I know that heat shields are used to keep Hood scoops from melting, but what else do they do for a MINI?
I have a "warm air" intake on my mini and i was wondering:
If i put a heat shield on (like M7's) would it keep a little bit of that warm/hot air from making its way to the air filter or would it only keep the hood scoop from melting?

 

That is the idea. I'm thinking of getting one and measuring before and after intake temperatures with my ScanGauge II. It reports Intake temperatures. It should affect the temperatures at least a little bit.

 

I got the wrap from Way and removed the grill and added a cai. The hood is significantly cooler. You can even touch the stock heat shield in cooler weather after driving.

 

I have the WMW wrap on my turbo and wrapped my downpipe with header wrap. My underhood temps are significantly lower under any operating condition.

 

wont that keep you turbo hotter and thus les efficient

 

Yes/No. Consult the laws of thermodynamics (Wikipedia is a good start) for details. Suffice it to say you want to keep heat inside the exaust (driving) side of the turbo, outside the cold intake (driven) side of the turbo, and outside the engine compartment.

The more energy (heat is energy) inside the exhaust side the more energy is imparted to the turbine wheel the more energy there is to compress the intake charge.

The fluid cooler on the turbo is there to reduce heat transfer to the intake compression side and prevent heat soak on shutdown (which is why the pump runs after shutdown). It's a balance of space and design engineering limits. The intercooler helps to lower the compressed intake temps from the heat induced by compression and from transfer in the turbo.

You should keep the heat in the exhaust system until it is out of the engine compartment.

And here is a resource that states what I just said:
http://books.google.com/books?id=rF-...esult#PPA75,M1

 

But will not the turbo "cook" with the heat after the shut down?

 

Nope, on shutdown no new heat is coming in and cooling pump runs after shutdown to cool it down.

 

What is "cai"?

 

Cold Air Intake

 

So in theory if i fabricate an air duct running from the Hood scoop all the way to the air filter in the back of the engine compartment, (without any form of heat shield in place), will this duct get hot up by where the turbo is?
If if does all you would really need to do is put some heat insulation on the under side of this duct where the trubo is right? (this is all to keep the intake air as cool as possble)
Heres a picture of what i mean:

*edit* Not my mini, or intake system

 

i would think you want the air to flow over your turbo so it helps cool it

 

But the air scoop clears the turbo, it dosnt start flowing in till about 3 inches in front of the spark plug wires

 

it will still help cool the turbo because under the hood is cooler

 

true..
I just had another idea tho,
What if you make the hood scoop focus on the turbo, with a sharp bend downward,
and than make a small scoop above the hood line like the r53's do,
and down through the back panel and into an air filter?

 

that should work