Turbo CAC and inlet hose insulation

[daltongd]

2002 LB7, 225K mi, stock, 40 HP Tune, home made cold air box

Since I went to all the trouble of making my own cold air box I wanted to take things a little further and insulate the entire system. I installed radiant barrier heat tape to the plastic intake tube to try and insulate it from engine compartment heat. So far I have noticed it still gets pretty warm near the turbo inlet, not sure if thats from engine compartment heat or the from the compressor. I ordered a turbo blanket to try and reduce engine compartment heat, it has not come in yet.

Today I will be installing the same radiant barrier heat tape to the CAC tube from the outlet of the intercooler to the engine intake. I will be installing the tape over the silicon hose and aluminum tube. There is a thread somewhere where a guy says to use bed liner paint on the aluminum tube but I want to try the heat tape first. I can always take the tape off. What would you recommend in for this, radiant barrier or insulation?

My big question is what should I do to insulate the CAC tubing that goes from the outlet of the compressor to the inlet of the intercooler. I have read that the compressor air temp leaving the turbo can get as high as 300 deg F so I was wondering if the aluminum tubing may be acting as a heat exchanger to the engine compartment. Would using the radiant barrier heat tape be wrong in this application? Would applying bed liner paint to insulate the aluminum tubing also be in error here? I know it probably doesn't amount to much but for me it just busy work and I don't mind doing it however I do not want to do negative work.

I also noticed that the air resonator box gets pretty warm and played around with removing it. I took it off and plugged it but in my case I have a few questions. The nominal way to take the resonator box off it is done at the end of a 2" diameter rubber 90 degree nipple that is about 4-6" long. The nipple is attached to the stock plastic 4" dia air intake tube with a permanent clamp that is fairly thin. From what I can tell if I stay with this mod I should take the nipple off at the inlet tube. I am concerned that if I do that I will have no way to go back to stock. Is the 6" long nipple going to promote turbulence vs a plug closer to the main air tube? Any comment on what I should do?

Thanks for you help

 

[LReiff]

I would insulate the pipe and wrap it in radiant barrier.

 

[2005LLY]

Wouldn't opening up the intake and exhaust sides more make it run cooler in general? Like a different intercooler, maybe a turbo horn? Up pipes & manifolds? Or at least a driverside manifold. the heat wrap them as well? Just some other ideas

 

[daltongd]

I already have the radient heat barrier tape and a can of bed liner paint is $10. All those other mods cost significantly more money.

I would like to do the air horn but when I was replacing my CP3 (6 months ago) I tried to remove it to make the installation easier and I can't get to the bottom bolt out. Anyway I have the wheel and wheel well off right now and the CAC pipes are easy to get to.

So to the first replier are you saying that the CAC tubing between the compressor outlet and the intercooler inlet are cooler than the engine compartment and I should insulate them?

 

[Turbo Performance]

I already have the radient heat barrier tape and a can of bed liner paint is $10. All those other mods cost significantly more money.

I would like to do the air horn but when I was replacing my CP3 (6 months ago) I tried to remove it to make the installation easier and I can't get to the bottom bolt out. Anyway I have the wheel and wheel well off right now and the CAC pipes are easy to get to.

So to the first replier are you saying that the CAC tubing between the compressor outlet and the intercooler inlet are cooler than the engine compartment and I should insulate them?

Compressor outlet temp is going to be considerably hotter than underhood temps. You'll be going backwards on a DD in my opinion if you wrap the pre-intercooler pipe.

The blanket is going to bring underhood temps down considerably and drop IAT 20+ degrees. I would be using ambient to help bleed heat off the pipe before it hits the intercooler rather than trapping it with a thermal barrier.

 

[TheBac]

Levi, what about wrapping the cold side? Would that help anything?

 

[Turbo Performance]

Levi, what about wrapping the cold side? Would that help anything?

I haven't seen it be a positive on a DD yet. Only time I really see wrapping cold pipes as a benefit is if you're running a W/A intercooler on a track vehicle and want to maintain sub-ambient temp inside the pipe with insulation. Or if you have an uncovered radiant heat source close to the pipe that could potentially be heating the intake air as it passes.

