Originally posted by Rishodi:
Aluminum is a conductor. Plastic is an insulator. An aluminum heatshield on its own will do little to actually insulate your air intake because it heats up rather quickly. If you insulate the aluminum with something though, then that's ideal because it will both look better and perform as well as a plastic heatshield.




This is incorrect.
All it has to do is stop the flow of hot air into the filter from the engine compartment and force the intake to draw from the fender or other cooler source. Any material that does this will work.
Plastics conduct heat a little slower but they still conduct a significant amount of heat and they will get just as hot as the aluminum.

The static layer of air is the real insulator, no the plastic and not the aluminun....same principal as a sleeping bag.

Both plastic and aluminum will stop radiant heat. Think of radiant heat as "light waves". Any mirrored surface will reflect some and any flat surface will absorb. This still doesn't matter as the static layer of air on the inside of the box near the wall is your best insulator. Radiant heat isn't an issue with the airflow so much as the non-moving parts. The biggest culprit is conduction to the air from the readiator and manifolds/pipes that flows throughout the engine bay. After it is in contact with these components and absorbs heat through conduction, convection, and advection, it gets sucked into the engine. THAT is the killer.

Last edited by warmonger; 08/10/05 01:50 AM.
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