So it's the summer time, it's around 90 degrees outside and for those who have a modified intake, you know your car is going to be slowwww...

Recently, in order to fight heat soak, I installed the NWP spacers, which helped quite a lot. I also replaced my short ram air intake by an INJEN. I know many of you hate this intake, but it definitely improved low and mid range power, and heat soak after sitting at a red light for a while is really not as noticeable as with a warm air intake. Plus, I bent the bracket so it doesn't sit right behind the radiator fan.

The problem with this intake is that the aluminum tubing can get very hot. If it's hot enough outside, I can barely keep my hand on the intake for more than 3 seconds.

Now yesterday, I went to the ricer isle at Advance Auto Parts, and bought this:



http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Cool-Tape-1-1-2%22-x-15%22-Design-Engineering_16120023-P_N3638G_P|GRP2039P_____

This insulating tape is made of three layers:

- A sticky layer that adheres to the tubing without any problem.
- A middle layer of fiberglass.
- A top layer of aluminum to reflect radiant heat away from the tubing.

I installed this thing last night and 15ft was just enough for the entire intake. Now even if it's 90 degrees outside and the engine has been idling for 30 minutes, I can rest my hand on the intake without any problems. It drastically reduced the temperature of the tubing.

I can't really say if it improved the performance, I haven't driven the car enough today to tell, but all I know is the colder the IAT, the better it is for engine performance. For only $18, I'm satisfied.

 

What's it look like installed, got any pictures?

 

My digital camera is at the house and I'll be there i a couple of hours. I'll post pics then.

 

Interesting idea, I never thought about wraping the intake aluminum tubing like that. I just have a "trash can mod" over the intake and I am happy with it.

 

Drive around for awhile and take your intake off...just curious if the metal inside the tube is still hot.

 

Here are the pictures of what it looks like...

 

Very creative, OP. I laughed aloud when I read "the ricer isle".

There are opinions out there about the angle of insertion for the MAF sensor. The general consensus is to keep it nearly vertical, but IDK really. Just saying, in case you want something else to research.

 

I installed the same tape on the fuel rail of my 98 Dodge neon. When the temp is over 90 degrees outside the fuel in the rail overheats on these cars and causes stalling. Since the install I have had no stalling issues this summer, so I believe it's doing its job.

 

Great idea!

 

Heat tape/wrap on the fuel rails? That seems like a pretty smart idea.

Anybody else pick up on that comment?

 

That's what is written on the box of the product. It says it can be used to protect wires, hoses, fuel lines... Now what would be the advantage of wrapping the fuel lines with this? Does the temperature of gasoline affect performance?

 

Roch, i agree as well. i had mine horizontal for the longest time. One day i read about the having it vertical so i tried it, and walla, it def made a deif to me. not a race car but think it def read the incoming air more correctly

 

Interesting Idea actually.

 

I have no idea. Google "fuel line wrap" and you'll find lots of references. Worse case, it's an interesting diversion and research item.

Along the same thought of colder air being more dense, wouldn't the same apply to colder fuel? But then, it would have to be really cold, I imagine; more so than a simple wrap could affect it. Also, the fuel in our cars is delivered by separate injectors, not through a single carburetor... if that comes into play.

Armchair Engineering at it's finest, eh?

 

Gases expand and contract under the effect of temperature. Fluids don’t. The only way I see it could possibly affect performance is that the hotter gasoline would warm up the air inside the cylinder before the spark. But we are talking about a very short contact time between the air and gas before the mixture ignites so… it’s probably a waste of time and money.

 

Well, so is anything we do with our cars, except when using it to get somewhere.

However, I agree with you, Gizm0. While the idea seemed sparkly at first, it looses its luster pretty quick.

 

^^ I'm saying that it’s a waste of time and money because when adding insulating tape on the fuel rails, there is no YES answers to any of these questions (unless there is an existing problem like in post #8)

-Does it improve the horsepower/torque?
-Does it reduce gas mileage?
-Does it improve handling?
-Does it improve the visual appearance or the car? (The answer to this question is often a matter of opinion)

With the other mods we do to our cars, we can typically answer yes to at least one of the questions above.

 

I know all that, Gizm0. My comment was more of a joke than an opinion.

 

 

I did a similar thing but I used header wrap I got from my buddies shop.

 

Um. Doesn't header wrap do the opposite?

 

No. Header Wrap is designed to keep heat in yea. But if the heat is coming from outside then it stays out. It deflects heat no matter what side of the wrap its coming from.

 

I used the reflective gold DEI wrap on the IM and CAI intake piping on my 4th gen and the car seems to run a hell of a lot smoother. Heatsoak is practically eliminated and even my MPGs have gone up somewhat.

I'm getting another roll to do my 5.5 gen IM and Injen intake piping.

 

I thought about doing the IM too but I'm afraid it'll look like crap...

 

That ship is already out of the docks, Gizm0. I think a more apt concern is that the IM can get very hot, maybe too hot to support heat-wrap. Did you look at the temperature specs on the insulation tape?

Something tells me that a heat-soaked engine bay contributes negligibly to the UIM temperature as compared to the heat from the engine itself.

 

^^ that's why in installed the spacers. Even though it lowered the temperature of the IM, it can still get pretty hot, I'm guessing from the surrounding hot air in the engine bay? In this case, cool tape would help reflect some heat away...

 

nicely done. Next modification to your Injen is to cut a hole under/behind the battery tray and run it outside the engine wall behind the splashguard/fog light the way the Place Racing intake was. Looking at the Injen I bet it could be done fairly easily...

 

I did a similar thing using exhaust wrap. I got like 100 feet of it for $25 on eBay.

 

Did this 3-4 years ago!

 

Mine looks good (refer to my sig).

And as for the IM getting to hot to use the adhesive, I know the reflective gold DEI tape I'm using is good for 850 degrees on the reflective side and 325 degrees IIRC on the adhesive side. I've been running this set up for 2-3 weeks and the tape is holding up perfectly fine.

 

I have to check this exhaust wrap. Maybe the way to go.