So you've converted to an intake pipe and cone filter. How do you protect your pipe from the intense heat of the crossover pipe and transmission. To complicate matters, you're also heatsoaking your pipe from the heat of the throttle body because it has engine coolant running through it.

How do you solve the problem? There is some debate about blocking off coolant flow to the throttle body, but you can bet I'll know the definitive answer to that soon, and you can install crossover pipe heatshields like I did, as well as trying to insulate the intake pipe. We have to start with understanding what happens when you drive and when you stop. Driving everyday commutes is one thing, but stopping in the staging lanes at your local dragstrip in between runs with a hot engine may be another issue.

We also have to consider (before going any further) that the amount of heat stored in the intake pipe may be quite large compared to what actually transfers to the intake manifold, but that is very difficult to characterize.
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Let'* start with what happens with a NON-insulated intake pipe:

You start your car cold in the morning and drive to work or school. The amount of air flowing over your hot components drives that heat to the rear, but the pipe still picks up radiant heat from the crossover. Now you park. Run in and get your beer, and the intake pipe temps SPIKE from the engine heatsoak and resultant engine bay temps (because you don't have hood vents like I do). The good news is that it doesn't take very long for those temps to decrease once you leave the store with your beer and head to the post office, but if you're at the dragstrip, you don't have that advantage. Your pipe is thoroughly soaked with heat, and cools off after you've already trapped and are slowing down to head to the timing shack.

My pipe was 95°F immediately after a 5 mile drive in 85°F weather, the pipe temp spiked to 120° after a 5 minute shutdown, and cooled back off to 95°F by the end of another 1-mile run.
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Now with 'Home Depot' insulation tape. This is reflective aluminum backed foam adhesive tape. Sold in sheets and rolls (bubble type reflective stuff will be similar):

You drive just fine on the way to the store for beer, the pipe stays cool, and you feel great. You stop, and the insulation heatsoaks anyway. The insulation (foam) absorbs heat form the engine while you're inside, and it traps the heat in the pipe preventing it from cooling down. Now you get going to the Post Office, and it takes FOREVER to reduce that temp once the car is moving because you're insulating the HEAT in the pipe from the relatively cooler air flowing around it while you drive. At the dragstrip, this heat buildup continues all day long and can never cool down.

My pipe was 97°F immediately after a 5 mile drive in 85°F weather, the pipe temp spiked to 124° after a 5 minute shutdown, and cooled back off to 121°F by the end of another 1-mile run.
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Now you have what I just purchased and tested:

Reflective, but non-insulating. You drive just fine on the way to the store for beer, the pipe stays cool, and you feel great. You stop, and the pipe absorbs SOME of the radiant engine bay heat (mostly from each end), and you wonder why you never thought of this before. Now you get going to the Post Office, and it takes not time at all to reduce that temp once the car is moving because you're NOT insulating the heat in the pipe from the relatively cooler air flowing around it while you drive. At the dragstrip, this means you can cool off quicker with the hood open (or with the hood closed because you installed hood vents like I did).

My pipe was 88°F immediately after a 5 mile drive in 85°F weather, the pipe temp spiked to 101° after a 5 minute shutdown, and cooled back off to 88°F by the end of another 1-mile run.

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Pics and the magic product will be posted soon. I have a mess to clean up from all this work.

Here'* the product:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

Or

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...tegoryId=22597

















Please keep in mind that your results may vary. I have the factory crossover heatshield, and two additional heatshields. I also have hood vents (functional) and my front exhaust manifold is ceramic coated (rear is not done yet due to continuing testing of another product).

My conclusions are obvious. Crossover pipe heatshields are great when the car is in motion. Useless after shutdown and restart. Insulating barriers on the pipe are actually worse than a bare pipe, but the product shown here is better than either.

(IAT temps stayed stable within 5-10°F during all 3 tests due to the fact that the IAT is very close to the filter.....not actually IN the filter due to the fact that I have another device in that location).

Good write-up Bill.
My findings exactly.
You must have seen the reflective wrap I've had on my intake pipe for the last few years.
The other trick is using a pipe that doesn't conduct heat.....like rubber instead of metal.
The FWI kits use a hose all the way.

your saying that by insulating the pipe that it actually is trapping heat therefore making the pipe hotter when no airflow is going thru or sitting in traffic....do i understand this correctly?

Yes Pat, once the pipe heated, it can't escape very quick at all, the idea behind this insulation is to PREVENT as much heat soak as possible so it does not have to take so long to cool down.
Bill, I myself, have plans for this weekend and my hot air intake...im going another route..
Nice write up, i like beer, and I frequent the post office myself.

The "Home Depot Motor Sports" wrap that many of us use/have used is designed to hold heat in heating and AC ducting.

The sleeve Will just tried is designed to keep heat out of intake pipes.

Both products are designed by engineers specializing in thermal management. Both products are designed with a specific goal. Find the right tool for the job.

Isn't it made out of the same material as the DEI intake wrap?

This coming from the guy that just went out to the hp parking lot and removed the Home Depot stuff from his intake.

Guys, the pipe WILL heatsoak, even with this new stuff, but it also allows that heat to come back OUT as the airflow starts coming over it again. You cannot prevent heatsoak, but you have to give the intake the opportunity to recover from it quickly.

DEI'* products very closely match the offereings from Thermo-Tec, but their intake tube insulation is a velcro attachment, and may not fit well with the bend in our intake pipes, nor around our 'fat' couplers. In addition, DEI'* wrap is TWICE as expensive as Thermo-Tec'*.

http://www.designengineering.com/pro...sp?m=sp&pid=33

nice watch and good thread i bet you it helps alot

I don't know about DEI but, Thermo-tech is a product manufacturer and is specialized to automotive heat management; that is all they do.