Turbo blankets

[Novice1]

Interested in others opinions on this product.
Heat from Garrett T28 turbo as caused two air conditioning hoses to leak. A costly experience to replace. They were wrapped in thermo wrap but do go very close to the turbo.
Under bonnet temperatures are a lot hotter than pre-turbo.
If I can't ensure that engine heat, turbo heat will not destroy further hoses there is no point me getting them fixed. May as well put up with no air con.
I, am planning on getting a undertray made up for car which may be contributing to decreased cooling.
What are the benefits, negatives of the turbo blanket.
Cheers Novice1

[SuperMazdaKart]

from what i've read, they make the turbo even hotter which shortens the life of the turbo

[NMX516]

I haven't used one, but as I understand it, they can be more trouble than they're worth - trapping heat in the turbo. To some extent your turbo will rely on surrounding engine bay air flow to reduce its temp. If you take that away with a blanket.... A constantly hotter turbo is going to play havoc with the life of your oil, and the need to "idle down" after driving will be more critical to try and stop remaining oil in the turbo and feed line from carbonising.

My suggestion would be to make up some heat shielding from this - http://www.aclperformance.com.au/prod_heatshield.htm
Works very well and is easy to use.

There is also the possibility that you could have a/c pipes made up quite easily, which will take a different path through the engine bay.

[rhysk]

This problem is quite common, I've heard that the air conditioning on SP's is virtually useless from the factory.
The best solution is to re-route the hoses away from the turbo, and wrap them in heat shielding material.

[mx52nv]

The best solution is to re-route the hoses away from the turbo, and wrap them in heat shielding material.

Quoted For Truth (QFT)

That really is the best solution.

As an added note, when building a turbo MX5, it's best to get the manifold, exhaust housing of the turbo and dump pipe ceramic coated.

[blackster]

As these Blankets are designed to retain heat within the turbo, it may be benificial that the blanket be removed for vehicle "Garaging" as retaining the heat without the water/oil circulation may cause long term reduced life for the turbo (this is particularly relevant when used with non-water cooled plain bearing units). Although there is no documented analysis to support this theory... (we don't beleive this to be the case based on our testing and analysis)

http://www.horsepowerinabox.com/HPIAB2/category60_1.htm

[zoomzoom]

They catch fire. I put out a turbo blanket fire on a guys car a couple bays down from me last time I was at the track a few months back. After seeing what happenned there I would recommend not having one.

Tim

[Novice1]

Thanks guys for the replies. The turbo blanket gets the thumbs down.

I, will stick to having the air con hoses re-routed and possibly creating some sort of shield between the turbo and the hoses.
Cheers Novice1

[Garry]

The A/C rubber low pressure hose on the SP was replaced with alloy tubing and rerouted along the firewall and down the right hand side of the engine bay similar to the route the NA6 A/C takes. The SP A/C has 2 problems. The close proximity of the turbo to the A/C pipes and the reciever dryer and the intercooler reducing the airflow through the A/C condensor. It needs insulated A/C pipes and a more powerful radiator/A/C cooling fan to work better.

One of the heater hoses has a heat resistant mesh thing on it to protect it from the heat. I'm pretty impressed with the heater hoses actually. Both of mine are showing no signs of deteriorating after 140k kms and they are both very close to the turbo. Unlike the radiator and throttle body coolant hoses that all swelled up over time.

[Novice1]

The A/C rubber low pressure hose on the SP was replaced with alloy tubing and rerouted along the firewall and down the right hand side of the engine bay similar to the route the NA6 A/C takes. The SP A/C has 2 problems. The close proximity of the turbo to the A/C pipes and the reciever dryer and the intercooler reducing the airflow through the A/C condensor. It needs insulated A/C pipes and a more powerful radiator/A/C cooling fan to work better.

One of the heater hoses has a heat resistant mesh thing on it to protect it from the heat. I'm pretty impressed with the heater hoses actually. Both of mine are showing no signs of deteriorating after 140k kms and they are both very close to the turbo. Unlike the radiator and throttle body coolant hoses that all swelled up over time.

Thanks Garry. I, will probably do what you have outlined above. I, have upgraded the radiator already.
Cheers Novice1

[CT]

http://www.mx5club.com.au/scripts/prodList ... tegory=143

I use the fire foil sleeve on a water line inches from my turbo, never had an issue. Another idea is to duct air from under the car onto the pipe.....

[Novice1]

http://www.mx5club.com.au/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=143

I use the fire foil sleeve on a water line inches from my turbo, never had an issue. Another idea is to duct air from under the car onto the pipe.....

Thanks, I will check out the product above.
Novice1