+1. And as for any concerns about trapping heat, the shield looks pretty open on the sides. Whether or not it functions better than the OEM one (but not worse) it sure looks better, and so long as the price is right I'll probably get one too!

 

is all I can say.... But you WANT to keep the heat in the exhaust. Wrapping the header, or thermal barrier coating it is a GOOD thing. Wrapping the hot side of the turbo is a GOOD thing. The fact that the turbo is small and will hit choke earlier is bad is like saying more boost early is bad. The problem isnt' the heat in the exhaust pulses. It's the fact that Mini chose such a small turbo for the car to keep lag small.

The stock part is a joke. IT's not there for anything else other than to keep you from resting your hand on a really hot part. It also keeps some radient heat down from cooking the hood under hard driving.

And really, you shouldn't be surprised that the stuff glows when hot. NA motors can get the headers to glow. That nice red/orange color is about 500 C, less than half of what the exhaust temps actually run.

If this is a new world to you, do some research and reading. (and no, that doesn't mean just use the search function here.)

Matt

 

I've got the Way Motor Works turbo heat shield installed. The only picture I have of it is during fitment when we had it on temporarily while working on the downpipe and exhaust.




Like Matt said, there's a lot of benefit to be had in keeping the heat in the exhaust stream as far back as possible. Since this picture was taken, the new downpipe has been thermal coated to help even more.

 

First of all, since you are in a forum where the logic is to discuss everything, don't insult other people's knowledge.

Second, why rapping is a good thing for the turbo? Is it good just because you get full boost because you are not patient to wait for 10 more minutes?
Or is it good because you finish your ride, you let it 2-3 minutes idle in order to get cool, then stop the engine (by the way, sorry for my bad english), and the only thing that you do is after stoping the engine to keep all high temperatures trapped there for more time?
Isn't it just better to open the scoop?

My question is very simple, you finish your ride, you stop the engine.
The wrapping doen't significantly slow down the cooling of the turbo?

 

since when is pointing out that the answers to this question are
1) well known
2) not new
3) available to be found if one takes the time to look
insulting? Where I come from that's called providing information as opposed to perpetuating myth, rumor or just stuff that is wrong. Worst off, I see it as constructive criticism.

On a related subject, I was talking to someone at AMVIV (atually a couple of people) about print vs on-line information and it's ramifications. Seems to me print lacks immidiacy, but tends to be better researched, and have longer "staying power". On-line information seems to be more diluted with stuff that just isn't true and have a half-life of about a week, at best. What the long term consiquences of this are to society are anyones guess, but I'm guessing that the end result is a lot of posts that are factually inacurate.

Matt

 

goto the library and get a book on turbo charging a car. even if it is an old book from the 70s it will still have info that is relative today. the book that i found said just what Dr obnxs was saying is true, keeping the heat in the exhaust is a good thing.

 

hey how much is the heat shield? also is it a easy install? the coating how much was that too. can you fill us in on any of that please good buddy.

 

This thread and argument seemed to be inevitable, So my two cents and experience...

Ceramic coating headers and exhaust components is good. Why? because it effectively keeps heat out of the engine bay, and reduces heat transfer, or energy loss. Remember heat is energy.

How is this beneficial for turbos?

Well heat is energy, thermal loss casues energy loss, it takes energy to spin the turbo up and produce boost, so if you coat, or heat wrap the hot side of the turbo then there is less thermal loss, or significant minimization of thermal energy loss. This means the turbo spools soon, faster, and produces boost earlier. Boost is power. One more point to consider, remember the lower heat loss into the engine compartment, well the intake breaths air in the engine compartment, cooler air, lower preheat of charge, more power.

So Doc O, yes heat wrap is good for engines, and even better for turbos.

Now next point, notice I said heat wrap, or coatings on the exhaust system, or hot side of the turbo. Not a heat shield over the whole thing.

I would gladly ceramic coat the hot side, and my exhaust pipes, that would be good. i do not think the heat sheild is a good idea, I am flexible though explain how trapping the heat around the whole turbo does anything beyond premature failure related to overheating the bearings and heating the pressure side prior to the after cooler.

 

yeah, its true about keeping the heat in the exhaust of a turbo car being a good thing. a heat shield wont really keep the heat in the turbo as good as directly wrapping or coating it but it will definitely help keep the area around it cooler.

