Insulating the engine bay

[davidbrady]

(02-11-2013 20:33)encantotom Wrote:  as for the engine compartment itself, there are several products that you can buy. i chose to make my own with high temp insulation used for under hoods of cars and such and glued two sheets together to get almost an inch. it had a foil cover and i used the tape you use for ductwork (the silver reinforced kind) to seal the seams.

tom

Thanks for the links Tom. The engine compartment looks great, and doubling up the stuff made for under car hoods is a very clever solution. Nice job!

(02-11-2013 21:36)Arcticdude Wrote:  The ceramic coatings will drop the temps maybe 300-400 degrees, but when running a little, the turbo and close parts will still be pushing 700 or so. The polydamp hydrophobic melamine foam that I've got coming handles 375 sporadically. But the same company has a true thermal barrier that handles 800. I'm wondering if I shouldn't be using something like this near the turbo and exhaust.

See here: http://www.polytechinc.com/products/thermal.php and scroll down to the Polytech Heat Shield.

John,

As you know, I used the polydamp hydrophobic melamine. I took a propane torch to a piece and held it there for what seemed like minutes (it was 3 years ago and I didn't time it). Eventually the aluminum foil burned thru and the the torch made a hole in the melamine. The melamine never caught on fire. It singed a hole - kinda cauterized it. The stuff has excellent flame retardant properties. On my LXi there's a 180 deg U pipe that comes off the turbo and gets within 1/2", or so, of the PHM - no sweat.

david brady, '02 LXi, NC