thermal wrap???

Should I wrap my intercooler piping or my turbo?

IMO if you wrap the intercooler pipe,
you would retain as much heat as you would cold.

Same with the Turbo, it would make it stay hotter,
and thats not what you are looking for.

Just my :2cents:

Its usualy yused on exhaust parts like headders, and its used to keep the heat in untill the hot exhaust gases are out of the engine bay.

I dont know what I was writing, I meant turbo manifold and the exhaust housing and dp on the turbo.

I would get a thermal coating before I would wrap. Thermal wrap is a pain in the ass and will trap moisture and will rust your exhaust. The thermal coatings are more expensive but they work better, keep out moisutre, and they look better.

I disagree with the rusting, if its done right.

Most thermo wrap you wet, then wrap whatever you are wrapping, and as it dries it tightens up and does seal pretty good.

I have thermo wrap on my headers on my GA SE,
and they arent rusting.

But yes you can wrap the turbo manifold and the exhaust housing . I wouldnt wrap the turbo though :grinno:

i've kept my mouth shut, but i can't any longer. i've strongly disagreed with everything xeroinfinity has said. you have no base for your comments and much of it make zero sense.

IMO if you wrap the intercooler pipe,
you would retain as much heat as you would cold.

Same with the Turbo, it would make it stay hotter,
and thats not what you are looking for.

cmon, are you kidding? do you know why people use thermal wrap? its to keep the heat isolated to the exhaust, to keep the heat from the rest of the engine, say the intake, radiator, and anything plastic that might melt from extremely hot EGTs.

I have thermo wrap on my headers on my GA SE,
and they arent rusting.

But yes you can wrap the turbo manifold and the exhaust housing . I wouldnt wrap the turbo though

how do you know your headers aren't rusting? hmmm? you don't, b/c they're covered by the thermal wrap. and the big problem with thermal wrap isn't that it will cause rust b/c of moisture retention, but more so that thermal wrapping does its job too well. it often isn't a uniform wrap and creates hot spots on the header. later on, the hot spots will crack. this usually occurs near the welds or joints.

wait, so you would NOT wrap the turbo? why? please tell us your logic there. the turbine side of the turbo is the part of the exhaust that gets THE hottest. granted, thermal wrap isn't designed to wrap around a large snail shaped object efficiently, but it is a GREAT idea to have the turbine side sprayed with a thermal coat of some sort, whether its a high-temp ceramic coat or an actual thermal coat like what Jet Hot does. you don't want the EGTs from the turbo (which can easily go beyond 1000 degree F) to melt some nearby plastic or to transfer that heat elsewhere in the engine.

Thats fine, you can disagree :grinyes:

What I meant was wrapping the turbo only retains the heat,
so then you run the rise of overheating the turbo.
And or you oil gets to hot. Then you migth consider an oil cooler or two.

Now I dont know shit about turbos, realy, but as far as wrap you can wrap the entire engine if you have that kinda cash & time, for all that wrap(ping).

I wrapped my headers because of under hood temps were to high. Hated to cover the nickle coating but the heat was crazy hot under there.

Thats fine, you can disagree :grinyes:

What I meant was wrapping the turbo only retains the heat,
so then you run the rise of overheating the turbo.
And or you oil gets to hot. Then you migth consider an oil cooler or two.

Now I dont know shit about turbos, realy, but as far as wrap you can wrap the entire engine if you have that kinda cash & time, for all that wrap(ping).

again, i disagree with your logic. but your statement i put in bold...well you took the words right out of my mouth!

by wrapping the turbo, the goal IS TO RETAIN THE HEAT. you talk about overheating the turbo? hahaha. the turbine side is made of cast iron. i don't know the melting point of iron off the top of my head, but since turbines often reach temperatures in excess of 1000 degrees F, i think they'll survive a little heat. what would you call "overheating?" is 1200 degrees "overheating?" how do you define this term?

yes, the oil will get hot. that's why turbo cars have oil coolers (as you suggested, way to go, ur logic is getting better). also, there are coolant lines that pass through the turbos to cool it down. also, it is not recommended to shut a turbo car off right after driving it hard. that's what turbo timers are for: to let the car idle for a few minutes after the key is removed from the ignition, then it will shut the car off automatically. or, smarter people won't waste money on turbo timers, but rather drive their car easily just before they reach their destination and shut the car off.

I wrapped my headers because of under hood temps were to high. Hated to cover the nickle coating but the heat was crazy hot under there.

YES! that's the point i've been trying to explain. exhaust components are wrapped/thermal coated to lower under hood temps. why lower under hood temps? because you don't want to transfer heat to something like the radiator or intake b/c it will make the car run hotter and less efficiently. also, nearby plastic and rubber parts risk melting or even catching on fire

i'm sorry if i'm coming across as a stickler. i'm just trying to prevent misinformation being spread on the internet :lol: :rofl: . i know, i know, i'm fighting a losing battle, but i gotta try to do what i can.

Well I dont know what makes you think you are the authoritive figure on thermo wrap :dunno:

Well In know the "turbo" can handle up to 1800deg,
but the bearings dont like all the heat and can fail becaue of this.

But you are intitled to your own opinion.
I dont see why anything I said was "misinformation".

All mitsu3kgt wanted to know is can he wrap his turbo manifold and the exhaust housing and dp on the turbo.

First he asked if he should wrap the intercooler piping or turbo.
I have NEVER seen any intercooler piping wrapped.
So IMO thier realy isnt much need for this on the street.

i never said i was an authority on thermo wrap, simply just trying to prevent misinformation. you can downplay everything you said as 'opinion' or 'off topic', but to put it plainly, the goal of a thermal wrap or coat is to RETAIN heat, to prevent it from transferring to the rest of the engine bay, to make the car run more efficiently. turbos do not overheat. i don't know where you got this idea. and yes, the turbine side can get really hot, its supposed to, that's why its made of cast iron. EGTs will surpass 1200 degrees on full out drag cars. 1800 is pushing it. still, heat has little to do with bearing failure, its lack of proper lubrication the leads to bearing failure. for this reason it is recommended to let the car idle/drive it easily after running the turbo hard. doing this will let the oil circulate and cool down. shutting the car off prematurely results in hot oil coking inside the turbo oil lines. when this happens, oil flow to the turbo is not optimal and the lack in sufficient lubrication can cause premature bearing failure. also, it is recommended as maintenance to change turbo oil lines periodically, especially when changing turbos.

again, i don't presume to be any kind of authority when it comes to thermal wraps or turbos. i've just done my homework.

and as for wrapping the intercooler piping, this won't hurt at all. the idea is to insulate the piping from heat from the engine bay. however, it would only make sense to wrap/insulate the piping after the intercooler. usually intercooler piping is not insulated. if you are worried about the temp. of the air entering the engine, don't, that's why you have an intercooler. but if you would still like to lower the intake charge, you can rig up a spray system. many people have sprayed CO2 or even Nitrous onto the intercooler to chill it furthermore make the intake charge very cold. a friend of mine uses Nitrous spray on his VR4 intercoolers (stock) and saw a 20hp increase on the dyno, just from the spray.


so, Xeroinfinity, just b/c you've never seen any intercooler pipes wrapped doesn't mean its a bad idea. actually, if you think through the logic, it makes a LOT of sense and would be a good idea. but there are other more efficient ways of cooling the intake charge, as previously mentioned.

an NO, this is not just my opinion. its fact.