Cooling intake air...

[fatassgq]

Hey all I was just curious,
I was looking at a pic of a nissan 4.2 turbo and was wondering what people would think of reflective devices such as paint or aluminium/bitumin tape etc for use on intake pipes and even the whole air cleaner assembly that nissan did not think too hard about! Or any other vehicle for that matter. These are always black and as such would absorb heaps of heat.

I was thinking if you could keep the heat isolated from the air cleaner box and the intake into it and air pipe out of it, it may well drop intake temps quite a bit.

I have some reflective paint and beside the fact that it may look a little different I think it could help.

Oppinions on this????

Brian

[bj on roids]

chrome it up!!

looks awesome if you have a clear bonnet too

[murcod]

I've used that Selleys Flastac bitumised aluminium tape before. It may not look the best but should insulate fairly well.

[chimpboy]

It won't make any meaningful difference except to looks. The main determinant of air intake temperature is the temperature of the air that you're sucking in. I mean, it moves through there pretty fast.

Cars that actually pick up their air from inside the engine bay benefit from a modified intake set-up, where the intake is extended so that it gets ambient air rather than hot engine bay air.

But I really doubt that what you're proposing is worth the hassle.

Jason

[fatassgq]

chrome it up!!

looks awesome if you have a clear bonnet too

YEAH COOL IDEA!!!!!

Not the cool I was after but!

How funny would a see thru bonnet be on a fourby but!
Hey look my turbo is glowing......

[fatassgq]

Yeah I thought about the fact that it flows real quick but thought maybe the filter box could benifit a bit.
It prolly not worth the effort though!!!

Was just thinking out loud I guess.

[ORSM45]

i dont think the fact that just because something is black, it absorbs heat. it absorbs light, which heat is a result.

i hate chrome things on engines, because of the cooling characteristics. get aluminium if anything. especially if its actually on the engine (ie rocker covers)

and like chimpboy said, if your intakes getting hot, your not flowing enough air so put ya foot down some more

[fatassgq]

It was BJ that mentioned chrome!!!! Fuck me I am not some ricer flogga it is a 4wd.

Black actually disipates heat better than any other colour. That is why sumps should normally be black.

But it also absorbs heat very well.

[slowhilux]

Two words

CERAMIC COATING

The silver stuff for reflective (1 coat application)
The black stuff for holding heat in (2 coat application)

Phill

[Hoonz]

intercooler perhaps ... maybe this is a stupid answer ... dunno if they work with out turbos .. *hides*

[V8Patrol]

put simply.....

The cooler the air the more oxygen atoms ......

The more oxygen atoms in the combustom chamber the bigger the bang when the fuel ignites, therefore more power and as an additional gain better economy.

this is why engines run better at night..... the air is cooler, ( its also another reason why truckies perfer to travel at night )

Intercoolers drop the air temp thats where they get their power gain over non intercooled engines.

If you ever get to see under the bonnet of a V8 supercar, the air is drawn from outside the engine bay and totally insulated from any heat source within the engine bay.

As for insulating your current setup...... I doubt if you'd notice any gain at all it would be that minor.

[ozy1]

intercooler perhaps ... maybe this is a stupid answer ... dunno if they work with out turbos .. *hides*

hey, was talkin about this with a mate just the other day, can any one say RICE, it would be RICE of all RICE!

[ORSM45]

apparently autobarn have a new range of air filters that look like intercoolers but are just an airbox infront of your grill. now if thats not saying RICE then i dont know what is!

fatass75 i know ya didnt, i wasnt havin a go at ya, just pointing out how crap chrome is for performance. BJ was joking anyway (i hope )

you might aswell just put a snorkel on, at least there is another advantage, like getting intake up higher. i dont think you could justify spending money on anything else.

MaccA

[ausyota]

Ceramic coating the exhaust manifold, turbo housing and dump pipe will keep the engine bay temps down a bit.
I dunno about coating the airbox etc I was thinking this same thing the other day when it was a hot day and I had been driving for a few hours and opened the bonnet and everything in the bay inc the air box was too hot to touch.
I thought to myself that burning hot air cleaner box has got to be hurting performance. Even with a snorkle feeding it cool air its got to be getting heated as it goes through.
And thats another thing why do the make snorkles satin black??? they get HOT out in the sun. Air pre heater .
Paul.

[chimpboy]

And thats another thing why do the make snorkles satin black??? they get HOT out in the sun. Air pre heater .
Paul.

I know you probably weren't after a genuine answer, but here's my guess:

1. Most cars already have some black trim so there's a match in terms of looks.

2. Laminar airflow means that the air that is passing through is more or less insulated from the heat of the snorkel and tubing.

Let me explain what I mean by laminar airflow. The idea is that at the centre of the tube, ie furthest from the walls, the air is moving at its maximum velocity. It is moving at about the same speed all the way out to where it meets the walls, except at the very edge. Right at the edge (which is right next to the wall of the snorkel) the air moves more slowly because of simple friction - the snorkel wall drags so it goes slower.

So what you have, starting at the outside, is the wall of the snorkel, then a layer of slower-moving air, and then the main volume of air which is moving faster. The layer of slower-moving air acts rather like a lubricant, since unlike the plastic it doesn't offer much friction (think air hockey), and it would, I think, also act as an insulator.

Well, it's a good theory.

Jason