Austarion

Hi guys and gals ,
what is the best way to keep the air in the intercooler pipes cold
and try to eliminate heat soak !!! wrap with what ??????
open to any answers :beer

Reflective Thermal Wrap - something along the lines of this http://cgi.ebay.com.au/CERAMIC-SILVER-S ... 5ad6fe49e7

would ceramic coating work?

The problem with heat soak is that most of it happens in your inlet mani, as it is directly connected to the hot engine..

To reduce inlet manifold temps use a GIZZMO phenolic reuseable spacer( app $100 ) with std gasket on both sides. Ceramic coating is claimed to reduce heat and looks bling But IMHO the reflective heat wrap is probably better

I doubt you would see any difference in performance wrapped or unwrapped. Remember there's a lot of airflow thru your engine bay when you're driving at speed. So as stated before, if you have a concern, the spacer may help cool the inlet manifold down. Everything else is connected with silicone/rubber pipework that won't transfer any heat. Failing that, adapt some factory plastic pipework to suit.

If you really want to lower intake air temp, wire in a water sprayer to your ECU that triggers a spray mist over the face of the intercooler whenever the inlet temp reaches a pre-determined temp. EVO's run this setup standard ex factory.

All the wrapping in the world will not be as effective as the sprayer.

FWIW - I only use wrapping to protect lines/hoses from heat.

my experience on any intercooled turbo car I have driven (not too many mind you) has been as follows: After a hard drive, the piping from the turbo to intercooler is hot. Depending on the size of the intercooler, only a portion of it close to this pipe is warm. The rest of it is fairly cool. The pipe going out of the intercooler is cool, until it reaches the engine bay, where it is warm to hot. This is on street driven cars. I have never been on a race track, so I cannot comment about that. Since people reading this thread would most likely have an intercooled turbo staz, this is an easy experiment.. try it sometime :) Just be careful when trying to touch hot piping.

In light of what I have stated above, I would say that for drag races, wrapping/insulating the pipe from the intercooler to the inlet manifold, and also using the inlet spacer, would be a very good idea, as it will perhaps keep the inlet air cool when you are at a standstill and the pipes are heating up the not-so-fast-moving air within at idle. Cooler air at launch = more power off the bat right?

If the car is constantly moving, then the velocity of the air will mean that it is less affected by hot pipes.

So I would theorize that a track car may not benefit much from thermal wrapping on the intercooler piping. For people who frequent drag strips, and for traffic light warriors, thermal wrapping may give somewhat of an improvement in performance because your car isn't moving much and then all of a sudden it needs all the power it can muster.

put the intercooler pipe inside a bigger pipe ala heat shield..
as for drag racing packing your pipes and cooler in ice before the run is best as the run is too short to affect any good cooling while on the track.

thats my 2 cents