heat wrapping/coating

[nicole_]

been having a read today after a discussion about heat wrap and was interested to hear what you guys think

I've always heat wrapped my manis as it does seem to make a noticeable difference to engine bay temps.
now im going boosted I was looking into wrapping the downpipe but have started reading more about heat heading back up the wrong way and hot spots etc

I know the ceramic coatings are meant to be brilliant but are they really worth the extra £££?

what do you guys do/think with regards to wrapping
I can do with all the heat reduction I can on mine so I'm swaying towards titanium wrapping, but I dont want anything warped or cracking on me!

 

[Karleg6]

Also interested in this.. Have been reading a bit about it lately. Definitely going to wrap my turbo manifold anyway

 

[jesse888]

I'd wrap the mani and the downpipe, assuming the heat wrap doesn't effect your warrantee on the manifold?
I can't wrap my manifold because it's a cast design so I went the other way and tried to keep the intercooled air cold.

 

[jesse888]

Plus it's shiney and looks racecar!


If you do decide to wrap intercooler piping leave the hot side bare. Remember all your doing is creating a heat barrier, so effectively keeping the hot air coming out the turbo hot, not what your after.

 

[Murray]

I wrapped my manifold downpipe and screamer pipe. Anything that gets hot.
What manifold are you using?

 

[irf]

I went for wrapped downpipe, screamer and dei silver wrapped the cold charge pipe and near the rad. Didn't wrap manifold as heat escapes from the vented bonnet easily enough.

 

[Beetlejuice]

Lots of arguments either way, the main ones, in my eyes, being:
- the more heat kept in the exhaust manifold, the more energy in the exhaust gasses. Meaning greater gas velocity and, in theory, better spool.
- lower engine bay temps equal lower intake temps, meaning denser charge etc (although also negated by just locating the air intake outside the bay)

On the flip side, wrapping the manifold will shorten it's lifespan (all thick wall manifolds crack eventually, it'll just happen a little sooner). That's not to say it won't last - it could still outlive the rest of the car!

Zircotec coating sure are nice, albeit expensive (expect to pay at least £400 to do your manifold and downpipe) and a pain to keep clean unless you opt for black. Also I've had a few manifolds come to me for repair/modifications that have been coated and it causes a major headache trying to get the bloody stuff clear for welding!

 

[Wazer]

Also for you high powered turbo guys, after prolonged use on track you'll get loads of heatsoak, which will in turn sap the power.

A garage I knew tested a fully built, twin turbo 420z - the customer wanted 1000bhp from it. After it was all run in and onto the power runs, they noticed a 120/140bhp (cant remember exact figure) loss, but it was only ever on the 2nd run they noticed the drop, with the first run being that much higher. Turns out, this was from the heat soak in engine/transmission.

Always made me laugh as they first announced it as; "a Prius + 1/2 has ran away! "

 

[jesse888]

I get yah, although comparing 1000hp 370z to our little 300hp civics....
Mine was ran hard on the dyno because we wanted to check that it wasn't ever going to get boost spikes and catch the limit of the oem map sensor, temps stayed stable the whole time after a good few minutes of on off full throttle bringing boost in etc.
I can't say I've noticed a power drop on track either.
Decent heads up though.