Looking to install a heat blanket on the turbo

[jcp227]

Necroing this thread, but I was quoted ~$200 for an install on the turbo blanket; collective consensus on whether that's worth relative to the pain in the ass to install it?

If you are mechanically inclined, have the tools and the time then I say go for it. My experience was a pain in the rear but I did it in steps and not all in the same day. I would invite you to consider doing the downpipe at that time too.
If not 200 bills sounds reasonable considering all the stuff that has to be removed to get the blanket on.

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[SpinRush]

There may be some truth to the concerns voiced here. When you shut off your FK8s there is no fan that continuously runs even after you shut it down. The truth is we may not know for a while. I have a turbo blanket on my car. Right now, all I can say is that I trust it.

I believe it will be difficult to make a proper assessment of whether the pros outweigh the cons or vice versa. It really depends on your driving style. Then there are driving conditions that need to be taken into account. I'm also changing the front grille to the Sebon Carbon Grille which is more open.

My Honda reps say that the open grille may reduce power but increase cooling. The stock design is a horizontal grille that supposedly forces air where it needs to go. I guess it's like sticking your thumb in a water hose to force it spray instead of pour. We shall see.

Only time will tell. It's your decision if you go with a Turbo Blanket or not.

 

[sysjl]

Necroing this thread, but I was quoted ~$200 for an install on the turbo blanket; collective consensus on whether that's worth relative to the pain in the ass to install it?

It's only worth doing the install yourself if you plan on also replacing the downpipe at the same time. You literally have to remove the downpipe to install the turbo blanket.

 

[jcp227]

It's only worth doing the install yourself if you plan on also replacing the downpipe at the same time. You literally have to remove the downpipe to install the turbo blanket.

I agree completely with what you just said. When I did mine I did the DP, heat taped the intake pipe and at the last minute decided to install a Mishimoto intake. All that stuff was out at the time and didn't want to pull it all apart again.

 

[shadow]

I've had a turbo blanket on my STI for the last 5 years. The turbo runs perfectly.

 

[Harlaquin]

I know Im gonna offend some people here but. Blanketing your turbo is the stupidest thing. I worked for Borg Warner turbo In Asheville NC for 9 years. Heat is the worst enemy of a turbo. for 2 of those years I worked at the Turbo re-manufacturing facility as well where the failed turbos come back and 90% were due to failure due to some series of events leading to heat fatigue and then failure. The last thing you should be doing to a turbo is trying to keep more heat in it. its super heating the turbo which in turn is super heating the oil that travels through it causing oil coking. Yes its called coking like in coca cola not cooking like in making food.google it and see why its very bad. not to mention the heat degrades the integrity of the metal in the turbo eventually leading to the impeller flying apart and if you are very lucking pieces not being sucked into the engine.

Now if you are gonna get this car and abuse it for 2 years and then trade it with no care about the condition you leave it for the next buyer then sure go ahead wrap it and gain a tiny bit of horse power then trade it before it fails. but if you want to keep it and it run right for years then seriously do not wrap your turbo. it is the stupidest thing you can do.

 

[jcp227]

I know Im gonna offend some people here but. Blanketing your turbo is the stupidest thing. I worked for Borg Warner turbo In Asheville NC for 9 years. Heat is the worst enemy of a turbo. for 2 of those years I worked at the Turbo re-manufacturing facility as well where the failed turbos come back and 90% were due to failure due to some series of events leading to heat fatigue and then failure. The last thing you should be doing to a turbo is trying to keep more heat in it. its super heating the turbo which in turn is super heating the oil that travels through it causing oil coking. Yes its called coking like in coca cola not cooking like in making food.google it and see why its very bad. not to mention the heat degrades the integrity of the metal in the turbo eventually leading to the impeller flying apart and if you are very lucking pieces not being sucked into the engine.

Now if you are gonna get this car and abuse it for 2 years and then trade it with no care about the condition you leave it for the next buyer then sure go ahead wrap it and gain a tiny bit of horse power then trade it before it fails. but if you want to keep it and it run right for years then seriously do not wrap your turbo. it is the stupidest thing you can do.

I agree with your statement. I went ahead and did mine knowing I will gain some extra power, however I honestly have no issue replacing the turbo on my own dime if it ends up going south on me at any point in time. With that being said, I try to minimize that by some degree by letting my car idle down for 5 minutes afterwards. In addition, when I get the car home I place a large fan in that area for 45 minutes. Lastly, I have my oil changed every 2000 miles. While this may or not help out, I am not sure but I am taking extra precaution.
Since you have experience in this region, I have a few questions that maybe you can answer.
On the turbos you have seen come back to your facility with heat related issues, is there any form of evidence that it was due to a turbo blanket? Also, is there any evidence of how the turbo was treated after the car was done running? Example, on the cars with failed turbos, is there any evidence that the car was idled for 2-5 minutes after a run?
From an engineering standpoint I am honestly curious and would like to learn more about what you have seen and how often is this occurrence. Is it narrowed down to a certain brand of turbo or is this in general?

