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HybridZ

anyone have picks of the i/c pipes in there zxt?


BIGJIM

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Yea..thought about insulation...most is too bulky. On my picture you will notice I used H&A insulation tape..Not nessarly for thermal savings really just thinking that since its reflective..it possibly could reflect the heat to a point...Just don't tape where your silocon hoses attach :)

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Funny thing about insulating pipes, it doesn't necessarily work like you first think it should. The problem is that you increase the surface area of the pipe, making it more apt to transfer heat from convection. In the end this increase in surface area MAY cause an insulated pipe to be hotter than it would be uninsulated.

 

I have seen cases where this is indeed true. (actually we did a lab on this in one thermo course) Of course a simple test could prove whether it will work in your situation or not.

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I agree concerning added surface area..as you can see looking on my pipes you will notice reflective tape. I just remember awhile back some people painting their pipes black or a similar dark color. I would think that that would absorbe heat....So then I looked back from my construction and Boy Scout days the use of reflective material could possibly reflect heat away to a point...how much who knows

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The amount that the air in any of these parts increases or decreases is dependent on several factors. One of the most important factors is the difference in the temperatures between the air and what is heating/cooling it. If you have air coming out of the turbo at 200* and the air inside your engine bay is also around 200* then the air will not be heated in the piping in the engine compartment. The intercooler can not cool the inlet charge to less then ambient air temperature so it will always be warmer then outside air. I would think the ideal routing would be to take the coolest aie possible into the turbo, then the hot air from the turbo across the engine compartment (very little difference in temperature, it might even cool it some) into the intercooler to cool it as much as possible and then out to the trottle body spending as little time in the engine compartment as possible. If you go the other route and run your intercooled air across the engine compartment then you have relatively cool air (100*) running through a relatively hot are (200*) thus heating it up some. My thermo is also pretty rusty but this is the way I believe it should work. The real question is just how much of a temperature difference does it make, it may only be a few degrees.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have the I/C pipe routed so that the cooled air passes behind the radiator on its way to the throttle. For peace of mind, I insulated it. With the great volume of air flowing through that pipe, very little of the heat from the pipe transfers to the airstream. A pipe of that diameter is a very poor heat transfer device anyhow. Routing it the other way around may render your I/C slightly more efficient because you are adding that little bit of "radiator heat" to the air before it gets cooled. This leads to a higher "delta T", temp. diff. between the intake air and the I/C making for a steeper "hill" for the heat to move down. Now there are a ton of other factors to consider before we say which way is better. Is that higher delta T going to remove all the additional heat?.. Maybe, maybe not. Some basic engineering will be able to quantify each scenario. Personally, I dont have the the equipment to study this the correct way.

 

For our street drivers this difference is negligable. If you want to get real concerned about intake air temp, put your hand on your intake manifold after driving your turbo Z around for a while. -! Be Careful !- A hot manifold will add way more heat to the air than that pipe behind the radiator.

 

Just my 2c

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Guest bastaad525

I would think, routing it Jersey and Cygnus' way, that the air is moving fast enough through the pipe behind the radiator that it wouldnt' have enough time to heat up much at all.

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I have looked at that configuration a number of times, but for myself, I did not want to have the IC tubes running the width of the car in front of the radiator. My approach was to get them installed in the most non intrusive way possible. I didn't want to have to deal with the fan, shroud, the belts, and replacing parts, and have to remove the IC parts to do anything. That is why I went the way I did, to get full access to the engine components and not have to fool with the IC piping once it was installed. :D

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Im a tremendous fan of the fan clutch on a street car, with a manually switched electric fan for backup at the track or other hard driving times. Its almost a no maintenance part and keeps my engine nice and cool in stop and go. Ill take a parasitic hp loss for the peace of mind, just turn up the boost. I like the idea of running all the pipes out of the drivers side myself, but I can see how the NPR and other intercooler that would make that difficult to route make the pipe across the engine unavoidable.

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I think routing the IC pipes is dictated more by cost, difficulty, and parts availability than anything else. I think it will function well either way. With my setup, pictured (http://hvmp.com/dc/76Z-IC-2.jpg), I did need a 16" Mr. Gasket electric fan for $100. I think belt service is easier now than before. The pipes come out in under two minutes and there is no clutch fan in the way. Up front, I run a Bug Screen/IC/Oil Cooler/AC Condenser/3 row radiator all stacked up in that order and I dont have any cooling issues. I have driven in 90 degree weather in moderate stop and go traffic with AC for 1/2 hour with no issues. It works. To each their own. That's why HybridZ's are custom cars.

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Guest bastaad525

I'm working on my install now. Picked up the pipes and couplers and bends I need... looking like it will be NO problem getting it all in w/o removing even the fan shroud, when I was test fitting stuff in there. Using 2 1/4" pipe.

 

Hardest part I've run into so far is figuring out where to put the darn BOV now....

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