I'm a big fan of simple improvements/optimisation changes that improve the car without actually changing very much at all.

I'm intrigued by under-bonnet insulation.

I realise I don't know enough about air-flow to start faffing about altering what I think is where hot and cold air goes, but I should imagine that it's possible to insulate cold air intakes from being warmed, and also insulate turbo and exhaust pipe work so that it doesn't warm the engine compartment.

 

I can't find a thread on this on Brisky, so I'm asking: Has anyone heat-insulated their downpipes, turbo, air intake?

What works, what doesn't?

 

Turbo insulation seems to offer some advantages according to this video (though it sounds counter-intuitive to me, given how hot turbos get), but I haven't seen anyone posting on here about having insulated their turbo.

 

I would be very wary of heat insulating anything around the turbo or exhaust gas, Yes it will stop excess heat getting into the engine bay, but it wont allow heat to dissipate from those components, which will raise internal temperatures beyond engineering tolerance and cause premature component failure.

 

Air intake side the most common way to keep the air cool is a front mounted intercooler. I know a few folks who have played with water injection, but it seems risky to me.

 

Just my two pence  

18 minutes ago, Pagan-Image said:

I would be very wary of heat insulating anything around the turbo or exhaust gas, Yes it will stop excess heat getting into the engine bay, but it wont allow heat to dissipate from those components, which will raise internal temperatures beyond engineering tolerance and cause premature component failure.

 

Air intake side the most common way to keep the air cool is a front mounted intercooler. I know a few folks who have played with water injection, but it seems risky to me.

 

Just my two pence  

Yeah, the idea of insulating a turbo, which already runs very hot, seems silly to me. I'm also surprised that the oil temp in the turbo didn't increase, which just doesn't seem right.

I have to admit, I have no idea where the intercooler is on my car, so I don't know what sort of a job it is to upgrade/reposition it is. I have seen what I took to be front-mounted intercoolers on some cars and they often have a missing grill or hole cut in the bumper for better cooling. I'm not really into that idea.

Interesting thought about overheating and premature failure, though. Not sure what the reality of exhaust insulation is, but you might be right on that.

Now I'm thinking about it, maybe DPF/GPF insulation might help regeneration, and thus increase DPF/GFP life by keeping the temp up?

Edited 2 July, 20214 yr by EnterName
changed bonnet to bumper

You can buy a noise deadening mat that clips to the underside of the bonnet.

 

About £35 plus clips @ approx £5.

43 minutes ago, EnterName said:

Now I'm thinking about it, maybe DPF/GPF insulation might help regeneration, and thus increase DPF/GFP life by keeping the temp up?

 

Already insulated by VAG, on my vehicle at least.

34 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

Already insulated by VAG, on my vehicle at least.

I think the bonnet mat was only fitted to diesels, I had to add it to my 1.4TSI.

You dont want the dpf or gpf too hot all the time else it will fail. Certainly with the dpf if it gets too hot it will think there is a fault and not allow a regen.

2 hours ago, Pagan-Image said:

Air intake side the most common way to keep the air cool is a front mounted intercooler.

Don't several of the engines in the Octavia 3 have a water-to-air intercooler? - the 1.4TSi and 1.5TSI do, I believe the other petrol engines do but don't know about the diesel engines.

3 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

Don't several of the engines in the Octavia 3 have a water-to-air intercooler? - the 1.4TSi and 1.5TSI do, I believe the other petrol engines do but don't know about the diesel engines.

My information is a few years old, from the days when I used to tinker and you didn't need laptops. These days I can just afford to buy a quick car  

44 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

I think the bonnet mat was only fitted to diesels, I had to add it to my 1.4TSI.

 

I was referring to the Nasa type insulated cover over my DPF, it will almost certainly have been fitted to prevent people needing a skin graft when they top up the brake fluid but there would be no sense in adding further insulation underneath where it is still exposed.

20 minutes ago, Ecomatt said:

You dont want the dpf or gpf too hot all the time else it will fail. Certainly with the dpf if it gets too hot it will think there is a fault and not allow a regen.

 

That is born out by what I posted above, my DPF is insulated but only in the area where it presents a burn risk to humans.

Judging from the replies, there seems to be a consensus of opinion to leave well alone when it comes to basic tinkering unless you know what you're doing.

Which sounds like good advice to me.

The under-bonnet mat sounds interesting, but TBH, my engine is ridiculously quiet, and I don't think that would help keep the inlet air any cooler, so I think I'll keep everything stock for now.

Maybe add bolt-on replacement intake ducting that gives a decent bang-for-buck improvement, but I doubt that would make much difference without a remap.

(I'm a bit twitchy about tuning the Gen3B TSI engine much as I plan to keep the car for a long time, so I'm focussed on simple efficiency improvements. That twitchiness may pass with time.)

 

Look up the intake mods on TSI mqb chassis. Basically involves blanking one bit off, opening up another bit and removing the snow grate. Cost is nothing if you already have the tools. Should drop the intake temp by a tad and also keep the engine bay cleaner.

 

For what it's worth the engines are well designed thermally and you will have to spend a lot of time and money to improve the thermal efficiency of the overall package. 

4 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

Look up the intake mods on TSI mqb chassis. Basically involves blanking one bit off, opening up another bit and removing the snow grate. Cost is nothing if you already have the tools. Should drop the intake temp by a tad and also keep the engine bay cleaner.

 

For what it's worth the engines are well designed thermally and you will have to spend a lot of time and money to improve the thermal efficiency of the overall package. 

Thank you, I will.

On 02/07/2021 at 13:20, TheWanderer said:

You can buy a noise deadening mat that clips to the underside of the bonnet.

 

About £35 plus clips @ approx £5.

Where are these available from please?

Skoda dealers will order them for you.