 

[keiothic]

Yeah.... if I'm getting what Harlaq was saying, the turbos that were tested generates hot air that a blanket won't help relief, basically cooking(coking?) it from inside out; but I thought that the purpose (of turbo blanket) was to keep the turbo unit cool from surrounding heat-generating components.

I guess I'm not sure what kind of ambient air temperature goes into these turbos that may cause concerns. Do turbos even generate heat?? I guess that's where my confusion lays. I'm no mechanic, so pardon the layman words.

 

[Gansan]

Yeah.... if I'm getting what Harlaq was saying, the turbos that were tested are picking up hot ambient air?? I thought purpose of turbo blanket is to encapsulate hot air from its surrounding so the air inside the turbo don't go into higher temp. He's making it sound like heat generates from the turbo and spread outwards, and if you put a blanket on it, you're basically cooking it (coking it?) from the inside out..... I'm no mechanic, so pardon the layman words.

Yes, you are correct. The turbo blanket doesn't keep heat out, it keeps it in. The turbine side of the turbo is directly connected to the hot exhaust output from the engine. These gasses blow against the turbine and spin it to run the compressor which is pushing air into the intake. The exhaust is very, very hot and will make the turbine housing glow red with the heat when you are heavy on the throttle. It is this heat that is of concern as it heats up the rest of the turbo. The turbo has water and oil running through it to keep it cool but there are limits to the ability of the cooling to carry the heat away.

 

[Harlaquin]

Yeah.... if I'm getting what Harlaq was saying, the turbos that were tested generates hot air that a blanket won't help relief, basically cooking(coking?) it from inside out; but I thought that the purpose (of turbo blanket) was to keep the turbo unit cool from surrounding heat-generating components.

I guess I'm not sure what kind of ambient air temperature goes into these turbos that may cause concerns. Do turbos even generate heat?? I guess that's where my confusion lays. I'm no mechanic, so pardon the layman words.

Turbos themselves do not generate heat per say. the oil that flows through them is for the bearings. The bearings like anything create friction and in turn heat. So a turbo generates power by using exhaust gas(hot gas)coming from the engine to spin a wheel (turbine) that in turn pulls in fresh cool air. the combination of the exhaust gas and the bearing friction is what heats a turbo to very high temps. the blankets people are using are to keep heat in and away from other components mainly and to help stop heat soak of other parts. But there is a side effect of increased power by keeping heat in the turbo. All be it very little gains. And at the cost of degrading the turbo bearings and shortening turbo life.
Oil coking is what happens when oil it heated above its heat range. Then a person will park a car after spirited driving and the oil stops flowing and the temp of the turbo cokes the oil. Laymens terms this is a carbon build up around the bearings which over time will cause them to either fail or come out of spec. This causes the turbine wheel to contact the side of the turbo housing and in many cases causing the turbine wheel to break fins off and like I said before if you are lucky they do not enter the engine. long and short of it is turbo blanketing a turbo is bad.

You can take precautions if you are determined to blanket your turbo. but it is a lot of work for the minimum, honestly minute amount of gain. Its not worth it. Not to mention turbos go out in two ways either they fail and cost you say 2k or they fail and say hey engine your coming with me and its 8k out your pocket.

 

[Harlaquin]

I agree with your statement. I went ahead and did mine knowing I will gain some extra power, however I honestly have no issue replacing the turbo on my own dime if it ends up going south on me at any point in time. With that being said, I try to minimize that by some degree by letting my car idle down for 5 minutes afterwards. In addition, when I get the car home I place a large fan in that area for 45 minutes. Lastly, I have my oil changed every 2000 miles. While this may or not help out, I am not sure but I am taking extra precaution.
Since you have experience in this region, I have a few questions that maybe you can answer.
On the turbos you have seen come back to your facility with heat related issues, is there any form of evidence that it was due to a turbo blanket? Also, is there any evidence of how the turbo was treated after the car was done running? Example, on the cars with failed turbos, is there any evidence that the car was idled for 2-5 minutes after a run?
From an engineering standpoint I am honestly curious and would like to learn more about what you have seen and how often is this occurrence. Is it narrowed down to a certain brand of turbo or is this in general?

So it seems you have done some research and are taking precautions. I don't know the specifics of this engine so I will say this. look into idle oil pressures on the R. Some cars, most in fact don't push enough oil to a turbo at idle. the best way to cool a turbo that is blanketed is to drive the car with no boost for 10 to 15 mins before shutting the car off that way oil pressure keeps oil moving over the bearings of the turbo. Idle may not be enough. A water jacketed turbo is the best solution but Im not sure ours is I don't think it is I honestly haven't looked lol.

