Wrapping intercooler pipes, questions...

[BLACK DEATH DSR]

I did a search and couldnt find what i was looking for. Anyhow heres the question. Should you wrap the intercooler pipes from the turbo to the intercooler and from the intercooler to the throttle body? Also I am running a PTE front mount. Reason I am asking is that the pipes tend to get very hot. The intercooler pipe that goes from the intercooler to the throttle body is very warm/hot . I think it is aluminum 3" tubing. Has anyone did any testing with header wrap, heat shields or heat wrap or whatever you call it around the tubing? I see some cars have there tubes wrapped, it doesnt look the best but if it helps any at all, I will do it too. Does it make a difference at all?

 

[bruce]

Originally posted by BLACK DEATH DSR
I see some cars have there tubes wrapped, it doesnt look the best but if it helps any at all, I will do it too. Does it make a difference at all?

I've noticed now that the warmer weather has gotten here, that my MAT (true MAT) temps., are now 30dF higher then ambient, and in the cooler weather, only 20dF warmer. So it would seem that with a warmer radiator heat is being shed into the I/C piping (FWIW, I'm running a Cotton's F/M).

As soon as I get my *trick* up pipe done, the I/C pipes will be painted, and covered with High Temp., fabric wrapping.

 

[BLACK DEATH DSR]

What kind of wrapping are you going to get?

 

[bruce]

Originally posted by BLACK DEATH DSR
What kind of wrapping are you going to get?

Thermal Wrap, I think's the name. It's 2" wide and a beige looking burlap, type cloth.

 

[BoostKillsStres]

Bruce,
You think the thermal wrap will work better than the sticky backed reflective tape stuff? Just curious. Maybe both?

 

[GNVYUS 1]

I would not do it if you are using only the IC to cool the inlet charge. The heat radiating through the pipe inside/out is much better than the heat thats coming in from the engine bay. Most likely you have more heat in the pipe than in the engine bay. So wrapping the pipe would trap the greater amount of heat inside and not allow it to radiate out.

If you are running a lot of alky its possible that the wrap will help.

 

[BoostKillsStres]

Yea, I know what you mean. The only way to really know would be to have internal and external data logging thermocouples mounted very close to the pipe surface and try it both ways over various driving conditions. Maybe Bruce will get crafty like he is and entertain this data gathering for us

 

[bruce]

Originally posted by BoostKillsStres
Maybe Bruce will get crafty like he is and entertain this data gathering for us

Dunno about the crafty part, but there's some ideas floating around for more *data gathering*.....

Now, ya gotta stay tuned

 

[441120]

wrap it

Think about it. The air comming out of the compressor is 250+ deg at full boost, the temp under the hood is less than that. Don't wrap the pipe to the innercooler, let the heat escape! A good front mount will drop charge temps to near ambient. From innercooler to throttle body, near ambient charge air needs to be protected from under hood heat. Wrap pipe from innercooler to throttle body! JEG'S has a one piece thermal sleeve 36" long for tubing 2 1/2" to 4" and laces up. Said to block 98% radient heat, fits perfect from lower radiator support to throttle body. No hard data/numbers, but throttle body cooler to the touch with the wrap! Ideal would be cooling fins (like air cooled engine/lawnmower) on compressor to innercooler pipes, CO2 spray bar on the innercooler (cool the charge air and radiator), followed by wrap+ alky combo on IC to throttle body pipe. Sorry, brain's engineering dept babbling......

 

[bruce]

Re: wrap it

Originally posted by 441120
Think about it. The air comming out of the compressor is 250+ deg at full boost, the temp under the hood is less than that. Don't wrap the pipe to the innercooler, let the heat escape!

Wrap pipe from innercooler to throttle body! JEG'S has a one piece thermal sleeve 36" long for tubing 2 1/2" to 4" and laces up.

Nice thing being able to chew the fat on some things, Thanks...

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Definitely agree, do not wrap turbo pipe to IC but

The pipe coming from the IC to the TB is not that close to ambient if you are running only an IC to cool the charge. That would be impossible, an IC core is lucky to be 90% efficient and there is tons of data on this board showing a lot of FMIC's MAT's over 130+ at the end of a run.

Only the alky kit inlet #'s are ambient to lower than ambient. That is the only pipe I would wrap, an alky kits inlet pipe.

IMO, its not worth doing regardless and looks ugly.
HPC coating the exhaust housing, headers and downpipe is a different story.

 

[OneLethal87GN]

I have an ESP front-mount and did an experiment once on the i/c to t.b. pipe. I used some industrial heat reflective material that has an adhesive backing. I wrapped it around the pipe and periodically did the hot-to-the-touch test with my hand. Unwrapped the pipe was much hotter even under normal driving conditions. I applied the wrap and drove around with it during the Summer months. After driving for a while I would pull into a parking lot to hang out and would pull the wrap off to see how warm the pipe was. It was soooo much cooler being wrapped. I used the material to wrap my aluminum MAF inlet pipe too. I have no temperature data but the hand test was enough to convince me that wrapping the i/c to t.b. pipe does make it alot cooler. I took the wrap off though due to its unattractiveness. I also got tired of people asking why I wrapped my pipes in Reynold's wrap.

 

[PaCemkr86]

Originally posted by OneLethal87GN
I have an ESP front-mount and did an experiment once on the i/c to t.b. pipe. I used some industrial heat reflective material that has an adhesive backing. I wrapped it around the pipe and periodically did the hot-to-the-touch test with my hand. Unwrapped the pipe was much hotter even under normal driving conditions. I applied the wrap and drove around with it during the Summer months. After driving for a while I would pull into a parking lot to hang out and would pull the wrap off to see how warm the pipe was. It was soooo much cooler being wrapped. I used the material to wrap my aluminum MAF inlet pipe too. I have no temperature data but the hand test was enough to convince me that wrapping the i/c to t.b. pipe does make it alot cooler. I took the wrap off though due to its unattractiveness. I also got tired of people asking why I wrapped my pipes in Reynold's wrap.

nice info..

 

[bruce]

Originally posted by OneLethal87GN
I also got tired of people asking why I wrapped my pipes in Reynold's wrap.

Tel'em, you were out of Saran Wrap....