SuperLon -- thermal insulation.

[Anonymous]

Anyone heard of SuperLon? It's a thermal insulation popular among Malaysians (I only know today). You can stick it on the underside of our decklid, and it's supposed to cool the decklid enough to handle after driving. It reduces vibration too. You can thermal wrap your intake as well.

http://www.superlon.com.my/index.html

[Tem]

it's supposed to cool the decklid enough to handle after driving

I already did that, we call it removing the drip tray  s;) s;)

[Anonymous]

it's supposed to cool the decklid enough to handle after driving

I already did that, we call it removing the drip tray  s;) s;)

Nah... it's different. The decklid still feels hot. With Superlon, it's not.

[SteveJ]

Can someone tell me what the benefit is of keeping heat inside the engine bay rather than allowing it to radiate out via the engine cover?

[Anonymous]

Can someone tell me what the benefit is of keeping heat inside the engine bay rather than allowing it to radiate out via the engine cover?

You are not covering the vents of the decklid with this. You applied this insulation around the vents, on the underlying surface of the decklid (the areas with stock black fabric). The heat will not be trapped, as it will escape from the vents, and from the underside of the car.

[Anonymous]

It makes handling your decklid after hours of blasting much easier. It's can also be used to heatwrap ur intake pipe. Can't be used to thermal wrap the header though. The material can only take temp up to 105 degree C.

It is used as sound damping material in Malaysia as well. Apparently, it works great, though I only know about it today from a friend who has this.

[kanujunkie]

It makes handling your decklid after hours of blasting much easier. It's can also be used to heatwrap ur intake pipe. Can't be used to thermal wrap the header though. The material can only take temp up to 105 degree C.

Steves point still stand though, yes it may make the desklid easier to handle, but its still trapping the heat, fair enough though on wrapping the intake pipeing that would be a valid area to protect. The whole point is to protect areas from soaking up heat, not trapping it from escaping

[Anonymous]

You are not covering the vents of the decklid with this. You applied this insulation around the vents, on the underlying surface of the decklid (the areas with stock black fabric). The heat will not be trapped, as it will escape from the vents, and from the underside of the car.

As I said earlier in my post, you are not covering the vents, but on the surrounding areas. Thus, heat will still escape from where it used to -- the vents and undercarriage. I question your logic or your understanding of what I said earlier, Stu. Please correct me if I miss something.

[Tem]

it's supposed to cool the decklid enough to handle after driving

I already did that, we call it removing the drip tray  s;) s;)

Nah... it's different. The decklid still feels hot. With Superlon, it's not.

It doesn't even feel hot, barely warm, kinda like sitting in the sun  s8) s8)

Maybe it has something to do with other stuff I've done, but that sure gave the final cooling  s8) s8)

[kanujunkie]

You are not covering the vents of the decklid with this. You applied this insulation around the vents, on the underlying surface of the decklid (the areas with stock black fabric). The heat will not be trapped, as it will escape from the vents, and from the underside of the car.

As I said earlier in my post, you are not covering the vents, but on the surrounding areas. Thus, heat will still escape from where it used to -- the vents and undercarriage. I question your logic or your understanding of what I said earlier, Stu. Please correct me if I miss something.

i can see how you're thinking Simon, but the simple fact is that you'll get better cooling by removeing the stock black engine cover panels and leaving it at that, the heat can then radiate thru the skin, as well as thru the vents, the thermal blanket stuff will stop the radiation of heat thru the skin, and thus only allow heat to escape thru the vents, i would have thought the better way to go on this is a large fan on the boot lid as some on here have got already, blowing the heat from the engine bay

[Anonymous]

i can see how you're thinking Simon, but the simple fact is that you'll get better cooling by removeing the stock black engine cover panels and leaving it at that, the heat can then radiate thru the skin, as well as thru the vents, the thermal blanket stuff will stop the radiation of heat thru the skin, and thus only allow heat to escape thru the vents, i would have thought the better way to go on this is a large fan on the boot lid as some on here have got already, blowing the heat from the engine bay

Heat dissipitation through radiation only accounts for an insignificant level in the total dissipitation of engine bay. Thus, it is something that can be safely sacrifice to achieve better handling of the engine lid by the user. Bear in mind that tons of R&D has gone into the design of the engine, making sure heat dissipitation is keep at the optimal level. All cars are designed to be cooled down by means of strategic aerodynamical rear design. When a car is in motion, low pressure point above the engine hood allows hot air from the engine to escape from the engine and side vents, and cooler air from the undercarriage fills up the void in the engine. Thus, a continuous cycle of convection takes place.

