Turbo Shield

[Quicker]

I noticed the manifold and turbo 'glowing' after a few runs....

Show I built this shield - seems to be helping - using a laser infrared thermometer, the surroundings have dropped 150+ degrees....

Edited January 3, 2008 by Quikr

[mwmackenzie]

Mine glows too! I think I could be doing with one of these too.... I didn't think much of your first attempt in pic 2... I tried this having seen your message as it seemed the cheaper and easier idea... I was very sad when it went on fire, i think i need to try your lasest model in silver paint to see if the paint will make it last longer, what silver paint did you use?

Mark

Edited January 3, 2008 by mwmackenzie

[CBrownstead]

IT would be interesting to see how piping air from the left air inlet pipes from the left ram air inlet to this box would lower the temps . . . they are designed to blow heat away from the manifold and towards the turbo . . .

[gwilhelm]

Nice Lou! Aren't you afraid of overheating the turbo? just a thought...

[red vtec]

Surley all you are doing is trapping the heat? wont this affect the turbo as it will take longer to cool?

[Jonathan]

Nice craftwork there !

Loads of people encase turbos to reduce temperature outside and increase it inside for better response, only thing I can think of is the interuption to the airflow from the left side 'ear'.

This ducts onto the turbo using the engine cover to assist in cooling. Nice idea, I'd be tempted to puch some holes in it though to give it some sort of ventilation or run a duct in, underneath to add some blowage.

[Quicker]

Surley all you are doing is trapping the heat? wont this affect the turbo as it will take longer to cool?

well - the idea is to protect the rest of the engine bay form the turbo heat - nothing to do with the cooling of the turbo itself.

HKS (and other turbo companies) sell shields for their turbos - that a lot of guys use since it's usually crammed in under the hood next to fuel rails, intakes, ....etc

here's pic of them installed:

Edited January 3, 2008 by Quikr

[CBrownstead]

For race application in the porsche 930 cars that I have been involved with, we ONLY encase the part of the turbo that houses exhaust gases, and we wrap the headers in fiberglass, this has the effect of making the air hotter and therefore more expanded and move quicker out the exhaust work. Encasing onlly the exhaust part keeps that air from heating up your inlet part of your turbo, which is what will happen in that setup you have currently . . . you do not want to increase your intake temps in your inlet side of the turbo. But it is certainly a good start.

Edited January 3, 2008 by CBrownstead

[Quicker]

right - my shield is only covering the exhaust turbine housing - seperating the inlet turbine and exhaust turbine with the shield.

[CBrownstead]

This illustrates it well . . .

[Drfatz]

This illustrates it well . . .

I was going to purchase one of these bad boys. I figured it was easier then building a big shield.

ThermoTech

[Paul93Lotus]

Just playing Devil's advocate here....the ThermoTech wrap is fine till water splashes up and soaks in it...damp enough and you are inviting accelerated corrosion on all metal underneath. Just looking up from below makes it obvious how easily water can splash up from underneath. It would take just driving through a large puddle, getting caught in the rain, possibly washing the car if you weren't careful. Shielding that can still allow heat to escape is the best solution for a street car....race car is a different story.

I think Lou's shield is a nice solution....hot air can still ventilate down, and the compressor side of the turbo is shielded. I suppose some of that air from the side vent could be split and channeled to the turbo area if you felt air flow was an issue.

Lou - Did you use any special tools to bend the aluminum, or was that all done in the garage?

Edited January 4, 2008 by Paul93Lotus

[gwilhelm]

I bet all in the garage... knowing a little history with Lou and his Supercharged Lincoln LS. Could you make a drawing of the shield with some dimensions? I think your on to something that may be of benefit.

[Quicker]

thanx

All garage - I have fairly well outfitted garage - lift, compressor, tools, ....

I'll measure it up on the weekend.

Edited January 4, 2008 by Quikr

[Artie]

Nicely done, did a similar shield but put thermo-tec adhesive reflective material on the underside of the aluminum to help keep the heat around the hot side of the turbo to help with spool up and scavanging of exhaust out of the manifold. I plan to take the manifold off eventually and turbo and have the Jet Hot coated for better thermal regulation. Did this on my RX7 and gave me boost 250rpm sooner than untreated! Full boost by 3200rpm!

Artie

[gwilhelm]

I have fairly well outfitted garage - lift, compressor, tools, ....

Uh... yeah its in your avatar.... So dang jealous!!!

[Advantage]

I think Lou's shield is a nice solution....hot air can still ventilate down

Ummm.......hot air flowing down?

The shield is a nice bit of bling, but not needed for it's thermo protecting abilities in a street Esprit.

If one were needed, I'm sure at some point in the 20 odd years of producing a turbocharged 4 Cylinder Esprit, some bright spark at Hethel would've added one.

[Paul93Lotus]

Ummm.......hot air flowing down?

The shield is a nice bit of bling, but not needed for it's thermo protecting abilities in a street Esprit.

If one were needed, I'm sure at some point in the 20 odd years of producing a turbocharged 4 Cylinder Esprit, some bright spark at Hethel would've added one.

As with anything with automotive engineering, there is a cost vs. benefit. Anything that would add significant cost would not be added unless it could be proven that there would be some benefit. Almost ALL oems put shielding around their turbos, a few examples off the hat would be Mitsubishi Starions, Eclipses, etc. To be perfectly honest, the Esprit is the first car that I have seen without some REAL shielding around the exhasut manifold or turbos. Are you telling me Lotus knows something that all other auto manufacturers don't? Mitsubishi makes turbos on a lot of oem's.