If you look at most ultra high end cars... they will often use gold foil around the exhaust system to reflect the heat because gold has the best radiant heat reflection... .

 

Yes this is our new Turbo heatsheild. AMVIV was the first time the Public has seen it. The stock heatsheild will also go back on the car. We just had it removed for the pic and testing.

 

I totally agree with you about the wraping of the exhaust. It is well known that the only thing that it does, is good.
My question about the turbo is when you stop the engine.
What about then?
Will this wrapping prevent the turbo from cooling? (I think that cooling is very important, since the fact that many of us put a turbo timer in order to make sure that after the ride, the turbo must be cooled of).

So, this wrapping then, will it create problems to the turbo like the known ones that many people face when they make a harsh ride end then immediately stop the engine without giving some time to the turbo to cool a bit?
This is my only concern, not about the product itself.

 

Hello,

This is one of those tricky points of confusion for many. This is why I distinguish, or tried to at least, the difference between a heat shield and ceramic coatings / heat wrap. The ideal is to ceramic coat the exhaust and hot side of the turbo, a compromise is to wrap or blanket the hot side of the turbo. These are fine, provided the turbo is adequately cooled post operation. The Mini is rather nice in this respect because they continue to circulate coolant post operation to quench the heat in the turbo.

Now my issue is with heat shields, they serve to protect the surrounding environment by blocking heat transfer out of the area, that is a no-no, heat trap, no way to cool. Also note they do not selectively retain the heat in the exhaust side.

However note the picture of the way motorworks "shield" This is a wrap, it only blankets the hot side. It is one of the good solutions. It would be better to call it heat wrap, but the picture fixes the idea.

Hope that helps.

 

Wrapping the hot side of the turbo makes the cooldown phase work more efficiently, too. As long as the heat remains in the turbo body, the circulating water can pull heat from it. Once it radiates off the turbo, it becomes hard for the car to cool. That's why I don't like the OEM barrier approach of letting it radiate from the hot side, and then trapping it over the whole turbo assembly.

 

So when will the shield be available? Price?

 

Is that a McLaren I spy...I know they used gold extensively

 

They are NOW available. The introductory price is $175.

 

Ahha, found it http://www.autocult.com.au/img/gallery/hologram112.jpg
beautiful cars

Sorry for the hijack...

 

haha! ^^ you got me!

The McLaren is one of my all time favorite cars... the no holds barred approach to making the car is sooo cool.

 

After studying the picture of the WAY heat shield, it looks like you could make a DIY unit fairly easily:

1. Remove the factory shield.
2. Cut some motorcycle muffler packing or other fiberglass insulation and wrap around the hot side of the turbo.
3. Enclose it snugly with aluminum tape. The adhesive will subsequently melt, but the material will still stay in place.
4. Reinstall factory heat shield.

 

Does the m7 heat shield just go over the stock one? or does one remove the stock one first?

 

How much of a hassle was it to install the blanket? Just got mine yesterday and the wire that came in the "kit" seems rather flimsy.
Not looking forward to getting those lower three bolts out of the OEM shield
Oh well the knuckles have always healed in the past....

 

The wire will work fine, it is really just meant to hold it in place until you heat cycle it a couple times. Then the wrap will form to the housing really nice.

 

Thanks, I'll be getting to that this evening.

 

Miniguru

I bought the heat shield last week and installed it last night.
Took the car for a spin to get the smoking out for about 20 minutes doing laps between 2 exits on the freeway next to my house.

Came home left the bonnet open to clear away all the smoke.

Today I drove the car to school, when I came to school the bonnet was just as hot as usual, I opened it and the stock heat shield was also as hot as usual. (i barely touched it for split second)

I remember somewhere that you guys had a picture of your hand on it.
What could be wrong?

Installed it looks exactly as your pictures here and on other threads. I followed all the instructions precisely.

If I take my stock heat shield off now will I be able to move the wrap around to better adjusted (in case I wrapped it in a wrong way) or is it now permanently molded to the turbo?

Here are some pictures
Picasa album link


Thanks

 

With the M7 heat shield..... will it be better for heat dispersion if the OEM heat shield was removed?

ARC Japan came up with this: