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Turbo blanket

4K views 20 replies 4 participants last post by  V50toS40 
#1 ·
Anyone used one? Thoughts?

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#2 ·
So good and bad here.

Good is it lowers underhood temps, which helps greatly. Bad is they all advertise to be made of "titanium" and only 1 brand actually is, do your research here. Many light on fire when heated enough (to red hot) - youtube is your friend. When dealing with these sort of heat numbers (up to 1500*F exhaust temps at the end of a 3rd gear pull), you want quality.

However my vote? Disconnect the inlet and outlet, undo the 3 bolts holding the turbine housing to the body, and send it in to get ceramic coated. It will last longer, have less issues, and handle and dispel heat better. Get a good service that cleans/coats inside and out (I used Cody Jones at NitroPlate, no regrets so far), or you'll risk the interior (if it gets hot enough) disintegrating due to a lack of thermal protection on the inside and a coating on the exterior preventing heat transfer. (or go on fleabay and buy one in decent condition and send it in to get coated then swap them out one day when you have a few hours) (it's a pretty cheap service, my entire dual header system for my harley (about 8 feet of pipe) was $120 for the cleaning/coating).

I plan on building a complete turbo and getting both the headers, exhaust elbow, and turbine inlet/outlet housing done by him. It lowered temps on my harley's exhaust to around 220*F at the highest whereas before it would melt my wife's shoes/clothes instantly if touched (well over 300-350*F). Proof is in the pudding and it works very well on an air cooled application. I'd love to see a liquid cooled one.
 
#3 ·
I assume you're referring to the DEI Titanium Turbo Shield which has those videos withstanding a blowtorch right? That being said, it sounds like the only drawback is false advertising by many companies?

Assuming the results are similar, a turbo blanket seems much more convenient than getting the turbo ceramic coated.
 
#4 · (Edited)
https://www.centuryperformance.com/...use.html?xid=FLGGRESLzLqZ9DW612OrNrWci7fZ44fq

This is the single most compelling argument. That being said, it is a high performance application that won't see much time of day in the real world so it applies as much as you have your foot down on the pedal.

Insulating piping is a different matter than ductile iron, but the general principle is the same. So will it work? Yes. But I'd personally buy a junker off ebay for $100, take it apart, send it in and get the headers/turbine housing coated for about $100, put a new $150-$200 cartridge in it and wait for the existing system to crap out or do a turbo swap early and do the same thing with the other and sell it for a pretty penny and recoup some of the dough. But that's me. Spend $350-$400 and get everything to the Downpipe done. It's the only way to truly ensure the heat goes out the tailpipe and the system doesn't crumble slightly if it's pushed hard for a track day.

Having ceramic coated headers will prevent your studs/nuts from heat rusting as well, making removal the next time much easier.
 
#5 ·
But I'd personally buy a junker off ebay for $100, take it apart, send it in and get the headers/turbine housing coated for about $100, put a new $150-$200 cartridge in it and wait for the existing system to crap out or do a turbo swap early and do the same thing with the other and sell it for a pretty penny and recoup some of the dough. But that's me. Spend $350-$400 and get everything to the Downpipe done. It's the only way to truly ensure the heat goes out the tailpipe and the system doesn't crumble slightly if it's pushed hard for a track day.

Having ceramic coated headers will prevent your studs/nuts from heat rusting as well, making removal the next time much easier.
I've actually already done part of the process you're describing (remember our long IM discussion lol). I plan on getting the headers ceramic coated soon, but for some reason, I'm hesitant to get the turbine housing done.
 
#6 ·
What's holding you back?
 
#7 ·
Hmm well getting the turbo housing ceramic coated doesn't seem as common as getting the headers done and I haven't been able to find great information on it.

Also, I haven't been able to find that much info (reputation wise) about the coating companies in my area.

All that in mind, ceramic coating headers and using a blanket on the housing seemed like a good compromise.
 
#9 ·
Hmm well getting the turbo housing ceramic coated doesn't seem as common as getting the headers done and I haven't been able to find great information on it.

