gen 1 intake heat shield questions?

[MMAFIGHTER121]

I recently saw some measurements for a gen 1 heat shield in someone's post and with the day off tomorrow, I couldn't help but think it might be a fun side project to tackle. But then I got to thinking more - is it even worth the 10 bucks? I mean, after even regular driving the whole aluminum intake tube is scorching hot to touch, and there is a LOT of area of that hot intake tube on gen 1s. Wouldn't that long overheated route negate any moderate gains from an intake heat shield? Would the only way to make a heat shield worth it be to wrap the whole intake tube too in header wrap or something of the like OR is the air moving through the intake fast enough the temp of the intake tube itself wouldn't make much of a difference and as long as it pulls colder ambient air the shield is worth it? Does any of the shielded gen 1ers have personal experience? And FINALLY if you have some diagrams and pics of your shields, post 'em up please!

 

[Kumba]

I recently saw some measurements for a gen 1 heat shield in someone's post and with the day off tomorrow, I couldn't help but think it might be a fun side project to tackle. But then I got to thinking more - is it even worth the 10 bucks? I mean, after even regular driving the whole aluminum intake tube is scorching hot to touch, and there is a LOT of area of that hot intake tube on gen 1s. Wouldn't that long overheated route negate any moderate gains from an intake heat shield? Would the only way to make a heat shield worth it be to wrap the whole intake tube too in header wrap or something of the like OR is the air moving through the intake fast enough the temp of the intake tube itself wouldn't make much of a difference and as long as it pulls colder ambient air the shield is worth it? Does any of the shielded gen 1ers have personal experience? And FINALLY if you have some diagrams and pics of your shields, post 'em up please!

The short answer is yes, the metal tube will heat the air up.

But the long answer is, if you pull cooler air into the tube to begin with, the temperature coming out of the tube will be cooler. Say the tube will raise the air temp by 15-degrees. If you are pulling in 90-degree air from outside the car (cool-air), you will have 105-degree air going into the engine. If you are pulling 115-degree air from under the hood, you will have 130-degree air going into the engine. The hotter the air gets under the hood, the worse it is for your engine.

So, it's not that you are preventing a heat shield from baking the tube/filter/etc, it's that you are trying to make the air-path to the filter pull air from a place other then under the hood. Behind a bumper, behind a quarter panel, in the air dam, all good places. The further away from the area above the exhaust manifolds the better.

 

[LDM]

I just found this. What do you guys think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/T304...sories&fits=Submodel:Heat&hash=item5d2ef4ad2d

 

[MMAFIGHTER121]

I've always doubted that style. For one the shield is so close to the filter if it heated up, it won't do much shielding. Also it only covers half of the filter and leaves the whole backside open, which in our case, is where the engine is.

 

[oddball]

That style of shield that wraps around part of the filter is only useful if there's a specific heat source you're trying to protect from - like the filter is right next to the exhaust. Might also work as a splash shield if your filter is in a custom location (like in the bumper).

 

[Kumba]

Think of them less as a heat shield and more like an airflow restrictor. You want to restrict the filter's ability to easily pull air from the engine compartment. You want the path of least resistance to be air from somewhere else, preferably from behind the bumper or under the car body.

The whole heat shielding thing never comes into play unless it's like 2" away from a turbo or something.

 

[MMAFIGHTER121]

What would be the best material to go with? Metal seems awfully conductive for heat. Any pictures out there?