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New intake thread

how well do you think a fiberglass box would do? does it resist heat as well as plastic would? i could make a full enclosure with a tube going into the fender and a tube goin into the wiper cowl like cgumm did. the fiberglass can be made any way i want if i hand lay it and it will be super light :)
 
TRicker said:
how well do you think a fiberglass box would do? does it resist heat as well as plastic would? i could make a full enclosure with a tube going into the fender and a tube goin into the wiper cowl like cgumm did. the fiberglass can be made any way i want if i hand lay it and it will be super light :)
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I really dont think you have to worry about weight, but the temperatures wont be high enough there that you would have to worry about anything. Truck hoods are made of fiberglass and you have turbochargers that sit only inches away from the fiberglass. Now you also have catalytic converters on newer trucks near fiberglass body parts.

Good rule of thumb, if plastic works in a location, then so will the fiberglass.
 
Dyoel182 said:
People always forget that fiberglass is the original insulation. It loves shielding stuff from heat.
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the reason he asks is because the resins in fiberglass can melt, burn, or soften allowing the fiberglass to warp under high enough heat. Fiberglass doesnt have any insulating properties, the air trapped in the fiberglass is what insulates things, thats why you dont compress fiberglass insulation when you install it, or it loses its R-value.

Fiberglass is just glass strands, glass has very little value as an insulator. it is just a cheap light weight material that doesnt burn.
 
Fiberglass mat or loose blown fiberglass like you normally see insulates because the fibers dont pack together tightly. This loose weave pattern traps air inside of it. As we all know, air is one of the best insulators around, thats why there are things like double pane glass windows. The reason it is the most widely used insulator in commercial and residential properties is because it is cheap flame resistant and lightweight. Also it is abundant and doesnt cause cancer like some other products do. We wont mention asbestos by name of course. The fact that it is lightweight and glass is fairly rigid also means that it doesnt compress under its own weight over time, like many other insulators do that have been used in the past. I dont know how much experiance you have with older homes, but if you have any, you know what I am talking about.

/tangent

return to thread now
 
Dyoel182 said:
That doesnt explain why its the most widely used home insulator in the world but we're digressing. :)
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We don't have to digress

"The reason a thermopane window is so much better at insulating is that it provides two low-conducting panes if glass around an intermediate "atmosphere" of air to "step down" the transfer of heat energy from one side to the other. When the chemists at Owens Corning perfected a way to spin glass into usable fibers, they created a way to capture air between millions of layers of poorly-conducting glass. In addition, fiberglass maintains this ability over a longer period than other insulation materials like cellulose or cotton that tend to settle over time, reducing the amount of air captured between layers."

Like he said, fiberglass insulation has tons of little pockets of air to get the job done. A fiberglassed heat shield would be a weave of glass and resin and all that good stuff that doesn't leave much air between the fibers.

But how it's R-Value woul contrast to say, a rubbermaid heatshield, I have no idea.
 
hotdimmes said:
Like he said, fiberglass insulation has tons of little pockets of air to get the job done. A fiberglassed heat shield would be a weave of glass and resin and all that good stuff that doesn't leave much air between the fibers.
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And it would still do a fine job of blocking heat like a plastic shield would. Hell I've seen plexiglass heat shields with LEDs lighting them up.
 
thanks for the input guys. i figure it will be the easiest thing to build a cold air box out of. plastic is probably the better choice to keep intake temps down, but it will be superior to a metal shield and it will have the ability to look sweet. i plan on making a wire frame of what i want using every inch of space in the car, and then i'll shrink wrap that, and lay the fiberglass over it. then i'll pull the wire and shrinkwrap out after one layer so it will hold its shape from there. i don't think it will have to be very thick to do what i want. i think i'll make it two piece and rivet it together so i can pop the top off to access the filter for cleaning :)

i think i'll start it on it tonight. i'll let ya know how it goes :)
 
Dyoel182 said:
And it would still do a fine job of blocking heat like a plastic shield would. Hell I've seen plexiglass heat shields with LEDs lighting them up.
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That is sort of what I was getting at towards the end. It wont have the same effectiveness as the fiberglass in your walls, but still possibly as effective as a rubbermaid bin.
 
i have thought about getting a sheet of plexiglass and heating it up and warping it into shape. a real thin piece would work fine for that. then i could just paint it black. I really hate working with fiberglass, and i remembered why today. ugh stickiness. it was burning through the rubber gloves too. plus i havent done much fiberglass work so it might look like butt lol
 
TRicker said:
i have thought about getting a sheet of plexiglass and heating it up and warping it into shape. a real thin piece would work fine for that. then i could just paint it black. I really hate working with fiberglass, and i remembered why today. ugh stickiness. it was burning through the rubber gloves too. plus i havent done much fiberglass work so it might look like butt lol
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I like flock lined latex gloves. Plexiglass or acrylic would work just fine too like you said, you can paint it even. Just heat it in the oven till it gets malleable, I cant give you exact times or temperatures, but watch a few craft shows and eventually it comes up, so I imagine a little Google will find you the answer. Also, nice thing about acrylic is you could mold it to a shape to make a mold. Then just spray it with gelcoat and lay your fiberglass on it, and you have a reusable mold if you plan on making more than one heatshield.
 
hotdimmes said:
That is sort of what I was getting at towards the end. It wont have the same effectiveness as the fiberglass in your walls, but still possibly as effective as a rubbermaid bin.
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I would think that it would be about the same. A good fiberglass job leaves no air in, but the resin has about the thermal conductivity of an acrylic plastic. Thermal conductivity of glass I wouldnt be able to tell you off the top of my head, but its not really to different from plastic either, I think its a little less conductive than most plastics.
 
well i was out at the u pull lot and i found a 80mm aluminum maf on a ford f150 with the same style airbox as a contour svt. of course the box is too big to fit so i'm going to find the next smaller size airbox from a 4.0 explorer which should just barely fit it has a 3.25" opening on the engine side of the maf and 3.5" on the intake side. i'll match up the maf adaptor piece and run it on the smaller airbox to the stock location like SVT. i'll get a K&N replacement cone filter and it'll be just like a stock setup but a size or two bigger on the airbox and filter. pics will be up once i get the right box end to do all this. i will also optimize the maf and get rid of the shaft in the middle of it because it seems like its still got less area inside it than that pro flow 75mm i am using currently. eventually i'll buy the plastic lightning housing which should keep even more heat off the intake tract.

should be pretty sleeper :)

the fiberglass box will be on hold until i see how this works. should be done by friday because i'm going to a dyno day and should be able to get at least two pulls on each filter setup.
 
I loved my Rubbermaid heat shield, the problem i have with them (after making 2) Is that they warp out from the heat, and pretty much don't help anymore when they get to that point.
 
ah yeah come over tomorrow or friday and we'll do it!

kyle i won't need your heat shield. sorry. i have this setup i'm trying and i also found a 04 lightning airbox that is the same as the 2002 so i can make a box like cgumm did.

come chill with me this weekend and work on your car with me. we should be able to get a few things done.
 
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