Heat sheilding for intakes

Most of the intakes I have seen are just plain polished extruded metal. Metal tends to conduct heat. This would increase the temp of the cool air that we want our engines breathing after it gets sucked in through our fancy cold air intakes and filters. A ceramic coating would not be a bad idea. Anyone come up with other solutions? I have seen thermal wrap for the exhaust manifold that is supposed to reduce engine compartment temp. I have also seen a metal heat sheild used to isolate the air box/battery area fro the rest of the engine compartment used by a popular magazine.

Originally posted by aluke000
Most of the intakes I have seen are just plain polished extruded metal. Metal tends to conduct heat. This would increase the temp of the cool air that we want our engines breathing after it gets sucked in through our fancy cold air intakes and filters. A ceramic coating would not be a bad idea. Anyone come up with other solutions? ....

There is not enough heat transfer there to make a significant difference. If you were to use a ceramic coating, you would have to use Swain's White Lightning coating to have any real effect. The other ceramic coatings are little more than ceramic paint and don't provide much of a thermal barrier.

That is what I am going to fabricate, I posted a thread "Aluminum intake housing" I am going to caot the inside for heat & other reasons, the heat is not critical it wont get to hot in there to greatly affect the air but it will be hopefully decreased with what I am going to fabricate + I wont get all the dust that gets on the engine.

I will post pick's to let you all know!:bloated:

I am looking at possibly fabbing my own too. Most of the intakes that I have found don't impress me much except the AEM CAI.
Here's a good article from a guy that made his own CAI for a Del Sol. He used steel pipe and used ceramic paint inside and outside. Check out the end of his article on the temp of his intake.

http://www.teamdelsol.com/howto/coldair/diycoldair.htm

I just checked your post Red, and I think we are on different tracks. (I was looking at a custom intake tube and you are looking at an enclosure for the filter area)

I believe Sport Compact Car had done something similar for a classic SE-R. Their intent was to isolate the hot air closer to the engine from the cooler air by the filter. They used sheet metal that ran from the firewall near the strut tower to up near the battery. If memory serves, it successfully reduce intake temps.

Can you tell me more about what you are looking to do?

three words...

cold air intake :D

Your three words are nice, but that's what this thread was originally about in the first place. I wanted to get ideas on how to better thermally isolate the intake pipe in a CAI. My concern was the precious cold air being heated as it passed through the typical heat conductive aluminum intake pipe used in a CAI system.

ohh i thought you meant ram air :finger:

well you could try that mesh type stuff, the stuff thats before your catalytic convertor under your car, id think that keeps the heat away. watch out, ceramic can crack :eek:

Yeah, I have seen the stuff used on exhaust manifolds and headers. I didn't get a close look, but it appearsed to be like a fiberglass batting or something. Kind of an ugly thing to cover up your nice looking intake with.

Hey Deric, I looked at the pics of your car (I also have a Pearl White 95) and you don't have a cold air intake in the pictures? Are they older pictures and you've upgraded to a CAI since?

i havent installed the cold air part of my intake. i have a hotshot cold air intake, but made it ram air. i get a lot of car washes and i know that they will spray the air filter and soak it with water, and im just worried about the water getting sucked into my engine so i stick with ram air. :D

Time to look into the AEM bypass valve. You can get them for less than $40.

I am also experimenting with various intake configurations to find what best fits my needs.

So are you still using the tiny funnel choke tube from the factory that ran into the old airbox or have you made up something else for better airflow?

I don't believe that little choke tube was designed for positive airflow, but negative. It was design to have air sucked through it from the engine, not really to have air pushed into it from the outside.

Creating a true ram-air system for short tube intakes is something else I have thought about. Using a filter system with an open top instead of a metal cap, you can have an isolated system directing air directly into the top of the filter.

Hey has anyone checked Knight engineering (iceman intakes) they are made of a space age plastic that resists heat they use the plastic on nasa shuttle, maybe going to a TAP plastics & having them creat a piping like you want will do the trick.

Know I understand what you want to do, my brother inlaw is doing this to his jetta. I am going a little difrent a box around the filter with a snorkel to the out side for fresh air .

Well I will keep you update to see if it goes well!:bloated:

im just using the ram air tubing part for my intake. it comes in two parts. im not sure where i could put the aem bypass valve, ive thought of that, maybe it will work. im going to try it :D

I didn't think Iceman made an intake for the G20/Primera or any SR20DE's?

I thought the only Nissan they made them for was the Skyline (like there are gonna sell a whole lot of Skyline intakes in the US for a car not sold in the US, huh?)

Any idea if they have a website?

I hate to rain on your parades guys, but you are not getting ram-air. To truly get ram-air, you have to generate positive pressure. In other words, you have to build pressure faster than the engine can suck the air away. There are few places this is really possible. The base of the windshield is one (very) high pressure.