Also, I haven't been able to find that much info (reputation wise) about the coating companies in my area.

All that in mind, ceramic coating headers and using a blanket on the housing seemed like a good compromise.
True that. There isn't a big market for coating non-exhaust parts, but they can do it. I was talking to the guy I got mine done through and he said they can, and typically do it on intake manifolds for V8's and intake tracks on more expensive cars when it's not for the exhaust.

The only people I have used is a man named Cody Jones from the shop Nitroplate, which is why he's the only one I recommend after I got my harley headers/exhaust done by them. Ceramic coating isn't really a "big" thing since you can buy and wrap your pipes yourself or get some of that "spray on" ceramic coating from the auto store. However I did that once and it flaked off the tip of the header and on down slowly within 10,000mi of install, and I decided after that if I did get it done, it would be done by a good company who will properly blast and acid soak pipes as needed.

But you're 100% correct, coating the headers inside and out should take a significant portion of the heat and put it straight in the exhaust rather than being absorbed and spread around the turbo. And if you coated the turbine housing, you would need to beef up your intercooler system a bit since the turbo wouldn't be eating some of that heat from compression. A turbo blanket would make a nice "middle ground."
 
#10 ·
I've also considered using VHT Flameproof. But it really seems like your results may vary and I only have one chance to get it right cause once it's on, I'm not taking the headers off again lol. That's cool that you found a trustworthy company but isn't NitroPlate in Nashville?
 
#11 · (Edited)
Yep - had UPS ship my header pieces there in 1 Box and they shipped them back with about 8" worth of bubble wrap around each one - they look like this plus 1 pipe not in the photo

Afterwards they looked like this (all shiny and not chrome but nice nonetheless, no need for heat shields anymore):
 
#12 ·
It seems like shipping back and forth would cost almost as much as the cost to coat no?
 
#14 ·
Oh hey I didn't see this sorry about that -

No the return shipping was free from the place I got the work done and it was WELL packed. Shipping there was done by UPS and amounted to like $45 for them to pack it and send it away. If I had packed it and sent it through USPS it would have been probably $20-$30.

That blanket looks like it'll fit! But for $239 for a fringe benefit, it's a bit pricy in my opinion..
 
#15 ·
#16 ·
Sheesh $259?

That cost more than shipping, acid pitting and coating of my entire exhaust system on the harley. I suppose they can charge a premium considering they are the only ones out there (for now) and not many want to do the work of changing aheader out.
 
#17 ·
It's definitely pricey, but similar in price to PTP and DEI, who (I understand) are the top of the line turbo blanket manufacturers.

I'd actually guess that Elevate went through one of these companies for their blanket (probably PTP).

I probably should have posted sooner as it looks like Elevate was offering a 10% discount last month.

Anyway, I got pretty excited about it after seeing this video.



Btw, avenger when I upgraded the headers on my wife's IS300, I heeded your advice and got them ceramic coated. I can't speak on the gains from the ceramic coating alone, but the center console used to be hot to the touch with the old headers and it's significantly cooler. That alone made it worth it IMO.

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#18 ·
Btw, avenger when I upgraded the headers on my wife's IS300, I heeded your advice and got them ceramic coated. I can't speak on the gains from the ceramic coating alone, but the center console used to be hot to the touch with the old headers and it's significantly cooler. That alone made it worth it IMO.

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Cool! Good to hear. You don't gain any power or efficiency through the ceramic coating, just thermal management which helps in it's own way. Those upgraded headers should be pretty sweet though. The higher the exhaust temp, the bigger the difference between coated and non-coated heat. The harley dropped from 500*F at idle at the head to 350*F. Switching E85 dropped it to 250*F, which was great for touching pants and shoes and not insta-melting them. and cooks my testicles less when stuck in traffic (and prevents warping of the heads from excess heat).

I have a spare turbo sitting around that's going to get the manifold and compressor housing and elbow's coated. On the bright side, I'm 12 credit shy of finishing my engineering degree and being able to finally get a job (and afford to do all these projects). It's been a long 2.1 years of being stagnant with this car.
 
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