In my quest for all motor power, my mind is running hard. My first attempt was a thought to powder coat the AEM CAI tube that I have for the GSR. Powdercoating paint has a heat resistance up to 450 deg F, so my assumption would be it could possibly lower intake tract temps somewhat... at least for some of the time the car is running. Cooler air = more power. After calling around, I got some crazy prices on powder coating... like $45/hr to sandblast, $150/hr for powdercoating and another charge for the paint... yeesh... like $200 to coat a freaking tube ! So, unless the price goes down... noopers to the powder coat.

My next thought was on the same lines of keeping a cool intake charge, so I began thinking about wrapping the intake piping in header wrap. It seems like a cheep, easy way to make some power, so I would immediately assume that someone has already done it. Has anyone ?

Would you agree it should keep intake temps down and prevent the piping from transmitting too much under hood temps to the air ?

 

Powdercoating really wouldn't do all that much I don't think. There is actually intake wrap. It's different from header wrap, in that header wrap keeps heat in, intake wrap keeps heat out. The Intake wrap has less heat resistance (since headers can get glowing red hot) and better insulating properties. It also has a shiny aluminum skin on the outside to reflect heat. I think Summit has the intake wrap stuff. Use that. Anything you put on the intake will help a little... Just a little...

 

Yeah, I contemplated the home depot route already, just didn't want it to look TOO ghetto rig.....

 

What, the CAI ? heh heh... yeah, I know.... This CAI was stripped and repainted with regualar paint (charcoal). Plus it's for my girl's car... so "It's gotta look cute." Damn fashion sense...
I've just about heard enough of, "Maybe you can do that to YOUR engine bay..."

 

Um the air doesnt stay inside the intake long enough to heat up. cough pointless cough

 

So you are saying... and I quote...

Taken a physics class lately ?

 

yeah, i carelessly mentioned this at the track last night and a guy went nuts at me!

he was ranting about heatsoak and how i should be putting ice on my intake and all sorts of stuff!!!!

i just thought i might disconect the coolant lines that run through hte manifold like the IAC valve one and hte TB one.

would this help?

also would a intake gasket that prevented heat radiation(or is it called conductance?) be worth hte money?

TIA,

t..

 

DFI on PSI: "intake wrap is useless"

have you tested it out, does it make any difference? i doubt it, on a cai air passes through the intake fast enough so it doesnt heat up, even if your motor is hot.

 

I say go for the header wrap, put it on the header, and put the remaining material on the CAI? (but i guess there wouldn't be enough material to do both) I dunno, I'd be happy with ceramic based paint on the inside & outside of the CAI tubing, along with header wrap on the header....

 

No point in wrapping the CAI. You're just wasting money, time, and especially, hard-earn-header-wrap on the cai.

I bought an aem cai for my bro's accord. the last time seeing it was when i installed it a year ago. from what i remember, isn't the aem cai already powdercoated to reduce temp? i think it says it on their site, http://www.aempower.com. someone check. i went the cheap route since i got no money, i bought ceramic high heat primer & gray paint from kragen to paint my custom cheaply aluminum made intake to resemble an aem intake. that should keep the intake cooler if the intake was straight out chromy aluminum, like the ones on ebay.

 

The intake temp would be in the tube for a considerable period of time, considering it is a CAI and not an in engine intake. The air should increase in temperature... and I think you would agree that the air is, at the very least, NOT getting COOLER.

AEM does powder coat their CAI's and I believe the short rams too. The reason they do this is 3 fold, 1) Looks.. it's pretty 2) It is a durable coating (better than regualar paint) 3) The main reason, powder coating is heat resistant (most important) I think we can all agree that AEM is a top notch R&D company for our engines (especially considering their humble beginnings) And it would be HIGHLY irregular for them to put on such an expensive coating on their products if it were not to serve a purpose, and aesthetics is not a good reason. Oh yea, did I mention that I have already spoken to John Concialdi on this ?

Also, referencing a previous post (Tinkerbell) When you see people putting icepack on their IM, it is to keep it cool, reducing the amout of heat transferred from the IM to the air inside.

Now powder coating, despite it's heat resistance, is a very thin coating... so the insulation wrap sounds like a great idea ! (Thanks Evil Teken, very helpful info.... you know, for an EVIL one... you ain't too bad... heh heh heh) My thinking on the wrap is that given it's thickness, it should* be able to resist the heat transfer for a considerably longer time than a much thinner powder coat, thereby keeping the intake piping cooler, particularly on longer drives and hot laps. The piping would be less exposed to the underhood temps and be less vunerable to the latent heat transfer.

Thoughts ?
X2


[Modified by X2BOARD, 9:39 AM 6/6/2002]


[Modified by X2BOARD, 9:40 AM 6/6/2002]

 

I would first worry about keeping heat out of your engine compartment, aka. thermal coated headers (inside coating is the key), header wrap, heat shields, etc. Once you get your heat source decreased then you can worry about lowering your intake temp. This will only make any modifications you make to your intake more worth while.

Also more important than shielding your intake tube is where your intake is drawing air from. Air will increase in temperature from the velocity flow through the tube along with absorption of heat from the intake tube, but this will be a somewhat constant increase no matter what your initial intake temp is. I would be more concerned about a heat shield around your filter to insure a cold charge.

 

Um... it's an AEM cold air intake dude.... on a non-hybrid b-series... where do you think it draws from ?

Even with header wrap there is a considerable amout of heat being radiated in to the bay, which is why I am wondering about the insulation of the intake. Header wrap is also prone to cracking headers (particularly aftermarket ones) as it concentrates heat on the header... while this is good for emissions and reducing under hood temps, it can damge the header... but the original Q is about insulating an intake pipe, which I am more concerned about.

 

From http://www.summitracing.com: It's 50 bucks...




[Modified by reefer_bob, 10:41 AM 6/6/2002]

 

The amount of heat picked up by air in your intake tube is miniscule compared to what happens in the intake manifold itself. If you're serious about cooling the intake charge, get one of those new intake manifold gaskets that insulates the intake manifold itself from the head. 10-20 degree decreases are common...

 

Sounds interesting... do you know where I can see 'em ?

 

Intake manifold insulating gaskets: http://www.hondata.com

 

And it works great...I can attest to that, I've also recently thermo-tec wrapped my aluminium intake piping, and had the header coated by HPC Coatings.
Austin

 

dAMN.... it's like that ?!

 

is the gasket you arfe asking about and the site is : http://www.hondata.com/heatshield.html

 

speaking of which, I really need to bypass my throttlebody heater hoses... Where's the good how too on that? I'm too lazy at the moment to do a search...

 

There is a recent topic in the itr forum...just too lazy with this heat to do a search.
Austin

 

That and I'm lazy, cause my TB on my GSR mani isn't the easiest of things to work underneath of...

Hey Austin, did you have any trouble with the hondata gasket messing up the alignment of your intake after you put it on?

 

No problems...although there is a certain amount of free play with the Comptech intake before you tighten it down.

 

here's a pic of the Grand Am S2 class King Motorsports ITR with a Mugen intake wrapped in reflective kooltape. In racing, you go for every little advantage you can get.



the heatsoak issue is not a minor one.

Jeff at Importbuilders header wraps his Iceman.

I think a lot of people who aren't racing for money seriously are saying a lot of opinions on this thread like they are the experts who shouldn't be saying anything at all....if you know what I mean....