Heat shield for turbo
 

Since the Greddy kit doesn't come with any heat shielding for the turbo, and the turbo sits directly below the intake manifold I'm thinking things could benefit significantly from installing some kind of heat shield there. I am considering 3 options and wanted some opinions. In return, I will of course let everyone know how this turns out. I'll try to use one of those IR temp guns to measure the temp of the intake manifold before and after.

Option 1: Inferno - aluminum $30.00 Placed in front of the intake manifold.
http://www.mmrusa.com/HSinfernoshield.htm

Option 2: Turbo insulator wrap $130.00. Wrap the exhaust side of the turbo
http://www.heatshieldproducts.com/tu...shield_kit.php
-This blocks the heat at the source, but still have heat from the exhaust manifold though. Not sure how difficult this will be to install without removing the turbo. I don't know if its a wrap, or more like a bonnet.

Option 3: I have a 1/16" aluminum roll laying around that I could use as a heat shield.
-not sure how effective just a peice of aluminum with an air gap be at reflecting heat away from the intake manifold though.

Feel free to suggest any other shielding methods, or if you think an additional area should be shielded let me know.

My greddy turbo came with Heat Shield Tape... i just used that. Its not the greatest option, but it will work for now.

I am interested to see your before and after numbers. Thanks for doing the research.

The heat shield that was included was only meant to shield the turbo heat from the cars body. Unless you stuck some on the intake manifold also, then it won't do anything to shield that. I don't know how well it would stick to the manifold itself since its not a flat surface.

Option 4: Swain Tech thermal barrier coating on the exhaust manifold and exhaust side of the turbo. http://www.grmotorsports.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=8058
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The Cigar Boss

I would NOT use anything that wrapped the turbo, or anything that claimed to make the header cool enough to touch for that matter. That heat is not just disappearing!

Wrap your turbo and you are going to make the turbo hotter because it can't dissipate that heat by conducting it to the surrounding air. The heat may do bad things to your turbo. It will rob power and increase the chances of detonation by increasing the charge temp. The same thing goes for something that insulates the header to the point of making it cool enought to touch, although I doubt that could really be true). The heat energy HAS to stay in the exhaust gasses, which will then increase the temp of the turbo, cat, and charge, again robbing power and increasing the chances of detonation.

I think the best you could do is try to eliminate the radiation path between the tubo and the other engine components. A polished AL sheet that is suspended between the two would probably work the best, but might be impractical because of vibration considerations. The heat tape that GReddy supplies probably attempts to do the same thing. Its highly reflective, so it reduces heat transfered through radiation from the turbo/manifold.

That was one of my concerns with wrapping the turbo. It didn't seem good to trap heat inside of it. Which is why I was thinking of using the inferno shield or just a peice of aluminum placed a few inches from the intake manifold. I'm not sure though if the inferno shield is that much better than regular aluminum to justify its additional cost.

The inferno is basically two peices of aluminum sandwhiching a ceramic layer.

As far as coating. I don't see myself removing my turbo anytime soon, it was a pain getting it in there the first time!

There are opposing views regarding heat barriers. The theory behind retaining the heat in the exhaust manifold and the exhaust side of the turbo is twofold: keep exhaust temps up to keep airflow up and eliminate heat soak in nearby components. Yes there is the downside of hotter cat temps but that's the price you pay. Assuming you have a cat that can take the extra heat it's an acceptable tradeoff--minus the recent concerns about gas tanks of course. :) The other concern is raising oil temps (since it's an oil-cooled turbo), which is what an increased oil pan that's coated with heat dispersant is for, along with a turbo timer.

Eliminating heat soak in nearby components applies mainly to the intake side of the turbo. Anything you can do to isolate the exhaust heat from the intake side is a good thing.
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MAZDA CX-9 PICTURE

Just construct something like this:

http://www.mazdamaniac.com/images/rx...o/shield_1.jpg

I made that piece for the exhaust manifold, but the principle would be the same for the IM. Put the wrap on the hot side and pop rivet it to the steel or aluminum..
On this particular section, there is an air gap between the wrap and the manifold, so there won't be any of the unpleasantness associated with header wrap.

Whole thing cost $4 and took less than 20 minutes to fab up. It drops air temps nearby greatly as can be attested by my wrist and forearm. :rolleyes:

got any pics of it installed, maniac? great job as usual!

How important is the thickness of the aluminum. I have some sitting around, but it is pretty thin, about the thickness of a business card. I probably need to get something a little thicker.

I noticed some of the aftermarket heat sheilds have a sandwhich of aluminum, ceramic, aluminum. Do you think there is any benefit to putting another layer of aluminum on top of your heat wrap?