Tony de Wonderful

You could try some womens stocking...you know, like stretched over the turbo?

I think he meant that it is less likely to step out w/ the HICAS working right?

How much thrashing can an RB take? I mean I see some people wringing their necks everyday. Mine sees 5-6 grand daily. I mean I normally give it a couple of squirts to and from work basically, not bouncing it off the limiter all the way of course! . 99% of the time it is just crusing at 2-3 grand of course.

Sure the temps are much higher. Same principle though.

So insulation does work!?

You may be right but I would still prefer to actually measure it. The autospeed article claimed 7-10 deg C. I'm waiting on a thermocouple extension cable from egay at the moment so will have to keep everyone in suspense for a couple of weeks.

Yes I know and it means a residence time in the pipe (I insulated) of only ~0.024 seconds. What is the residence time in the intercooler though? Must be about the same? Yes the pipe is not designed to exchange heat like an intercooler but that does not mean the air is not being heated back up measurably. Anyway this is all academic until I install my temp gauge.

Yes I read that but Sydney kid only offers a qualitative opinion, no empirical or even theoretical evidence.

A bit off topic but does anyone know what this thing is (circled in red on the photo)? I was hoping it would reveal a port which I can stick my thermocouple in?

Ok thanks for the tip mlr. Did you notice any benefit to this insulation? Did you measure temps?

I've got a thermocouple and digital readout kit which I need to solder up and mount to a PCB. Not decided where to mount the thermocouple on the actual intake yet though. Still it will mean taking the insulation off again if I feel the need to 'prove' its worth as I will need to test with and without the insulation in place. Basically if you open the engine bay after driving around the piping is very hot. This has to help a bit is my feeling.

I bought this stuff from the big Bunnings Warehouse (in Canning I think). It is about $14 a meter and consists of bubble wrap sandwiched between layers of reflective material. I figured it would make good insulation for the intercooler piping in my engine bay. It is very hot right now during that day, and I have no doubt that the hot temperature inside my engine bay is heating my charged air back up between it exiting the intercooler and entering the throttle body. So this is an attempt to mitigate that. I had considered wrapping my intercooler piping with just this high-temp reflective tape you can buy, but this other material also provides a barrier to conduction rather than just radiation, so I figured it would be better. I took the pipe off and then wrapped it with one layer and then remounted it. I used tie-wraps. The alternative is to wrap the whole thing in a layer of high-temp reflective tape. One reason I used the tie-wraps is because I want to observe the condition of the insulation over time, to see how it fairs in this high-temp environment. It looks a bit crappy with the tie-wraps but this is not a show car after all! I had to trim the fan a little more because you lose around 3-4 mm clearance. No big deal. I used less that half a meter so this is ~$7 + say $5 of tie-wraps. So it is ~$13 to do this mod. I calculate if I lower the temp by ~10 deg C I get ~3% more power, so on a moderately tuned 33 that is say 6 Kilowatts, so that is ~$2 a kilowatt. Even cheaper than a HKS sticker.

Is that possible? I mean a stock manifold is shared rather than being a set of headers and you have a muffler (or two). Seems to me that would all screw up your pulses at any RPM?

Stock cars don't come with tuned length 'zausts though do they? So going for a wider 'zaust (and less back pressure) should have no downside right?

What suffers more on a hot day? An N/A or a forced induction car? It is forced induction right because intercooler efficiency is logaritmic with respect to ambient temp? OTOH an N/A engines power decreases linearly with respect to ambient temp increase? It's really hot right now and my car peformance really sucks.

Get a V8.

I was gonna suggest that but it's like $200 to $300. Alternatively just thrash it about until it seizes up...then you know it's overheated.

He's being humorous.

It's gonna get perceptively hot.

This is to do with pulse tuning rather than 'back pressure' per se.

Would you not need a re-tune?

Sure but if you consider the 'zaust post-turbo, I do not know for sure if insulating the system is going to make the car faster or slower. I mean the hotter the 'zaust gasses the faster the flow rate but this in turn means it creates more friction and in turn more 'back pressure'. Cooler 'zaust gases won't flow as fast (less volume) as so this means less friction and a lower 'back pressure' (although the gasses are denser but pressure loss is more effected by velocity than density) Would be interesting to dyno some cars with and w/ & w/out 'zaust lagging.

Aircraft have been fly-by-wire for years with pilot inputs being reviewed and modified by computers. So no suprise we will see this stuff in cars. Call me a ludite but I will stick with manual cars with minimal driver aids for a while longer. I guess it is like why people still ride horses even though the horse is obsolete as a mode of transport.

It is not thermodynamics directly, it is the fluid properties of the air which directly effects pressure losses through the 'zaust. But thermodynamics effect the fluid properties (a bit).

Top Fuel cars have open headers. If you like this means their 'zaust system is as big as the whole atmosphere. That is quite big. But they go quick.