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Intake Heat Shield

Cford

Be Gentle I'm New Here
Joined
Sep 11, 2007
Messages
4
Location
Washington
I'm looking for a place to be able to purchase or construct a heat shield for my aftermarket intake? Can someone point me in the right direction?
 
I'm looking for a place to be able to purchase or construct a heat shield for my aftermarket intake? Can someone point me in the right direction?
Probably get some good results from a search.

Member Pudmunkie makes nice sheilds from the pics I've seen and I was planning on using the generic filter sheild at JLT performance for a short ram.
Not sure what you got, but I went with the Nautilus (NPG) CAI that doesn't use a sheild.
-J
 
I'm going to mock up something with cardboard, and then have some friends cut the parts out of some plexi. I'll keep everyone updated with this mini project.
 
Pudmunkie heat shield powder coated black chrome:
newpics077.jpg
 
Ive got the very, VERY last heatsheild ever to be produced (unless another GB is set up at an increased price)... Though that one is pending.... I do have a used one I could be pursuaded to sell, you can PM me if you want it.
 
I'd jump on that. You don't want to be stuck using a garbage can... those absorb (and radiate) alot of heat (much more than Pud's shield).
 
intake

intake

That is a sweet looking intake system.. thats what im looking to do for my stock contour svt first.
 
I'd jump on that. You don't want to be stuck using a garbage can... those absorb (and radiate) alot of heat (much more than Pud's shield).

Actually, the metal will radiate much more heat than plastic will. I'm very interested in an actual analysis of how each material would fare.

The ideal heat shield would have high reflectivity and low absorptivity on the outside, and the opposite on the inside.

The outside of a heatshield will see heat transfer via radiation from other components in the engine bay and convection due to air movement within the engine bay. The inside of the heatshield will exchange heat with the filter and underside of the hood by radiation, and by convection with the incoming air.

The object is to keep the heat created on the outside of the heatshield to stay there, so a material with poor conduction would be ideal...if the material conducts heat well, the outside surface will heat up, the heat will conducts to the inside surface, and that heat is exchanged via radiation with the air filter, and is transferred to the incoming air.

I feel like that rules out a metal heat shield, as a metal shield will conduct engine bay heat too well. A plastic heat shield will resist heating up, and once it does heat up (inevitable after so long), it's much slower to lose that heat, meaning less of it is transferred to incoming air.

Does this make any sense?
 
That does make sense, but in comparing the two heat shields I've had (aluminum & rubber)... I can't completely agree that aluminum is less than ideal. I think thick plastic may do ok, but the rubber Rubbermaid trashcans don't handle heat well. They become flexable, and from my IAT and "by hand" comparisons... the Rubbermaid transfers much more heat than the thick aluminum sheilds that Pudmunkie used to make.
 
That does make sense, but in comparing the two heat shields I've had (aluminum & rubber)... I can't completely agree that aluminum is less than ideal. I think thick plastic may do ok, but the rubber Rubbermaid trashcans don't handle heat well. They become flexable, and from my IAT and "by hand" comparisons... the Rubbermaid transfers much more heat than the thick aluminum sheilds that Pudmunkie used to make.

There may be other factors at play here, but there is no way the plastic rubbermade heatshield "transfers" more heat than an aluminum one. A passive heatsinking element needs to be designed in a way that carries heat away from what you want it to. Copper heat piping for instance. Another option would be to block heat, rather than process it, which I think the plastic shield, an insulator, would do better.

*I have no factual evidence on any of this. these are just my opinions based on what I think I know.
 
Does this make any sense?

Yup, that's what I learned in Thermodynamics class. An insulator (e.g. plastic) would keep the engine bay heat away from the filter; whereas a conductor (e.g. metal) would not do much to keep the heat away. That's why I always found it curious that people were building intake heat shields out of metal. I figured they were doing it more for aesthetics than performance.
 
Yup, that's what I learned in Thermodynamics class. An insulator (e.g. plastic) would keep the engine bay heat away from the filter; whereas a conductor (e.g. metal) would not do much to keep the heat away. That's why I always found it curious that people were building intake heat shields out of metal. I figured they were doing it more for aesthetics than performance.

Well they do hold up better for one, i garbage cans like to warp out after being in a hot engine, and its a TON better than nothing at all
 
That does make sense, but in comparing the two heat shields I've had (aluminum & rubber)... I can't completely agree that aluminum is less than ideal. I think thick plastic may do ok, but the rubber Rubbermaid trashcans don't handle heat well. They become flexable, and from my IAT and "by hand" comparisons... the Rubbermaid transfers much more heat than the thick aluminum sheilds that Pudmunkie used to make.

I was hoping to use my SCT X3 and take some readings from my IAT sometime...could you provide some more detailed insight as to what you saw?
 
I was hoping to use my SCT X3 and take some readings from my IAT sometime...could you provide some more detailed insight as to what you saw?
I swapped shields during winter (Nov 2006)... I think summer would have been more interesting. There was only a slight difference during sustained driving (~2-4*) but in traffic the aluminum one was about 10* lower. Now... it is totally possible that this is due to the Rubbermaid can being flexible and not sealing as well as the rigid aluminum. On both of them I did have pipe insulation on the shield, but on the aluminum one, I also put 1/2" insulation strips on the hood to mate with the pipe insulation... as the shield wasn't tall enough to make the pipe insulation seal to the hood.

For my other less technical observations... during winter days, and after long traffic drives home.. the rubber one would burn my hand while the aluminum one felt warm. I do wish I had an IR temp gun... but touch is all I had to go by. Also, the portion of the hood directly above the airfilter was warm with the rubber one, and actually felt cold with the aluminum one. The latter "test", as mentioned above, could be due to better sealing.

An actual plastic shield made up of similar composition to that of the OEM SVT bullet shield or 3L UIM would probably work best.... but I still don't buy that the Rubbermaid shield is a better material than semi-thick aluminum. Even though I am aware that metal (aluminum and copper) are considered to be good at transfering heat away from heat sources (eg. semiconductors).
 
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