Air rushing at speed creates a vacuum underneath the car...any air is likely being drawn from below. The vents on the engine cover are there strictly for at idle, and after engine shut off to prevent the hot air from being trapped. Just feel near the left rear tire after a shut down...proof that the heat goes everywhere, not just up.

With the short warranty period for Esprits, and the expected average mileage per year an Esprit is on the road...where is cost benefit? Leave it off, and save weight. Who really cares down the line at that point if the turbo makes all the vacuum lines and electrical brittle? We'll just sell parts to fix what has failed! Further evidence is how Lotus is leaving the aftermarket to take care of us....dealers here in the US half the time don't even have a Tech 1!, or if they do they don't really want to take on any Esprit work if they can avoid it....the Elise is their bread and butter now.

I love my Esprit, and I do not debate that their is some real inovation in parts of it, but for all the great stuff, I have also seen some real cheesey solutions to engineering problems, and almost always the all mighty "$" is the deciding factor. Take the venting lines for the gas tanks... I bet some "Spark" thought of that..."hey we can save this many pounds by using cheap plumbing tubing versus real fuel line."

I will end with that you just do not know what you are talking about. Lotus didn't add it because it just was not cost effective, not because it wasn't needed. Plus it would not add "lightness".

Edited January 4, 2008 by Paul93Lotus

[davegtst]

Just playing Devil's advocate here....the ThermoTech wrap is fine till water splashes up and soaks in it...damp enough and you are inviting accelerated corrosion on all metal underneath. Just looking up from below makes it obvious how easily water can splash up from underneath. It would take just driving through a large puddle, getting caught in the rain, possibly washing the car if you weren't careful. Shielding that can still allow heat to escape is the best solution for a street car....race car is a different story.

I think Lou's shield is a nice solution....hot air can still ventilate down, and the compressor side of the turbo is shielded. I suppose some of that air from the side vent could be split and channeled to the turbo area if you felt air flow was an issue.

Lou - Did you use any special tools to bend the aluminum, or was that all done in the garage?

I doubt water soaking the Thermo wrap is going to be a problem. Have you ever seen how hot turbos get? The water would be evaporated almost instantly.

[Paul93Lotus]

I doubt water soaking the Thermo wrap is going to be a problem. Have you ever seen how hot turbos get? The water would be evaporated almost instantly.

I was talking about the wrap, which would be wrapped around the down pipe off of the turbo....not that tin foil looking insulation on the turbine side of the turbo. Once the part is wrapped, you don't have the extreme temps that would instantly vaporize water. And I am more talking about when washing a car with a hose or at an automated car wash and/or water spraying up while driving in the rain at the left rear wheel. You would be getting a constant spray from the wheel well that would eventually would not dry off immediately.

If thermal wrap did not have any negative effects, why do almost all header manufacturers state in their warranty that use of header wrap will void it? Long term there can be negative effects. Trapped moisture, excessive trapped heat...not to mention if you have an oil leak(like from cam seals or the oil supply lines) and it drips on to this stuff you may have just created an excellent chance of setting your car on fire.

I find it amusing that people are bashing Lou's shield saying that there would be no air flow, yet then wraps are defended as a better alternative. Turbo temps would probably be increased significantly with a wrap.

Edited January 4, 2008 by Paul93Lotus

[davegtst]

I'm not bashing it at all. I think its a fantastic idea and look really well made too. Are you going to start selling them Lou?

[geoffsmith]

Lotus didn't add it because it just was not cost effective, not because it wasn't needed.

They obviously more money at Hethel by the time the Elan came out.

[Jonathan]

I find it amusing that people are bashing Lou's shield saying that there would be no air flow, yet then wraps are defended as a better alternative. Turbo temps would probably be increased significantly with a wrap.

Well the turbo on the Esprit is actually ducted so air has to flow over it which is rammed in from the side intake.

Personally if I had a shield I would run a modified duct to it, also wraps conduct heat away from the metal somewhat where heat shields tend to reflect it back. They do offer some smooth heat transfer / conduction where heat shiled can reflect heat into hot spots so one side heats up more than the other.

I'm not bashing the idea, I'd just try to ensure there was adequate flow which the car has as standard to ensure the life of the turbo.

The only place it really need a heat shield there (imo) is for the engine cover (my GT3 has a metal heat shield on the cover) and something to guard the chassis which runs along side the manifold - it gets so hot there that the galvanisation comes off, already happened on the SE and you can see the paint I put on the GT3 has already started to burn off.

Done my own shield for that but it simply just covers the chassis beam.

Hope it works for ya.

[Paul93Lotus]

They obviously more money at Hethel by the time the Elan came out.

Nope...it was courtesy of Isuzu (photo of a US made Impulse Turbo) Likely came with the complete engines. B)

[ragingfool35]

turbo shields are used to protect the paint on the hood and/or the surrounding components in tightly packed engine bays somewhat to the detriment of the turbo.

by far the better solution, if possible, is to expose the turbo to ventilation and shield the surrounding components

this is what Lotus did

exhaust header wrap will certainly accelerate corrosion on steel exhaust; to a lesser extent on stainless exhaust. on my esprit, i use it only on the portion that goes near the top shock mount as the old rubber buffer had all the plasticizer cooked out of it from the exhaust heat and had collasped