I have had the maf relocate in the cold side and was wondering if i should wrap it with header wrap to help lowering the temps? would there be any benefit?

 

your sig looks good!

and to answer your question, gains, if any at all, would probably be negligible. (highly doubt there would be any gains)

 

i always wanted to wrap my chargepiping and intake...more for looks but im sure it wouldnt hurt the performance...probably just wouldn't help much either

 

I don't think it would do squat. It's not even in a position to pick up heat and it's pretty short.

 

I had something with similar idea but a little different then just wrapping it with header wrap. A very efficient intercooler is most important. If you want to do this, imo it has to be on both the hot and cold pipes, and intake as well. I am still working on the hot side. Don't expect a hugh gain because you will be disappointed. I did it just to keep my pipes from getting heatsoak especially with ac on and the fans blasting all that hot air at them.

 

Wrapping the cold side is one thing but the hot side should never be wrapped. The heat that builds in the hot side is from the turbo not engine heat, therefore you would be trapping the heat in the pipe. It would do more harm then good. The wrap would likely cause hotter temps.

 

Wrapping the exhaust manifold is ok to a point, yes it will trap heat, but it provide some valuable gains:
- slightly faster turbo spool [exhaust gas/ heat makes the TC spools quicker]
- decrease in engine compartment heat both for radiant/transferring heat [reduced heat = cooler engine + more power]

but the down side is:
- the possibly of both warping/ cracking the exhaust manifold [tubular or cast] from very extreme heat.. but it rarely happens b/c not everyone has a track prepped ecotec or is at WOT all the time..
- engine knock [increase possibly of having heat relate KR]
- warping the head [haven't seen one LNF/LSJ/LHU warped yet - but it's possible]..
- lose the "cooling effect" of cooler air moving over/around the exhaust manifold..

The proper way to wrap the cold side pipes: [TRY AVOIDING wrapping any of the sensors/vacuum/pcv line - makes it easy to service them]
SRI/CAI: single layer - start from the air filter to the turbo inlet [coldside]..
Top charge pipes:single layer - from the turbo outlet [coldside] to the intercooler inlet.. [optional: double layer - this option prevents heat soaking the pipes from the engine under the pipes]
Lower charge pipe: single layer - from the intercooler outlet to TB.. [optional: double layer - this option prevents heat soaking the lower charge pipe from the radiator]

another option to reduce radiant exhaust manifold heat is using - high heat engine paint..
$ - Rustoleum - Rustoleum.com
or
$/$ - Dupli-Color - Duplicolor.com
or
$$$ - Cerakote HighTemp Cerakote HighTemp.com

 

The reason i ask it hot as hell down here in florida and i want lower the heat soak when its at idle. Iats temps are at 145 sitting at idle.

 

That's mainly because the intake is drawing in hot air from the engine bay when you're not moving, and not because the cold side pipe gets hot and heats it up.

 

If anything, maybe you'd benefit from a phenolic spacer for the intake manifold.

 

Yes, especially when your ac is running. Don't know about the HHR but the Cobalt pipes is sitting directly inches away from the fans. What I've done is rather trying to wrap anything on the pipes my idea is to make a heat shield using those neoprene brake duct that you see on race cars. I put little inserts all the way around the pipe so it sits in the center of the ducts. I ran a small 12v fans with smaller brake ducts blowing on the inside of the duct where the pipe is. The fan is mounted under the passenger head light where there is cut out to draw outside air. The important thing is not to circulate hot engine bay heat which would defeat the purpose of it. I hook it up to a toggle switch to turn on my fans. My cold side pipe is ambient temp when the fans is on or at least it doesn't burn my hands if I touch it on a 90+ F day. I have the same thing on the intake but without the fan but I do have a fan blowing on the KN filter and keep the pipes from getting too hot. Now for the hot side, it's a little more challenging due to the limited space under the driver side head lights area. The only thing would even be better is to have a double wall intake with attachment for brake duct and using more fans for greater air circulation.
Yes it is a lot of work for marginal gain but it doesn't hurt anything at the end of the day.

 

We dont have much room behind the headlights like cobalts. You could just put some high flow fans behind the IC and integrate a relay that switches on and off based on vehicle movement. A simple toggle switch will do the trick as well. That would complement the phenolic spacers well!

 

I have my maf relocated to the coldside pipe so I am not to worry about the intake.

 

I just order them.lol

 

?? I'm saying put fans behind the intercooler to draw air through it while vehicle is not moving.

 

That would work well imo. However, I don't have any space behind the big ZZP cooler or I would put a few fans behind there. I have done that on my previous STi top mount intercooler. With the fans behind there it may cool the charged air enough that the heatsoak pipes may not be much of an issue? That depends on how much air moves through the cooler at idles. Just an observation

 

thats awesome idea - can you post pics??

 

Pics? I have not done done this mod. Would be very simple to do in the hhr. Plenty of room with zzp Ic or the like. Not sure how much room u guys got in ur balts behind the Ic.

 

We have about 1 inch.

 

I got these Spal 12v fans from RPW.

SPAL Electric Fans- 5.2 High Performance Racing Fans

The 7.5" would work nice on a ZZP intercooler which in around 8" tall. 2-3 of these should do the trick. They are around 2" depth which will not fit in the Cobalt unfortunately. Make some mounting brackets or one track to mount them all on same piece.

 

this is an awesome mod to perform.. FTW!!! Now we need to find a thinner fan to place behind the ZZP FMIC..

 

I just looked at my balt, maybe we can extend the Crash bar with the ZZP FMIC in place with spacers about .500" or more? Which could extend the area another 1.75 to 2", maybe..

 

I had couple of the old 5" Spal fans pointed one at KN filter and the other one at the turbo area. Might as well put them to good used.
Keep us post in your progress. If it could be done that would be great. I would do it as well.