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Turbo Blanket


IntercooledFlatty
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Not sure i do like it. I have an issue watching my exhaust housing glow red after hard pulls.. This was on a hx35 t3 with a .63 exhaust housing. Ever since i took it off it hasnt glowed once, even on the hardest pulls. Then again it might just be because of my equal length manifold. I dropped exhaust temps by almost 400 fahreinheight just by getting rid of the log manifold. I know turbos like heat but to me it seems like it kept in too much heat to the point where it coked up the oil on the exhaust side.
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I run one and I like it. It keeps my plug wires and other parts close to the turbo from melting. Supposedly helps the scavenging effect of the turbo hot side too. Although I can't speak for that. Oil soaking into it is definitely a concern but I try to watch for that kind of thing.
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They don't really make a whole lot of sense to me... I doubt putting a blanket on there would help the turbo extract any more power from the exhaust heat. Also, it is basically an insulator and is forcing your turbo to retain the exhaust heat which I would think could start to damage things after a while. If you are worried about your turbo melting things like plug wires, I would insulate the plug wires and NOT the turbo housing. Just my opinion.

 

EDIT: The stock setup had a heat shield which cuts down radiative heat transfer. Cutting down on that will keep your engine parts much cooler. Insulating the turbo is kind of a way to do that but the insulation also doesn't allow the air moving past it to cool it down as much.

Edited by mechengrkj
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I don't run one on my Starquest ... but I do run one on my DSM. The short story is when I switched over from a stock manifold to an aftermarket manifold I couldn't use the stock heat shields anymore and I noticed that my engine bay was waaaay hotter than it had ever been in the past. So, I switched over to slim line high-flow fans and a blanket. I took my time to carefully cut and fit it and avoiding covering all the oil lines and coolant lines. I've been very happy with it. I've had it on the car maybe 2 - 3 years ... not really sure. I just so happen to be in the middle of a project right now ... here's a pic from a week or so ago, you can kinda see the blanket in this shot.

 

http://imageshack.com/a/img540/1862/fYUAoK.jpg

 

The nicer thing about a Quest is the turbo is off to the side and back ... on a DSM they hang right up front and heat everything up. If you've owned a DSM you know what I'm talking about. I certainly wouldn't see anything wrong with running one on a Quest.

Edited by techboy
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the things i read and seen BAD are

the threading that is sewn to put it together

comes undone. and then the edges frey.

The DEi one freyed over time.

 

some low cost onse can burn if there is an

exhaust leak and flames hit it.

 

Burn Test with oil

 

 

Burn test comparrison 2 different makes

 

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My last manifold i built from stainless had some not so pretty welds. I wanted to cover them up so i wrapped it with header wrap. About six months later i heard exhaust leaks, pulled it off and unwrapped it to find it cracked up like a roadmap to cracktown. Im not 100% sure but i kind of feel like the wrap held too much heat against the stainless. when i attempted to weld up the cracks it welded like shiat. Started doi g some research and came to ths conclusion that the problem was carbide precipitation. Basically the extreme temps caused a molecular change in the metal. The carbon in the stainless migrates to the surface, combined with the carbon coming from the exhaust, the stainless becomes much more carbon filled than it started out. Steel with lots of carbon is either really strong or really brittle. In my case it became brittle.

Im worried that insulating the turbo may cause some sort of the same results.

I dont feel like the supposed heat benefits are worth the possible damages.

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My last manifold i built from stainless had some not so pretty welds. I wanted to cover them up so i wrapped it with header wrap. About six months later i heard exhaust leaks, pulled it off and unwrapped it to find it cracked up like a roadmap to cracktown. Im not 100% sure but i kind of feel like the wrap held too much heat against the stainless. when i attempted to weld up the cracks it welded like shiat. Started doi g some research and came to ths conclusion that the problem was carbide precipitation. Basically the extreme temps caused a molecular change in the metal. The carbon in the stainless migrates to the surface, combined with the carbon coming from the exhaust, the stainless becomes much more carbon filled than it started out. Steel with lots of carbon is either really strong or really brittle. In my case it became brittle.

Im worried that insulating the turbo may cause some sort of the same results.

I dont feel like the supposed heat benefits are worth the possible damages.

Well that's all I needed to hear.

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We dont warranty our manifolds if they are wrapped. Stainless expands and contracts with heat cycles. If you wrap it too tight it will not allow for that movement and can cause cracking.
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I'm replacing some of the beat up blanketing on the downpipe, but not wrapping the header or turbo. Despite heat shielding gone, the turbo's stainless casting cools pretty darn quick. The exhaust piping however can still cook. Wrapping other lines nearby as a precaution.
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turbos, exhaust, and headers are supposed to be wrapped, or coated. helps keep the heat inside.

 

I have a cheapo $15 ebay one. it is very dusty even after 4 years, mostly fiber glass, but it is almost acceptable to the touch, and helps prevent my plugs from burning up

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