There's a misconception that airsteam will enter through the engine as well as the side vents. That's not true when the car is in motion. These vents are there for air to escape, not enter. Using Superlon to attain better lid handling, to reduce vibration noise from the engine is thus possible without sacrificing much heat dissipation level.

If one wants to improve the heat flow of the engine bay, the removal of the dip tray is a good idea. However, the long term effect of such removal has not been proven safe. There are of course reports of zero problem, but I know there are reports of rusty headers and bolts, water entering the vents and reducing the functions of duct tapes is common as well. Conical air fliters like the Apexi and Green filters without heat shield will be the ones to suffer first in the event of rain. Therefore, the safey issue of dip tray removal is inconclusive, and must be done solely on the discretion of the user. I question the current users who removed their trays in their absolute confidence in such removal. I guarantee most removals are done wtih a quarter belief, half hearsay and a quarter of risk-taking.

Using an engine duct akin to the Varis engine duct may solve the perplexing dilemma by limiting water entrance during raining and promoting heat flow from the engine bay by removing the dip tray. Thermal insulation in bonnet is common among cars without engine vents etc Mercedes and BMWs. So why not us? Even ours come with it. By improving the current design using a better material is by no mean impeding the current heat flow situation.  

I will know soon, because I have ordered some Superlon. I will do some experiment to test if it will impede the engine bay temperature.
An engine fan is only good when a car is stationary, ie in a traffic jam. However, for NA setup, I think it's almost unnecessary.

[philster_d]

Im interested in pictures to see what you mean.

[kanujunkie]

yeah interesting, i see what your getting at but i'm still not convinced that it'll make much difference, and probably not required here in our wonderful british summers  s:roll: :roll: s:roll:    s:( s:(

[Anonymous]

Have a good nice ride on your 2. Pop out and try to open your engine lid. Enough said I guess. I will take the plunge and be the guinea pig. Will report back duely to you all!  s:D s:D

[Tem]

Have a good nice ride on your 2. Pop out and try to open your engine lid. Enough said I guess.

Is 20 mins on a track with a turbo a good nice ride?  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Absolutely no problems opening it or resting your hand on the lid. It's cooler than it ever was with the drip tray on  s8) s8)  Of course, YMMV  s;) s;)

[Anonymous]

Where do you track? The Antarctic?   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  You must be doing something right. Care to share?

[Tem]

Where do you track? The Antarctic?   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  You must be doing something right. Care to share?

 s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

It was actually +30C the last time  s:? :? s:?

I don't think I've done anything special.  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  I have removed the drip tray, like many do. I have removed the "front" engine underside shield, but left the "rear" one in there and blocked the vents it has. I believe that acts as sort of scoop to pull air up.

Inside the engine bay I have removed all the metal heatshields. I have no cat (they do heat up a lot) or the stock heater (read: muffler), just the Top Secret "turbo exhaust", which perhaps gets the heat out of the bay quite efficiently. Here's a poor pic of it, if you haven't seen it:
 m http://koti.mbnet.fi/temmeke/MR-S/TopSecretTurbokit.jpg m
(yes, the left hand side heatshield in that pic has since been removed)

[Anonymous]

Tem, are you running on PPE+DP?

[Tem]

Tem, are you running on PPE+DP?

No, Top Secret manifold, T517T turbo, Top Secret downpipe and Top Secret exhaust  s;) s;)  Doesn't the pic show?  s:? :? s:?

[Anonymous]

It does. But your sig says otherwise (PPE header+ system). That's why I ask!   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[Tem]

It does. But your sig says otherwise (PPE header+ system). That's why I ask!   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Ohhhh...you're right, haven't updated that since last summer  s:oops: :oops: s:oops: