at most a/c shops that make new lines.