Im running the HKS Super Mega flow intake kit along with the Pettit SMIC... after some spirited driving in 40 degree weather today i popped the hood to check on a few things and noticed the intake pipes were almost too hot to touch... this intake kit prolly occupies the most space out of all the kits other than the M2 style kit so building a shield around the intake seems pretty far fetched... i will be installing a vented headlight cover over the winter along with removing any unnecessary insulation pieces i can find around the intake... any other suggestions?

 

My intake pipes are always hot after a drive. I guess they soak up all that heat coming off the downpipe and turbos. I heard the vented headlight cover doesn't do dick. Other than fabricating a heat shield, my only other suggestion is install a downpipe and fiber glass wrap it. What have you got so far besides the intake and SMIC?

 

DP exhaust and a new OEM cat... planning on buying a nicer DP and getting it wrapped

 

so is that thats throwing the heat to the intake pipes? its the DP? other than all the other engine heat.. the DP and the exhaust mani. is what makes those intake pipes so damn hot?

 

i have about the same mods as you man except i have the blitz sus intake with hard pipes and they are warm after driving but never too hot to touch..

 

anything metal underhood is going to get hot.

 

After I installed a wrapped downpipe to replace my stock precat, under hood temps dropped significantly. The car also cools down much faster, which can be a pain if it's daily driven. The twin turbos don't help either. It's like having two little ovens bolted to the side of the engine. Turbolumpy, you can do the wrap yourself. Order fiberglass wrap from Summit. Get some of the high temp coating from a local auto parts store (I had to go to a hot rod store to find mine). Spray the coating on, and wait for it to dry. Wrap the pipe and secure the wrapping with clamps. Install the pipe and let the car run for 15 minutes. It will smoke as the fiberglass bonds to the pipe. It's a lot cheaper than sending it off someplace.

 

^

 

It's only a few inches away from the hot side of the turbos and engine block.

I don't know the general flow directions in the engine bay, but the hot air off the turbo/manifold will tend to rise around the LIM, and air going around the LIM at the front will rise along the intake pipes. This is why the hoses on the stock y-pipes take such a heat beating.

Dave

 

Yep, pretty much everything under the hood will heat soak big time.

The temperature of the intake piping has little or nothing to do with actual intake temps. The air travelling through the intake tubes is going VERY fast and there's nothing to turbulate the air to make it pick up heat from the tube. This is a misconception that a lot of people have. I always like seeing heat wrapped intake plumbing - that's just added weight .

The important number is your intake air temps after the intercooler. That's a total picture of how well the system is working.

Dale

 

Hey TurboLumpy I have the same intake, it was one of the first mods I did to my 7. Well after only about owning the car for about 8k miles the side seal in my motor went and my car over heated, so I got a new motor. The rotary mechanic at my local Mazda dealership said my car overheated cuz of that intake, that it was bringing hotter air into the engine, which caused it to overheat. I called bullshit, but just to be safe when I put my intake back on I am having a heat shield fabed, interested?