This may be normal, this may not be, or this may be a tuning issue, however i've just never noticed it on my car before.

Back-story:
I was driving back to MI from NJ and had been on the road for about 6 hours (2 continuous before I stopped) doing an almost constant 80 mph. There were some hills, but not too many, and I wasnt beating on the car. Anyway, I pull over to go to the bathroom, notice some mist coming off the hood and out of the wheel wells (it was raining, but cold), so i pop the hood to make sure everythings fine. Thats when i see the turbine housing glowing about the same color orange as the interior gauges.


Cliff-notes:
The car has no cats (so they cant be clogged), was running at about 15-16:1 AFR, 3700 RPM, 32-36* spark advance at that point, and about 50kPa (7.5 psi) absolute for basically the previous two hours. I have a turbo-blanket on it, so that might be contributing as well. No EGT sensor yet, so i dont know the actual temperature, but the turbine housing and flange of the downpipe were glowing orange when i pulled over after driving at the above conditions for about 2 hours. Normal? Too much spark advance? maybe something else?

 

Arent those AFRs a little high?

 

the car seems to run well there at part load, and they seem to return the best fuel economy on the highway, so thats what i tuned to. Plus, its leaner than stoich, so the exhaust temps *should* be a little lower than at WOT. Once again, i need to find some $ for an EGT sensor, but other stuff on the car keeps popping up.

 

your cliffs are longer then the post lol

 

Im no expert on tuning, but i thought stoich would be too lean on a turbo rotary. Especially if you are leaner than stoich. Of course i dont know if this is causing your turbo to glow or not... I know they will do that if you run it hard for a while, but it doesnt sound like thats what you are doing.

 

I have heard that while in vacume then you can lean it out to the point where it bucks alittle and then richen it up a little.

 

I read it as he was running 15:1 to 16:1 at 7.5 psi

 

you don't boost at those AFR's do you!?!?!?!

 

the proof of FC owner's reading deficiency..

hes pulling around -375 vaccum....

 

Interesting. That's my AFR at idle.

 

ok, ok..... I wasn't sure what he meant by 7.5psi

 

That's too much timing for 16:1. Back the timing off to around 30 degrees at light load and see if that fixes the problem.

 

was it dark out? i would not be supprised to see my turbo glowing after driving 2 hours on the freeway if it was night time.
i would agree that your are running a lil lean but hey if it runs and doesnt knock then your fine.
what engine management re you using?

 

^His sig says Megasquirt MS1/V3 EMS

 

Yea, i was in vacuum, it was about 7.5 psi absolute, not gauge. Im not sure what this is in in-hg, the crappy autometer gauge says its 10, but it also says im making 1 lb of boost when the car's off, so i just try to use it on a relative scale.

Its not knocking, and still drives and pulls smoothly, but i'll try retarding the timing a little bit around there. Thanks

Edit: Yea, im running a megasquirt

 

Pfft, don't sweat it. My T04-R would glow after curising and it would have far less backpresure then your setup.

If I were you though I'd back that timing off for that AFR as mentioned.....my advance only gets up that high at idle loads/rpm.