I cant answer for all turbos I do know borg warner had a very small failure rate compared to amounts produced. But the ones that did come back like I said were overwhelmingly heat related and caused bearing failure. what the cause of the over heating was??? anyone's guess as people don't send back turbos with blankets on them for warranty claims.

As for the idle question. the turbo manufacture wouldn't know. Honda would as the car keeps logs of run times. if you are concerned about warranty claims I mean if Honda wants to fight it they can have metallurgy done which really does not cost much and can determine if heat was the issue. is so then what caused it. was the rest of the car running properly according to logs? and so on I mean they can figure it out.

Honestly, for the very little gains it gives you blanketing the turbo is not a good idea. if heat soak is the main concern there is other ways to protect parts with wraps of their own to protect them that wont effect the turbo.

I can tell you the only think on that car I would heat wrap or blanket is downpipe and front pipe if you change them and do not use factory heat shields. those two parts are after the engine and turbo and give off lots of heat and channeling heat through those away from engine wont hurt anything. Might shorten he life of the sensors in the downpipe but wont cause any catastrophic failures.

Side note as far as heat, the transmission in this car gets hot I mean hot hot. We changed my front pipe and after the car sat for 3 1/2 hours my buddy still bumped it and was damn that thing is still flippin hot.

One more thing on oils. changing every 2000k on a turbo car is perfect and honestly lots of people will recommend that, even these extended life oils that claim 15k 25k miles. read the bottles. it is not for turbo cars. they still say do normal changes on turbo cars. so those who have amsoil and such that are extended life... nope still have to change at normal intervals on turbo cars. I can tell you that changing your oil every 2k might add a extra oil change to your year but for 30 /40 bucks its the most important /best / cheapest thing you can do to make sure your car runs a long time.

 

[keiothic]

I think conceptually I know twin turbo system are installed 1 at the intake side, and another at exhaust. Which point does our CTR's turbo get installed at? Intake (into the engine cylinder)?

 

[Gansan]

I think conceptually I know twin turbo system are installed 1 at the intake side, and another at exhaust. Which point does our CTR's turbo get installed at? Intake (into the engine cylinder)?

All turbochargers are connected to both the intake and exhaust. One turbo has two parts, the turbine connected to the exhaust and the compressor connected to the intake.

When you have twin turbos, most often that means one turbo services both the intake and exhaust of one set of cylinders and a second turbo services a second set of cylinders. Both turbos are connected to the intake side of their cylinders and both are connected to the exhaust side of their cylinders. You can’t split the exhaust and intake parts.

There are some cars that have sequential turbos where one turbo’s turbine is upstream of the second turbo, but both turbos are connected to both the intake and exhaust.

 

[Maximum6]

I do not see where Amsoil recommends to change at OE time interval if using a turbo. I do see that if you are using for racing application or are Non stock it recommends to do OE interval

I also read from the PRL thread for downpipe (post#170)
https://www.civicx.com/threads/prl-motorsports-type-r-downpipe.23044/page-12

that wrapping the downpipe isn’t recommended because it retains the heat and can weaken the pipe, stating that factory heat shield is enough.

And in another thread a guy use ceramic coating on their downpipe with heat shield off, he ended up having to put the OEM heat shield back on because the ceramic coating still heat soaked his car. (Post #351)
https://www.civicx.com/threads/rv6-...-r-downpipe-options.23611/page-24#post-531965

 

[Harlaquin]

I do not see where Amsoil recommends to change at OE time interval if using a turbo. I do see that if you are using for racing application or are Non stock it recommends to do OE interval

I also read from the PRL thread for downpipe (post#170)
https://www.civicx.com/threads/prl-motorsports-type-r-downpipe.23044/page-12

that wrapping the downpipe isn’t recommended because it retains the heat and can weaken the pipe, stating that factory heat shield is enough.

And in another thread a guy use ceramic coating on their downpipe with heat shield off, he ended up having to put the OEM heat shield back on because the ceramic coating still heat soaked his car. (Post #351)
https://www.civicx.com/threads/rv6-...-r-downpipe-options.23611/page-24#post-531965

Well my friend, if you look up the technical sheet for the extended wear oil. it states that 1. they do not cover warranty wise or recommend extended changes if you have a modified engine of any kind. 2. that they recommend more frequent changes on severe use engines which a turbo engine is considered if you look up their definition of severe use. And the extended change intervals are also only good if you use their oil filter which many do not.

As for down pipe i explicitly said you could wrap it if you are not gonna use the factory shields. Factory shield are highly recommended. I personally wouldn't wrap it either for the same reason as the turbos. heat is bad. but if you are not gonna use heat shields you have to use something to protect the other parts in that area so wrapping is best option. Ceramic is total BS and a waste of money. it still radiates heat and dors jack nothing to protect other parts.

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