| and I saw seriously shortened oil life. After only 1500-2000 miles I turned Mobil 1 synthetic into mud soup. Given my line of work, I'm embarrased to admit I really didnt have a good reason to be doing it. You want to reduce underhood temps and why? Most likely to reduce heat aging and full out destruction of surrounding plastic doohickies. 1st- The turbocharger and manifold will in fact get HOTTER with the wrap than they ever could alone.
2nd- They will stay hotter for LONGER than they ever would alone. The first issue is bad because the turbo was designed with an anticipated max housing temperature. Natural convection is assumed, which is hindered by a close fitting wrap. Metals will soften, oxidize and warp. Tolerances will change, odd stresses will be induced due to room temp constraints, etc. The second is bad due to heat soak. Setting aside the oil destruction due to consistantly higher temps, holding it in can cause serious temp spikes after shut down... a problem which any turbo nut is well aware of. Except in this case, the spike is far worse for two reasons... its hotter at shutdown to start, and the insulation prevents cooling from the outside. These are two serious longevity issues introduced to cure just one. The solution? Collateral heat damage has more to do with incident infrared radiation than direct contact with hot air. All that is needed to stop that is a thin metal heat shield (like oem). Designing the shield to be open at the top and bottom encourages convective cooling keeping the assembly temps in check.
 
Daily driving a TT is like ordering your favorite pizza for breakfast lunch and dinner. It's not healthy and eventually you will lose the magic of the meal. Sometimes you just have to have some meatloaf. My new meatloaf.... 1994 Black Honda Civic DX :D what? It looks a little stumpy, but fits great in the hand! (n/m) - ZEngineer 12/12/06 |