Simply installing a scoop will not do it. Facing a venturi forward on the car will not do it. You would need to get a snorkle high enough to be above the boundry layer of the airflow. Running hoses up to the filter will definitely not do it.

Your best bet is a CAI. I don't think you'll be able to measure any gain from a ceramic coating on the CAI, but I've been wrong before. The airflow is so fast through the piping that it won't transfer much heat IMHO.

Hey Redvalkyrie, I dug up that old article from Sport Compact Car on the SE-R. It was an article entitled "Cold Air Without the Cold Water". The purpose was to get colder air withou having to use a CAI system.
They just used a piece of $10 aluminum sheeting to create a barrier to isolate thier intake filter from the rest of the engine compartment. Nothing fancy. It appears the hardest part was trimming it to meet the hood nicely when the hood is closed to keep a good seal.
They tested their intake temps at the throttle body and measured a drop in temp of 20 degrees at idle to an average of 7-8 degrees at cruising. Not too bad for $10.

Originally posted by aluke000
They tested their intake temps at the throttle body and measured a drop in temp of 20 degrees at idle to an average of 7-8 degrees at cruising. Not too bad for $10.

Yeah, but what was the hp increase? :)

They didn't include any HP measurements in the article. But with 10 degree drop in intake air temp at the thottle body, it can only bear a positive benefit. And at a cost of $10 in materials, it is at least something to bear in mind when others are shelling out $$$$ for other fancy systems.

There are many members of this forum who do not have the excess funds to spend max $$$ for the most HP like a DET engine, but many are interested in inexpensive ways to improve their vehicles.

If this little $10 mod produces zero improvement in HP but allows the engine to breather cooler air, that may not be of interest to you but may be to others concerned about how their engine breathes.

This thread was started to discuss air temp anyway, not HP gains.

Originally posted by aluke000
They didn't include any HP measurements in the article. But with 10 degree drop in intake air temp at the thottle body, it can only bear a positive benefit. And at a cost of $10 in materials, it is at least something to bear in mind when others are shelling out $$$$ for other fancy systems.


Very true! And sometimes a little advantage is all you need.

Originally posted by aluke000
There are many members of this forum who do not have the excess funds to spend max $$$ for the most HP like a DET engine, but many are interested in inexpensive ways to improve their vehicles.


Easy bud. I'm not looking down on anyone.

I just don't want anyone to think that they can get anywhere near the improvement in hp from this mod that they can from a CAI. Lot's of folks do think that. Also, some folks are talking about spending a lot of money to lower the air temps (ceramic coating a CAI). This helps, but folks should be aware of the potential gains to evaluate against the cost. If I came across wrong, please accept my apology. I'm only trying to look out for folks

But, you are right to remind me that not everyone wants to spend a lot of money on their car. In groups like this and others where there are a lot of folks spending a lot of money, it's easy to forget.

Originally posted by aluke000
This thread was started to discuss air temp anyway, not HP gains.

Regardless of why it started, remember that threads are just that, threads. They sometimes take on additional topics as did this one. HP has been discussed in relation to this thread, so I didn't bring it up. Fair enough? :)

Hey no problem, it's good we can come to a mutual understanding.

The Hotshot composite intake is intruiging. If time permits I will probably end up fabbing a custom intake that has all the characteristics I am looking for. Ah, it's time that is the valuable commodity...

Oops, I meant Iceman intake, not Hotshot.

Anyone have one of these? I am curious how hot to the touch it gets when the engine has been run for a while?

Thanks 4 diggin that up I was looking for the perticular mag I can't find it, But that is what I am trying to acomplish a cooler ambient around my filter + not getting engine dust & heat, not completly aliminating cause that would be inposible on a low budget fix.
I am trying to find alternitives to help out the people with limited funds once I get the mesurment's down & fixed up peurty I will let the 411 go on this forum & will share it with G-forces & boogie as alternatives to low budget fix-ups.:D

On the other hand I like the CAI thing, about the Iceman I will be digging through mag's to look for their addy, these intake dont get hot at all they get luke warn.

A friend runs one in hes ride well from SF to AZ phenix we drove stright with few rest stops of 15min & we were able to put our hand on the piping & it was warn not scorching hot like the rest of the engine bay also this intake is a cai type intake it goes into your fender & rests in the tire well. I wll keep searching for their site!:bloated:

One more thing Iceman it's an extension they sell that converts it to a CAI. Last time I saw the pricing they were at $229.00 for an intake with the extension they were limited in color to blue black yellow red white & purple. Well be searching tonight for mag!;)

Red, I just may try something similar (along with all my other car and non-car projects I have on my plate) to see what the results would be. I'll keep you posted with any results if I do.