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Heat resistant paint as a heat shield ?


Jonathan

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Currently turned to re-surfacing my engine cover using the same method as I dod on the flooring - aluminium tape.

However a though crossed my mind as to whether I could simply use layers of this silver heat resistant paint I have to provide the same effect. The bonus would be that it is indestructble unlike the tape - it's washable and wont ever peel off.

Any clues...I guess it would depend on it's ability to conduct heat as opposed to withstand it...the ali foil relies on the small gap between it and the cover to insulate it - where as this would probably act as a heat bridge IF it conducts.

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Be interesting to see how you get on with this Jon if you try it.

I do know the foil works. I have only a single layer of foil on mine with a couple of mm overlap between eash strip. The foil as you know is probably not even 1mm think. But the difference is that even after a long sustained 'fun' drive I can still remove and hold the engine cover straight away. Dont get me wrong its hot but not like it feels it will burn you. IIRC I could not do this before the re-cover. I supose it really depends on how reflective the paint is but I cant see it being more reflective than the ali tape. An undercoat of paint could be interesting then topped off with ali tape for a nice smooth finish, perhaps.

Edited by CarlC
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'heat resistant paint' resists heat in that it doesn't crack and flake, nor burn off, when subject to temperatures that would cause 'normal' paint to do the same. But anyone who's ever put their hand near a painted drum brake or barbecue can tell you that heat resistant paint doesn't insulate heat to one side of the paint - it still radiates through, but doesn't damage the paint in the process :lol:

Foil, in contrast, works by actively reflecting the heat back, thus insulating whatever is behind the foil.

Edited by Manntis
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Yeah I know how it works - I'm gonna run a few experiments and try some things out....With the cover there is a lot of air gap between it and the main heat in the engine anyways - air is an excellent heat insulator....I'm just wondering if this'll form as much as a heat barrier as I need certain areas of the Cat I painted with this stuff are noticable cooler on startup (obviously as heat soak takes hold I can't tell becuase my hand burns too much).

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Done some heat tests today with a 700C heat gun. The cover is painted in a black paint anyways (slightly breaking up around the turbo heat shield.

I've layed some of the cover in foil, another part I have painted and the final part I have done nothing to.

Personally the only area of attention I can think of is the recess where the cover dips down towards the turbo and the manifold, the operating temp of the engine is no more than 95C and thats on the block - around the plenum it's luke warm to say the most - I can't really see the point of re-surfacing all this cover when I'm not even sure it does anything.

Incidently my foil is as black as the ace of spades with dirt so it has no IR reflective properties what so ever....all it was doing was acting as a feeble next to useless heat sink.

Same with the boot floor - re-surfacing the area over the gearbox was a complete waste of time.

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:lol: Jon,

Are you saying that the boot floor foil recover you did is now black ???

I virtually never drive my car in the wet or do serious milage but apart from looking a little dusty my re-cover is still in good condition.

To be fair the boot floor recover wasnt really done for heat reduction benifits in my case just more cosmetic with heat reduction a possible benifit.

Am I right in understanding you now wouldnt bother doing the foil recover given the chance ??

Same with the boot floor - re-surfacing the area over the gearbox was a complete waste of time.

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No, it's not gone black - it's just that tbh it's not needed.

Sooner or later it'll probably revert to how it was and the dirt / moisture will start getting into the tape joins and pulling it off. Next time I do it I'm painting it because imo this donsn't need major shielding.

I'm the opposite :D

I don't seek to drive in the rain but it wont usually stop me (didn't last weekend) but I did the floor for the same reason as you (mine was black, manky and falling off all over the place, I just think with hindsight the job could have been done more durable.

The original covering on the engine cover is the black one...harldy reflective eh ?

Am I right in understanding you now wouldnt bother doing the foil recover given the chance ??

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Thats what I'm trying to find out - tbh that foil is a pain in the arse to lay and on the edges the adhesive peels readily - paint would be a much better option and the stuff I use is a lot more durable and servicable (hate doing jobs more than one if I can help it).

I've just finished blasting the adhesive off the cover using a 700C paint stripper....hasn't even begun to touch the cover and it's only slightly warm to the touch on the other side - I just think all this messing about with the foil trying to form it neatly around into nice shapes is a waste of time if it can be done cheaper, better and faster......which always works for me (esp cheap) :D

As always let you know my findings....even if the cover goes up in flames !

The Apprentice is on though so work stops :lol:

Jono - your fired ! :lol:

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LOL got a cake knife handy ?

I painted the cover and put it on the car and went out for a blast (rude not to). Ummm....slight prob....

The heat from the engine is not enough to cure the paint :(

This was actually part of my reasoning, it needs to be hotter to make the paint react, the stuff around the turbo has gone off and can stand upto a 10 sec or so blast from the paint stripper right up close but the vast majority has only 1/2 gone off.

So I'm back to bako foil hahaha :(

Spent the rest of the evening covering only 1/2 of it :P

On the top side it did work, the top was stone cold, just need to find an oven/kiln large enough to put the thing into...in the mean time here's the new 'stainless' turbo heat shield I made up today at work, much better than the one that was on it falling apart (Lotus want

post-9-1143760081.jpg

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Jonathan

- Quick suggestion - Get some bubble wrap (the stuff you use for packing valuables), and make a sandwich of foil underneath, bubble wrap and then foil on top again. This acts as heat and sound insulation and works really well. Used it before in my X1/9's fire wall and in the back boot. Rear silencer is just below the boot floor (Metal) and used to get very warm very quickly. Do this little mod, and you can do a 200km run and your beer's still ice cold when you get to you destination :P

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Jon,

Looks good! - is that to be attached to the engine cover to sit over/around the turbo ??

______________________

Bako Foil 1 - Paint 0 :lol:

Edited by CarlC
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Interesting - next project is the efficiency thing (put it off for the rolling road, so when I re-dyno the car later to see what the improvements are). Really interested by what Dermot has done by insulating the chargecooler and pipes, gotta look into some products like this.

Carl - I bought 3 rolls of this stuff and not used a complete roll yet !

Seems to work a lot better now esp since by old foil was black as anything.

Shame the paint wouldn't cure 0 it looks great on the manifold btw

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Thats good to hear about the paint on the manifold. I would certainly consider taking some time out to get mine painted up. I take it you have painted right up to the turbo ? Have you got any pictures?

And how difficult was it to paint given the fairly tight space around the manifold?

Carl - I bought 3 rolls of this stuff and not used a complete roll yet !

Seems to work a lot better now esp since by old foil was black as anything.

Shame the paint wouldn't cure 0 it looks great on the manifold btw

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Try and grab some pics soon - prob is my camera got damaged, then repaired and now it needs replacing - but it has no flash (useful in this circumstance).

Only done some test patches incase something bad happens, always take these things slowly - trial and error (thankfully not too many errors...). Before I goto town on it I want to see some thermo readings to see whats going on...amazing stuff though - last night the manifold was bright red (was being naughty again) and today we were nailing it around Stalbans, got back and it seems totally fine.

Hopefully on the rolling road day next week we'll get some funky camera shots and motion picture of the thing on the rollers, should be able to get it glowing - if I can pinch my sisters camera I will try to get some pics.

End of the day I want the paint to stop the thing from rusting which eventually can cause damage, if it works with no side effects got to be worth doing.

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