Intake heat isolation

[m4xwellmurd3r]

I was reading some information and found something interesting. Someone honda guys (hondata to be exact) made a 1/8th in teflon intake gasket to replace the stock gasket, along with some sort of plastic washers as well. they recorded an intake air drop of at most 30c, but from their graph, average of about 10c. It got me thinking. What if we were able to do the same with our Z? It would no doubt be trickier with our gasket being a single piece, but i'm sure someone would figure something out.

anyways, I found that teflon isn't the best material to make it out of, and I looked on McMaster Carrs for material. Looks like PPO is the best material to make it out of, since it has a maximum operating temp of 220F with a max temp of 300F

 

It also made me remember my dads friends VW bug with a draw through turbo pulling on a single webber. the intake manifold from the carb to the turbo, after a single pass, was ICE COLD. i mean cold as in, on a hot summer day there was condensation forming on it and it was cold to the touch. actually it was probably as cold as the can of soda I was holding in my hand at the time.

 

would something like this even be feasible to do on a Z's L6?

 

And I apologize if I'm speaking utter nonsense and should shut up

[cygnusx1]

Technically, it should work if the gasket is the correct material. The only issue is that it won't be as effective as it could be, due to all the heat radiating off of the exhaust manifold.

 

I think it's definitely something that might work in conjunction with other shieldings designed to keep exhaust heat from getting to the manifold.

 

In some high performance applications and turbo'd cars, I would worry about the insulating gasket not allowing the exhaust manfold to transfer heat back to the head. I am not sure if the exhaust manifold needs the head as a heat sink or not. I have heard of overheating the factory exhaust manifold and warping them.

 

My 2cents.

 

With the stock motor in my 76 280Z, I had used Teflon washers to isolate all the factory fuel rails to curb vapor lock with some success.

[m4xwellmurd3r]

well you would have to find a way to make the intake and exhaust gaskets seperate, so the exhaust still works as a heatsink (otherwise you'll hurt the engine)

I was thinking it would work if you also made some heat sheilding out of the same material.

[Challenger]

Ive heard of things like this but never seen it done.

 

Another way to fix this is to make a crossflow head. Intake on one side, exhaust on the other.

[m4xwellmurd3r]

it still wont' fix it. the problem with the intake is it's metal. it attaches to the head, which is metal. the gasket isn't a very good heat insulator, so the intake ends up becoming a heatsink. the problem isn't the lack of a crossflow design. I bookmarked the page I found the info on.

http://www.teamswift.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7174&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=38c43990bedb28f24a541ca4f2603e3c&start=25

[Challenger]

Yeah youd still have some heat transfer from the head to the intake manifold but it would help intake manifold temps quite abit.

[MONZTER]

Look into a material called Garolite G-10. This is what people use to make insulating spacers from.

[BSD]

What if you made part of the gasket out of nylon ( or other preferred material for the Intake) and made the other part out of metal for the exhaust? I'm not sure how well that loctite gasket sealer would work on the two.. could also heat wrap the exhaust manifold and see what happens.. maybe wrap the intake too? Out of assumption, that would be a very cool running system if it worked.. and would still keep the manifold hot so exhaust gases could scatter properly.

 

ideas ideas ideas.. maybe I should get my car painted and taken completely apart first!

[MONZTER]

I will be making my intake gasket out of the Garolite, and then the header gasket out of the same thickness annealed copper. I just debating on how thick to go.