Road race/circuit turbo cars heat management.
 

The main thing in question here are turbo blankets. I would appreciate if only guys with real experience post in this thread. BY real experience I am referring to guys who consistently put their cars through the limits and have ran to all the heat management issues already. I would like to keep the posting to a minimum. Anyone who goes to real track such as Rd. atlanta, Rd america ,Sebring, Laguna Seca and put down more than just 2-3 laps per session are welcome to post. Im talking about cars that can go through a gas tank. I Would love for guys such as Damian,Fritz , and HOward coleman to chime in. Are you guys running turbo blankets?

There have been rumors of turbo blanket not being ideal for circuit/rd racing cars and even DD street cars. Rumors such as it trapping so much heat it can warp turbine housing, cause premature turbo damage and even cook the oil. I have also ran across threads where someones race tech asked them to remove the turbo blanket while on they are on track putting down numerous laps back to back. Even factory turbocharged vehicles such as turbo diesels seem to prefer shielding over blankets. I understand shields have a longer life span but is there more to it?
I have also been looking a hundreds of pictures of factory backed turbo race engines and the theme seams to be inconel shields not turbo blankets.

What are you guys doing on your personal cars? Are turbo blankets a thing of the past with bad info floating around about how good they are. I mean sure, they can lower engine bay temps and create faster spool but do the cons outweigh the pros? Lets use this thread to break the myths and bring light to the real world. WHy should we or should not use turbo blankets.

I think wraps and blankets are bad news on a track car. There is some anecdotal evidence about holding head in and damaging/warping components, but they also disintigrate and get nasty which also makes doing any (inevitable) work on the car a real pain in the ass.

Im underqualified to post here, but i think my limited experience is relevant to this.

Had a turbo beanie on mine for a few months of weekend STREET use limited to gentle cruising and occasional traffic light 0-60 squirt.

It caused blue heat spots to the cast iron housing which werent there for 9 years of abuse and trackdays without the beanie. Scary to think what would happen to it on track day. Wont be using one again.

New turbo is ceramic coated, and will incorporate as much heat shielding as possible/neccisary, mostly on intake manifolds and surrounding ancilliaries, due to space constraints.

Ive got nothing againt wraps on piping. Can put as much or as little on as you want. Single layer with overlap (pretty much an even two layers) ,on for the same period of time as the turbo beanie, caused no real marking on my stainless steel down pipe and cast iron manifold.

I put a blanket on my turbo and ran 1 track day, and it already looks like it's about to flake into dust... I wouldn't bother with one. You also get fiberglass and who knows what in your eyes every time you work around it... Go with some sort of ceramic coating and/or inconel sheilds

I roadrace my 20b fd turbo for 30 min to 1 hour races, and the blanket fell apart after a few weekends. The turbine got flakey as well. I would build a shield unless you're frying components near the turbo.

Anyone with evidence of the blanket being responsible for shortened turbo life?

Yes the turbo blankets will warp the exhaust housing.

Hell they'll warp without it but it takes more time :)

A heat shield is the way to go :icon_tup:

Well I think I have all the evidence I need. Turbo blankets should be avoided at all cause. I will concentrate my efforts on inconel shields, shrouding, and hood venting. Here's my first attempt at shielding my turbine housing. I really need to get my lower manifold "shaved" so I can run a sheet of inconel from exhaust manifold upper bolts all the way to hood level.

Same experience. I tracked a single turbo rotary before the LS FD and had burned up a couple of turbo blankets in a short time. After that, I went to a shield.

anyone have any experience with ceramic coating?

White Lightning Exhaust Coatings | Swain Tech Coatings | Industrial Coatings | High Performance Racing Coatings

My experience with coating is it flakes off after a couple of events.

I've tried all of the above and here's a hint at my experience:
1) Fiberglass blankets will survive as long as you don't disturb them, which I always do for some reason. They also smoke like a banshee when new, although the "lava rock" blankets appear to have potential.
2) I've Swain tech coated my exhaust manifold and it's held-up well after a track event. Recently however, I've migrated to E85, which as y'all know runs much cooler and completely changes the game regarding the need for exhaust heat protection.
3) HIgh temp (1800*F) ceramic coatings will tolerate rotary exhaust for a spell, but most typical ceramic coatings (rated to 1600*F) will flake off, especially when combined with a heat shield.
4) I currently run a custom heat shield on a lava strip wrapped turbo exit down pipe to prevent fuel line/regulator heating and it's been the best solution so far.

Turbo blanket longevity shouldnt matter if its shortening the life of a turbo. It should be completely avoided.

My next plan of attack and possibly the ideal way of doing engine bay heat management goes a little like this

*Nothing trapping heat on exhaust parts, particularly the turbine housing. I plan on removing my inconel turbine heat shield.
* Running a inconel shield in between the header and intake manifold all the way up to the to the hood. Also making sure to leave at least 1 inch of space between the shield and intake manifold.
* Vent the turbo side out of the hood via custom hood vent(shield should butt to under hood "completely" isolating heat. Also feed fresh air in between the shield and intake manifold via a hose ran from front air dam.

This will be my next attempt and should be truly functional.

Were you get the sheets of incolne?

mcmaster carr sells it:
McMaster-Carr

or you can just buy ones from turblown that have 2 layers of inconel and other stuff on the inside:
TurboSource 12 x 12 Inconel Sheet - Turblown Engineering

This stuff works fantastic. Not cheap, but definatley the most effective and durable heat shielding out there.

I would like to hear more about damaged turbos instead of blankets falling apart. This is about blankets ruining your track day or leaving you on the side of the road after an event. A turbo blanket flanking off or disintegrating won't cause your weekend to end early.

Any one else with some turbo damage experience?

warped turbine housing is the start of a problem. took a bit of the wheel off. I tried to swap the bearing and compressor section from a newer turbo one day and it no longer fit the turbine housing. had to get a new one. :(

What kind of racing do you do? Give us a little info on what the car is used for and how long you think it took to cause damage.

The only company I would use for coating are these guys. They are used in F1 so I'm assuming the coasting doesn't flake off.

Zircotec - high performance heat management for automotive and motorsport

I might be wrong, but I'm almost sure that recent f1 headers are made of inconel and do not use any coatings at all.

^that also looks very similar to swain-techs coating, and swain-tech isn't in UK

Shipping stuff to England seems prohibitive—is there anything similar in the states?

I coated my exhaust manifold, turbine housings and downpipe with swain-tech's white lightning ceramic coating.

We'll see how long it lasts:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H..._201529901.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-N..._095547733.jpg

The really powerful circuit cars here - far more power than a rotary - tend to shroud the housing(s) and exhaust and run some scat to cool everything down. Having said that, have the white crud on the car here, will see how it goes in a 300km race next week, assuming the car lasts the distance!

Bolted flange turbos, guaranteed to eventually f-up sooner or later in extreme use too.