Applied heat-reflective tape to my intake today.

M

Maleficio

Member
Car
2005 FX45 rwd
Name
Allen
This worked like a champ on my old Porsche 928. Intake tubing would become heat-soaked thus transferring that heat to the incoming air which reduced power because of timing retardation to reduce detonation.

The FX's intake sits right on top of the radiator and the intake belly gets extremely hot.

I haven't driven the 45 yet but I'm certain this will help.

IMAG0051.jpg IMAG0052.jpg IMAG0051.jpg IMAG0052.jpg
 
Just took it out for a spirited drive and to fill up the tank during the hottest time of the day. It ran strong and didn't change in any way. Normally it would feel like one of the brake calipers had siezed closed and was slowing me down. Not today.

Also, I've been noticing an oscillating engine vibe at 3k rpm that's been worrying me. Well, that appears to be gone, too.

Also, today I pulled the fuel tank sending unit and the boost pump to clean the float wiper contacts because my fuel level reading has been all over the place. That problem is now gone, too.

Just ordered another roll of this excellent tape by Newtex. Gonna completely wrap the air filter box and if any is left over gonna add another layer to the belly of the intake (it sits directly on top of the radiator).
 
Spending hundreds of dollars to "upgrade" to a "cold air intake" makes me laugh. There is no cold air in an engine bay.

I'd rather stick with my factory intake which is a combination of ram-air and cold air. I just did some mods to my factory intake which seem to work well.

I ripped out the air dam in front of the intake, filed down the guide vanes, wrapped the intake with heat-reflective tape, did the same to the MAF canister as it also senses intake air temperature and my FX45 is now running better than ever.

$20 spent so far.
 
Fork me!!

Just got back from a beer run and this old engine is running strong!!

Before these intake mods I had to mash the throttle just to get up to 3k rpm, now I barely dig in and the needle hits redline..... Instantly.

That's insane!

Welp, one layer of tape is very good. Therefore, two layers is even better!!
 
The factory intake sitting right on top of the radiator is essentially a heat exchanger. Heat travels from the radiator's top tank into the intake network.

In turn, this fools the inlet air temp sensor into thinking the car is being driven through Death Valley in August thus the ECM dials back the timing to minimize detonation.

Wrap the intake with Newtex heat-reflective tape and the misunderstanding vanishes.
 
If you have an OBD2 tool, you can read intake temps in real time. It'd be kinda interesting to see.

I know at idle, my VK is sucking in around 0.85 lbs/min, so figure 11ish ft3/min. Assuming 3" dia maf (I'm guessing) that means intake air is flying through at around 225 ft/second.... again, that's just idling. I dunno. I'm ballparking because there are other factors, but it doesn't seem like air hangs around in the relatively short intake tract long enough to gain any heat.
 
OilGeek said:
If you have an OBD2 tool, you can read intake temps in real time. It'd be kinda interesting to see.

I know at idle, my VK is sucking in around 0.85 lbs/min, so figure 11ish ft3/min. Assuming 3" dia maf (I'm guessing) that means intake air is flying through at around 225 ft/second.... again, that's just idling. I dunno. I'm ballparking because there are other factors, but it doesn't seem like air hangs around in the relatively short intake tract long enough to gain any heat.
Click to expand...

I caught a lot of flak on the Porsche forums when I wrapped my 928's intake tubing. I didn't measure anything, didn't make any calculations, I just did it on a hunch, and it worked.

In this case, wrapping the MAF/IAT probably did more than wrapping the intake.
 
I'm thinking of trying this. I recently pulled my Stillen for Smog check & put stock box in. Still running aftermarket tube (CF) and I dont notice any butt gains from the intake change. And that's with a stock paper filter in stock box. Maybe change the panel filter into K/N or dry media & get your tape. I've always thought the Stillen box cuts were a bit open for air intake. Car is much quieter now, which is not horrible as I can hear the Nismo exhaust a little more
 
gto said:
I'm thinking of trying this. I recently pulled my Stillen for Smog check & put stock box in. Still running aftermarket tube (CF) and I dont notice any butt gains from the intake change. And that's with a stock paper filter in stock box. Maybe change the panel filter into K/N or dry media & get your tape. I've always thought the Stillen box cuts were a bit open for air intake. Car is much quieter now, which is not horrible as I can hear the Nismo exhaust a little more
Click to expand...

Probably Overkill but I plan on wrapping everything in the intake network, including those oddly-shaped resonators that sit right above the exhaust manifold and absorb lots of heat.

City driving is when I noticed a power drop, and I presume it's a heat-soak issue throughout the intake.
 
Whoever decides to try this tape thing I strongly recommend wearing nitrile or latex gloves just to keep your own oils off the top surface of the tape. If you add a second layer or a patch and the bottom tape surface has your hand oil on it it will peel away. Be sure and clean the surfaces you intend to wrap, too. I used Windex.
 
I'm getting 19 mpg now, combined city/highway driving. That's pretty good for a 4.5 V8 pushing around 4400 lbs.
 
Looks like I was right about how much radiator heat soaks my intake.

I had to re-do the heat-reflective tape job on the primary intake tube that sits atop the radiator.

The initial layer actually separated from it's own glue layer. The glue stayed on the intake tube but the tape pulled away from it.

This time I installed two layers of tape to the belly but it is still separating from it's own glue.

If I were able to fully wrap the intake spirally I might have better luck but the unit is heavily contoured so that might not work.

I even applied a layer of tape to the radiators top tank but no improvement. The heat is intense.

So now I need to fabricate a legit heat shield to fit between the radiator top and the intake belly.

Any ideas?
 
Don't get me wrong, the tape is doing exactly what I want, but the tape just can't take the heat, and this Newtex tape is excellent compared to Thermo-Tec tape.

The layer on top of the intake is holding perfectly. Same for the tape on the MAF/IAT canister.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top