Obviously, best case scenario on an air/air setup is intake air leaving the intercooler is ambient, which typically isn't the case. If you control the exhaust heat upping underhood temps there's not a big reason to cover cold pipes. You also don't run the risk of heat soaking the wrap and keeping heat there rather than letting it bleed off.

I haven't done a lot of testing on wrapped cold pipes since I work on the other side of things. The ones I've been around was either a negligible effect or intake temps were slightly up from being unwrapped before. I also didn't get to do any real prolonged driving. Which I can only assume would only make temps higher than tested. If you're deadset on it, a reflective wrap would be the best bet but I personally wouldn't do it unless you already have it laying around. Just my $.02 (Sorry for the long post.)

 

[TheBac]

Actually, I wasnt really thinking of doing it, just that the O/Ps idea and your post got me thinking. Your info was exactly what I was looking for.

 

[daltongd]

Ok I wrapped the cold side in a radiant barrier heat tape (Scotch 425 aluminum tape) which I already have and doesn't cost me anything. I left the hot side alone and will monitor both.

I think I will run a little test on the hot side and apply some tape to a short section and then monitor it with an Infrared Thermometer. I'll post my results when I get them. I need to wait for a hot day (live is central California on the coast so fog keeps thing somewhat cool).

 

[LReiff]

If you're monitoring charge air temps. Monitor immediately post turbo, pre intercooler, post intercooler and in the intake bridge. This way you can see if heat is being lost or absorbed in the air pipes.

 

[daltongd]

Ok I took it for a test drive and went up and down some hills. Got the engine temp at 190 deg F steady and tranny temp was 150 deg F. Was not pulling a load. I'll have to do it again and right down all the temps but this is what I noticed.

The drivers side CAC tubing is way hotter than the passenger side. From that data it would appear that I had it backwards. For some reason I was under the impression the flow went from the passenger side to the intercooler then exited on the drivers side but the data shows it the other way around. Looks like I put the heat tape on the hot side.

So now that I have the flow right the outlet of the compressor was around 134 deg and the inlet to the intercooler was around 124 or so. I don't remember what the outlet of the intercooler was but the CAC tubing on the cold side mid way was around 114 and the tubing that had 9" of heat tape right before the inlet to the engine was 10 degrees cooler. Looks like it works on the cold side anyway.

Now that I have figured out the flow I will do it again and take better readings.

I did notice that the alternator was around 135 degrees too. Does that sound right?

 

[Turbo Performance]

If you're monitoring charge air temps. Monitor immediately post turbo, pre intercooler, post intercooler and in the intake bridge. This way you can see if heat is being lost or absorbed in the air pipes.

^ This. Going to be the easiest way to quantify what is really happening.

Ok I took it for a test drive and went up and down some hills. Got the engine temp at 190 deg F steady and tranny temp was 150 deg F. Was not pulling a load. I'll have to do it again and right down all the temps but this is what I noticed.

The drivers side CAC tubing is way hotter than the passenger side. From that data it would appear that I had it backwards. For some reason I was under the impression the flow went from the passenger side to the intercooler then exited on the drivers side but the data shows it the other way around. Looks like I put the heat tape on the hot side.

So now that I have the flow right the outlet of the compressor was around 134 deg and the inlet to the intercooler was around 124 or so. I don't remember what the outlet of the intercooler was but the CAC tubing on the cold side mid way was around 114 and the tubing that had 9" of heat tape right before the inlet to the engine was 10 degrees cooler. Looks like it works on the cold side anyway.

Now that I have figured out the flow I will do it again and take better readings.

I did notice that the alternator was around 135 degrees too. Does that sound right?

Are you just using an infared temp gun? Or how are you gathering temps? I'm also a little confused on where you put the tape and where you were measuring temps since we've mixed up cold/hot side pipes. Can you reference driver/pass side to clear that up.

 

[Robby Avery]

Interested to know what the outcome of the testing was if its worth it or not?

 

[kirker912]

Any Update on this?