Thermal Management Part 1

As mentioned previously a turbocharged engine produces lots and lots of heat. Managing this heat is critical if the engine and its ancillaries are to produce the expected power yet last a long time. I have implemented several thermal management/control solutions on the Shark. Let's begin with a turbo blanket. The turbo blanket is basically a cover for the turbine section of the snail and provide the means of reducing turbo lag and more importantly as a heat barrier/shield to protect engine components and other parts in close proximity to the turbo. I settled for a Design Engineering (DEI) Titanium Turbo Shield turbo blanket.

DEI states that the Titanium Turbo Shield is made from pulverized volcanic rock then strained into a fiber material, Titanium Turbo Shields can withstand direct heat up to 1800 F (982.222 Celsius) and 2500 F (1371.111 Celsius) radiant heat. This means retaining more heat in the turbine and less damaging underhood (underbonnet) heat. The result is a cooler air intake temperature and a boost in horsepower! DEI also claims that Titanium Turbo Shield  is stronger and more durable than other turbo blankets or shields, Titanium Turbo Shields include a hi-temp rated silica insulation padding under the tight outer layer for extra added protection against extreme turbo-generated heat.

Due to the size of the EFR6258 I was initially worried bout fitment issues as the EFR is larger than many a Garrett T25/T28 sized snail. Luckily the fit was perfect. The DEI Titanium Turbo Shield turbo blanket T25/T28 application is the same size anyway as the larger T3 application with the only difference being the flange area. You can get the dimensions here. Picture below of my Turbo Shield Kit, part number #010149.

The difference between the kit and Turbo Shield only is the kit includes a downpipe wrap (in the middle of the turbo blanket in the picture above) made of similar material. I should have settled for just the Turbo Shield/blanket as my downpipe is already ceramic coated. Anybody interested in the downpipe wrap? Picture below of the turbo + turbo blanket installed.

Closer up. Pardon the quality. Space is a premium down there and a dark work shop does not help. Dunno why but it is pretty dark and always rains whenever I visit GT Auto. As you can see the turbine is quite near the SPAL radiator fan hence any form of heat shielding helps. Pictures of snails glowing red hot under hard use are not exaggerated.

I was initially interested in an inlet manifold thermal spacer/gasket kit from Outlaw Engineering in the US. However it looks like Outlaw went out of biz while I procrastinated. Luckily MotoIQ led me to Sikky Manufacturing with a similar product called the Thermalnator. Thermalnator is a high temperature shielding gasket which replaces the stock intake manifold gasket. The inlet manifold thermal spacer/gasket's cooling properties reduce heat by stopping metal to metal contact between the intake manifold and the engine block thus reducing the heat of the air entering your engine and robbing horsepower. Sikky claims that this will enable the engine to make up to 5% more power. The basic formula for this is for every 5 degrees F increase in intake air temp, air density is reduced by 1%. The denser the air is, the better the gain in horsepower. Average testing has shown an 25 degrees F drop and up to 35 degrees in some applications. And most importantly Sikky has a Thermalnator application for the QG16/18. Part number of the QG18 Thermalnator is TN_037. Price is also pretty decent at US$ 49.95 not including shipping. Picture below of the QG16/18DE Thermalnator inlet manifold thermal gasket and diagram fro service manual showing where it fits.

I would like to thank Bro Peter for helping to transport the Thermalnator back from the States to Bolehland. Thanks Bro for all the effort and patience in locating the gasket despite the hotel misplacing it. Toby has installed the Thermalnator but I've yet to take any piccies. Going to be super tough for a decent pix as the inlet manifold and gasket is at a place in the engine bay where the sun don't shine.