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Gold tape on intake?

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Duane Black

Curbs go brrrppp
567
401
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Durham, NC
I was watching a 2015 CTSC race at Sebring and one of the Boss 302S cars had a mechanical issue and was in the pits. With the hood up, you could clearly see the air intake box and intake snorkel wrapped in gold tape.

I presume this helps keep heat out? Why is it there and should i break out some tape and get to work?
 
$30 a foot roughly... so yo'ure into this for as much as a cold air intake just to wrap a stock intake.... but the real question.... does it add 5 hp? :)
I was buying this 2in x15ft for $27
And $27 5hp? Let me know where to sign for it lol.
It was as always ome little part of the puzzle.
Option 2 is a allumium sheet bended under the Intake hose to direct away the air from the intake hose.
It all depends how long the quarantine lol.
Now here in the Bayarea are announcing shelter in place till may 1st.
So i might also start to work on the fender vents :)

Screenshot_20200330-170038.png
 
1,289
1,113
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Philly Metro Area
These aternatives are a little more expensive but are removable/reusable:


 
6,360
8,180
I just gotta say, well done on the filter separation plate, I hate the one on my gt500, on my 99, the intake is in the fender well, way out of the engine compartment. I can tell you that is effort very well spent.
 
I was buying this 2in x15ft for $27
And $27 5hp? Let me know where to sign for it lol.
It was as always ome little part of the puzzle.
Option 2 is a allumium sheet bended under the Intake hose to direct away the air from the intake hose.
It all depends how long the quarantine lol.
Now here in the Bayarea are announcing shelter in place till may 1st.
So i might also start to work on the fender vents :)

View attachment 14190

Hey buddy,
Save your money....that "gold tape" you see used on the McLaren F1 super car and other super high end exotics is not duct tape with a gold surface (like the above ad). It is a whole other animal that can cost thousands of dollars assuming you can even get your hands on it. I think a lot of what was used on the McLaren F1 road car was left over NASA product, but I'm not 100% sure of that. Once the vehicle is moving for more than a few minutes on a road course the incoming air speed is so high that intake temps will be within 10-15 degrees of the ambient.

Where you will see a benefit to blocking heat with an barrier that can cause an "air gap" (just like what every major manufacturer uses today....notice there is no insulation to protect heat sensitive items, usually an aluminum or metal shield with a gap of air between them) is if you drag race and you are stuck in line waiting for the next round. Anything you can do to lower heat soak helps because the engine can't cool the intake tract off quick enough in only a 1/4 mile run. IMO, the issue isn't the hot air robbing power (that goes away very quickly) but the hot air fooling IAT sensors into pulling timing, etc. Those sensors may take a minute or two to cool off on a road course....but a on a drag strip they just heat soak and get hotter and hotter due to the short runs and long wait periods between rounds.
Stay safe and healthy!!

Cheers,
George
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,275
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
Autocrossers have many of the same heat soak issues as drag racers.
I got some DEI Reflect-A-Gold for my CAI because of that. Can't remember if I got it from Summit or Jegs. The stuff from Pegasus is thinner but seems to be the same construction. DEI has other types of heat barriers as well.

To break it down with science, there are 3 types of heat transmission - convection, conduction, and radiation. For a CAI, there's not much touching it, so conduction is not much of a concern. So that leaves convection (hot air moving around the CAI and heating it) and radiation (a hot part sending infrared "waves" directly - line-of-sight). To reject both, you need a material with good IR reflectivity, and relatively high R-value (yes, like house insulation). Depending on your particular heat-cycle regime and part location (e.g., in the path of radiator exhaust air vs. directly below an exhaust manifold), you may want to consider a material that's biased more to one or the other.
 
Flyhalf,
At the speeds you're racing at, there is so much cfm going through the intake tract that I doubt you'll have heat issues with IAT's after the first lap. (by the way, I don't know where your IAT sensor is...and there may be more than one). Be careful messing with the IAT sensor to try and fool it into thinking the air is cooler than it is. This could lead to not pulling timing fast enough and hurting the engine especially on hot track days.

I see you covered your air filter box...at your racing speeds that may help or may make things worse. I am not sure how much air might be coming in around the front edge of the hood, etc. It could be cooling the box or making it hotter. The actual air box might be getting hot just from convection from the engine and front brakes....or maybe it's not. There is no way to know unless you put a heat sensor in the box to measure covered vs uncovered temps at speeds of at least 70 mph. I would put the temp sensor as close to the filter as feasible. You may also be able to look at OBDII tables to see what the IAT temps are with a code scanner, etc. Some cars allow you to see the IAT's on the dash infotainment center...not sure if your car does.
Who cares what the car is doing in stop and go driving on the street?......You need to measure everything at an average race speed to get realistic data and if you have an issue or not.

I look forward to what you find out.
Cheers,
George
 

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