My way
I revive this thread if any more members are interested
I had a small but annoying
problem with my cold side intercooler hose and intake manifold (I'm running 1.3-1.5bar of boost and stock IC on my Leon FR right now, uprated IC on the way): they were both hot. On a moderate speed highway trip, with plenty of air flowing, it was no
problem, both IC rubber hose to manifold and manifold itself were lukewarm, but in city stop-and-go traffic, they became quickly hot. The manifold is heated by radiated heat from the cylinder head (should add a Power Gasket type insulating gasket), while the hose got blown by hot air from the radiator (like being blown all day by a hair dryer); while the first half, near the IC outlet, was rather cold, the next half was both hot and subject to torturous stretching each time it was inflated under boost.
As a Samco IC to manifold hose was far too expensive for just a silicon tube and nobody could guarantee it would not get hot itself and heat again the air which the IC had just cooled, I tried to solve the
problem myself: wrapped some plastic cable-tie type circles around the hose first - now it got inflated only 0.5cm(1/5th inch) instead of doubling its diameter. Then got a polyfoam 60mm tube with 10mm wall thickness, the type with aluminium cover used for household pipe insulation, and placed it around the hose, wrapped more plastic ties around to keep it in place. Left the first 1/3rd of the hose (where the factory wire mesh is) free, for it was outside the path of hot air from the radiator.
Tested it around last evening (not quite the best weather conditions for it was humid and only 16 degrees C outside). Results:
- free hose near IC outlet - cold as ambient;
- manifold - rather hot;
- wrapped hose beneath insulation - just as cold as ambient
- spool up - it appears slightly (fractions of a second) quicker, as the hose is much more rigid now and turbo does not have to waste energy pushing air to inflate the hose; may be an illusion though
Picture:
Regards,
~Nautilus
