Made heat shield and burnt the rear bumper *$@#
 

This is crazy! First off, I have never had heat related issues with my T2 GSL-SE but my turbo does not have a stock heatshield. I thought i would cut down on some underhood temps so i bought some high temp insulation from mcmaster (good stuff btw), placed it between the manifolds and turbine and over the turbine housing. The bottom half of the turbo was uncovered. I made some ghetto heat shields from sheet metal to cover the insulation and to test out the difference in intake temps. Well it worked like a charm. Intake temps with the sensor in the dynamic chamber were right under 100F on the highway even with the ambient around 88-90F. The turbo spooling was QUICK and I was pleased as punch. When I parked the car in the garage I noticed to my horror a 6"x4" area of the rear bumper above the muffler tips was literally fried. The paint peeled off! Has anyone else wrapped a turbo and had EGTs increase like a mofo? I mean the paint was shinny new up until today with no heat damage. Oh and I am not running very lean. It was tuned previously to run an a/f ratio of mid 12s and 13 for cruising condition. I had zero problems with this tuning until i covered half the turbo. Also, it is a 3" exhaust all the way and I thought it would dissipate enough heat. I bought some tailpipe extensions naturally but what else can I do? I haven't even wrapped the dp yet which everyone had recommended, scared to. Anyone measure egt before and after any heat insulation mods?

wrapping your turbo/exhaust should not affect EGT's THAT much. it should be like barely even noticeable.. has anything else changed with the car?

Nothing else changed other than a different TID which again does not affect it. I am speculating a strong oklahoma tailwind but in my 14 years living here I have never seen anything like it. I added 9" tailpipe extensions now, they look ugly but until I figure out what happened they stay.

my rear bumper is burnt to a crisp in one spot but i thought that was to be expected with a turbo rotary :dunno:

Hmm.. I can see it happening in a small spot but I looked today and the damage is an area of 10" x 5". Got to have been some kind of swirling air back there but it is a remarkable coincidence that it happens right after I install the heat shield.

mine is probably atleast a 5" x 5" area as well

damn, I guess I won't mess with the afr and timing then. I'll just have the muffler tips point downward. So Jacob, you do have heat shields and a dp wrap on your car?

dude im from OKC and i know the wind there and no tailwind driving at highways speeds, or any speed for that matter would be enough to do that.

Here in New Zealand many rotarys have dumper exhaust pipes, that turn right down at the tip. Lots of ppl now call them rotor-tips because of that :)

Dltreezan- Mabye you should fab up some cf sheilds that protect the rear bumper from singeing ?:)

http://202.21.128.4/photoserver/87/3450387_full.jpg

These are real popular

Well strange then that I drove with those tips for over a year without issues, not even a paint scar and the moment I make a heatshield, my bumper peels off. So what do you guys think, keep the heat shield and wrap the DP or not?

There has got to be more to it than a heat sheild. I live in Stillwater and ive been to noble a few time (TV) and it is relatively flat but ive had no problems on my stock TII heat shield. I dont know about the placement on your 90' jspec. It should be in a relatively similar spot. I would pull the turbo and try and custom fab a heat shield that is as close to stock as you can get just to be safe but i would also try to look for other irregularities. Thats really weird!

oh yea, make sure the matterial is not too thick. otherwise it will transmit heat insted of dissipate it. just an idea

Well, it'll be a while before I paint the bumper so i'll experiment again. I have sprayed some touch-up paint over that section. I'll drive it again with and without the heat shield and see what happens.