thanks for the advice. what brand of copper spray do you recommend? As an aside, I plan to wrap the inlet tubes with aerogel sheets since my FLIR ONE shows that there is a tremendous hot spot back there from the normal tubes. My readings show mid-high 200s at the y-pipe/manifold feed pipes when the outlet of the intercooler should by design be around 125 degrees F...? I know that the temps are super high here because this is where the firewall heatshields are positioned. It's clear that the intake air is moving at very high velocity, but because it's super cheap to wrap I'm going to go ahead with the project since it's easy to do prior to installing the new manis. In any case I will wrap the aerogel (10mm) with high temp aluminum reflective tape. I will try to do an infrared before/after for posterity.