Oooo Oooo Oooo TEACHER, I have an idea! Yes, What is it now Waldig
I have been working and funning with my toy to get a cooler intake charge into the cyclinders, to make more power and stuff.
To do this I tried to insulate the intake needswings intake that I have. With measurments I have seen several degree cooler air entering the throttle body with a 1/2 inch foam sleeve of refrigerant line insulation. A 6 foot piece is enough for two pipes ( your buddy ?) and it slips on easily. If you tire of it you may slip it back off just as easily.
The readings of the improvements are related to the amount that the throttle is opened. At cruise the rise due to the heat under the hood can be in the upwards of 15 - 25 degrees. Remember that at cruise the air flowing into the motor is rather low volume and has time to heat up a bunch.
At a stable (?) 50 mph I was able to see 81 ambient and 96 - 110 degree inlet air.
At wide open throttle WOT it is little due to the higher mass and its speed in the CAI pipe. That is harder to read as I cant hit it and read them at the same time and as yet I have not seen a good data logger to play with. [ PC based? suggestions?? ]
With the foam installed the pipe does not get as hot, your fingers will tell you quickly. At the same 50MPH I was seeing ambient of 80 and air in the range of 85 - 87 degrees. Different day, same test.
Without insulation at 50 mph I saw 15 - 20 degree rise, with insulation about half that.
Oooo Oooo Oooo Can I get extra credit for a twofeer????
I also added a piece of Mr Gasket insulation directly below the intake pipe on top of the exhaust manifold to reflect and isolate the radient heat from the passenger manifold up to the intake pipe.
This is soo easy, with a cool engine I made a simple template out of cardboard and when I was happy, cut it out of the pictured material. I wanted to make a layer of material that followed the header pipe so that it would not add heat to the pipe. It is self wedging ( sp ?) I made the cut for the O2 sensor and this aided the retention of the material, too hot for a wire tie.
and sits on top of the manifold easily as shown. The only down side is the outgassing of the material for the first few runs, smells like hot stuff.
Now the heat is diverted from soaking into the CAI from the exhaust manifold and the engine heat is retarded from preheating the inlet air.
The looks of the foam are left to the eye of the beholder but for me I dont care as I drive with the hood shut and I dont open it at drive-ins for others, Too old for that ego stuff, I just wanna know: DO IT GO?
Hate heat Woody
Foam is 1/2 inch wall by 3 5/8"
Mr. gasket high temp material, like for exhaust manifolds ( for thoes that roll their own / aka hard core dudes )
Its been on my car for months to verify the benefits
Last edited by waldig; Aug 22, 2008 at 12:27 PM.