hi john.

the downpipe wrap was charred from v-band to v-band --about a 3 foot distance-- everywhere the wrap was touching the metal (not including where the wrap was overlapping itself). the flex section was not wrapped, thus no exhaust was billowing straight onto any section of the wrap.

based on this evidence i must state that you are completely incorrect.


my own synopsis suggests that the dei titanium wrap simply cant handle this application, unless "charring" is acceptable --hell, i wouldn't have known about the charring had i not removed the downpipe to fix the blown-out flex section. and by "this application" i mean exhaust/downpipe temperatures that can be seen in this video: (video taken pre-exhaust-wrap).

you can see that the top of the downpipe is very hot, which i think is an internal wastegate thing, as an external wastegate setup would exhaust a lot of the heat, or at least re-route a lot of it farther down the downpipe.

 

RENESISFD, looks like you could use some exhaust wrap yourself to keep from getting so buuurrrnnneedd...






jk it was an ok theory, jsut didn't have all evidence

 

I don't know if you've came across these guys yet, but they've been making high quality heat shields/insulators for military and professional motorsports application for over 30 years.

Advanced Thermal Products

Note: not to be confused with ATP the turbo guys, or PTP the turbo blanket guys.

ATP claims to have inconel shields and insulators that can happily play with temps up to 3000*F. Most of the work they do is custom per part/application. You send them the part, they work out the packaging and sent it back. As you might guess, its not cheap (I think their universal T4 turbo blankets are around $600 iiirc), but when asking for mil-spec/motorsport grade product that shouldn't be a surprise.

DEI is like Fisher-Price compared to "real" heat management products...but hey, I still use the crap on my car too. I don't think many of us here have the resources to build like a true motorsports team would.

But that doesn't stop us from trying!

 

very nice! i have checked these out, and i've come to realize that if you can find them, the NASCAR/ARCA inconel heat shields are usually around $40-50 used on ebay.
i actually have one of the 12"x12" inconel heat shields that i got from Elliot @ TurboSource. i made a LIM shield out of it that works very well.



there are also these, which i'll be using when i re-make my downpipe (hopefully next spring):
Heat Master Shields

 

got some work done today on the A/C stuff:

had my fabricator buddy weld a crimp fitting to my DENSO compressor fitting (top/pressure)




got the hoses all cut to length, which i left a little long in case i decide to shorten them before the crimping






disregard my ghetto zipties here






intercooler laying on top. no clearance issues

 

also, got this hose from mannykiller today, so when it arrives in the mail thursday i'll hopefully get it hooked up and charge the AC


anyone know what size fitting this is in the top of the picture???

 

You may want to make sure the radiator fans run when the car is stopped and the a/c is on, even if the water temp isn't over the fan threshold. Reason being; if the car is stopped, natural convection will cause air to flow upward (backwards) through the radiator, which will heat soak your condensor (this would suck in a summer traffic jam).

 

thanks.

the fans will be running while the AC is on. this is basically a requirement.

 

Jacob I use the exact same DEI titanium heat wrap for my DP. Its gone through 10+ track days and hasnt really charred up like you said. It is crispy but still functioning ok as far as insulation goes.

Can you post a pic of what your wrap looked like?

Your work is looking good btw, keep it up.

 

the wrap was perfectly fine looking on the exterior, but where it touched the downpipe (where it wasnt wrapped on top of itself) it was charred like in the picture.

 

also, some bad news. AC compressor that i got for free from djseven completely locked up after about 10 seconds of charging

i took it out and put it in the vise, and i cant even turn it over by hand with a big pipe wrench. some hard metal-on-metal interference

 

Apologies I didnt see those pics. Ive taking my wrap off before to weld in a bung and it certainly wasnt charred like that.. just really crispy.

If I was to guess, it seems your exhaust temps are just a bit too high. Itll explain the manifold warpage, the charring of the wrap. Every time I watch the dyno vid I think to myself how the hell your DP is glowing that much so quickly. Inconel may be the only material that will hold up against that. Eitherway, im sure youll figure it out.

 

armen, yeah i'm going to get an inconel shield for it and only shield the top of it (with a small air gap) and not wrap it.

 

Hate to hear that man, let me see if I can find another in my parts. I think that was the only one but Ill double check.

 

david, please let me know! if i cant get another free (or very cheap) compressor in the next few days i'll just bite the bullet and buy a reman.

it's hard to pass up wasting 1 can of refrigerant and testing an unknown compressor when a reman unit is $200+ :/

 

It is unusual for a compressor to lock up that quickly barring a major malfunction.

Was the requisite amount of refer oil added into the compressor before installation?

This could also be the result of FOD since the system was open OR possibly related to fabrication.

EDIT: Another possibility would be compressor failure induced by slugging the compressor with liquid refrigerant while charging--this can occur if too much liquid refrigerant pools in the low side or is introduced into the suction line too quickly. (Compressor should be off while charging in the first can in--you should also rotate the compressor by hand a few times to clear any pooled refrigerant or oil.)

The OP should inspect the system to see if the compressor failure spat out any foreign matter into the lines and condenser. If so, try to flush it all out as best possible using a product designed for ac systems.

In any event, I would highly suggest putting a clean-up filter in the system after the condenser or after the drier but before the evaporator. Use GM part 89016656; it's about 30 to $60 depending upon where you source it. (It splices into one of the liquid hard lines, is an easy install and is very good protection against foreign matter clogging the expansion valve). Highly recommend installing one of these filters after any compressor "event" or any system fab.

 

I couldn't find another one in my parts though I thought I had one. Sorry man.

 

after doing some more research it seems that i made a mistake by adding all 4 ounces of mineral oil to the suction pipe, and i think this is what damaged the compressor. (not 2 oz to the compressor and 2 oz to the drier like i've recently been made aware of)

i just bought a reman Four Seasons compressor (67363) and their manual says to add 1/2 of the oil to the compressor itself and the other half to the drier, so i will do that.

 

Jacob, what kind of compressor do you need?

 

brent, a r12 compressor. (the denso and mana are the same).
but i just bought a reman compressor.

 

I have several I've acquired over the years. I'll give you one... ... ... FO FREE as well, but it'll be close to 2 weeks before I am in TN. Don't know if you want to continue to wait that long in July.

 

installed my reman AC compressor last night and put 2oz of mineral oil in the compressor and 2oz in the drier. the compressor activated and spun correctly without locking up this time

i think i ruined the previous compressor by flooding it with oil. :/

update later tonight after i charge it and get it super cold

 

here's a teaser. more explanation later:






heatsoaking in a parking lot. (gets down to about 40*F before the thermoswitch cuts the compressor off.

 

drove the car to work today (90*F outside) and it is working very well.

also, went out and got in the car during lunch and my vent thermometer said the inside of the car was greenhoused to 130*F. so i turned the AC on and it got down to about 50* in about a minute. it's not 100*F+ outside, but 90* is no joke. so the AC system is working quite well.

 

i did more tinkering tonight and figured out the pin 1E that i'm using as AC REQUEST (its function for the stock ECU) needs to be an analog voltage input (AVI) on the haltech:

i switched A/C inputs on the Haltech from DSI to AVI. the A/C switch and fan selector alter VOLTAGE going to the 1E pin at the stock ecu, so a simple DSI won't work:

fans OFF is 12v (unit deactivates A/C button)
fan1 is ~2v
fan2 is ~3v
fan4 is ~2v

--all with the A/C button depressed.
A/C button OFF (regardless of fan speed) is 12v to pin 1E

so i used the AVI with low voltage activation: ON voltage 4v, OFF voltage 5v. works perfectly. fan speed 4 with AC blasting is very nice.