Airboxes
Author
Discussion

dirty boy

Original Poster:

14,864 posts

239 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
Quick question - what are the airboxes made of? Is it plastic or fibreglass?

Cheers

db

peteA

2,762 posts

264 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
dirty boy said:
Quick question - what are the airboxes made of? Is it plastic or fibreglass?

Cheers

db
Got mine off at the mo - fibreglass.

dirty boy

Original Poster:

14,864 posts

239 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
Cheers!

Not too sure if that's a good thing or not - am looking at some 'coatings' to shield them from heat - not sure if it can be applied to fibreglass unfortunately.

JensenA

5,671 posts

260 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
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The Self-adhesive silver heat shield stuff will stick, but apparently it doesn't actually make a huge amount of difference.

jesfirth

1,743 posts

272 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
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I used the adhesive silver stuff with the matt backing - it worked a bit but no massive difference. It also falls off on very hot days when the glue melts

dirty boy

Original Poster:

14,864 posts

239 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
The stuff i'm looking at will cover the whole box, it's a ceramic thermal barrier coating.

I'm waiting back on a quote, and wonder if it's comparable to new carbon fibre airboxes cost wise.

Edited by dirty boy on Tuesday 3rd February 13:48

trackcar

6,453 posts

256 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
There's no harm in covering the airboxes, but in my experience relatively worthless in HP terms. The bottom section of the airboxes seems (in many cases) to be made from some sort of honeycomb fibreglass and as such is possibly TVR trying to limit the heat transfer from teh exhaust to the air in the airbox, if subsequent attemtpts t improve it dont work very well it rather suggests that either the honeycomb stuff works really well, o there's just not that much heat transferred in there in the first place anyway.

I think there's probably far better places to spend your money smile

dirty boy

Original Poster:

14,864 posts

239 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
trackcar said:
There's no harm in covering the airboxes, but in my experience relatively worthless in HP terms. The bottom section of the airboxes seems (in many cases) to be made from some sort of honeycomb fibreglass and as such is possibly TVR trying to limit the heat transfer from teh exhaust to the air in the airbox, if subsequent attemtpts t improve it dont work very well it rather suggests that either the honeycomb stuff works really well, o there's just not that much heat transferred in there in the first place anyway.

I think there's probably far better places to spend your money smile
Like ceramic exhaust coating

My boxes look a bit tatty, so this coating really smartens them up - and offers the heat protection too(even though it's possibly minimal, any kind of protection is a bonus)

Depending on what cost they come back with - it's that or new boxes or new carbon fibre ones (very expensive IMO)

Lot's of jobs to do, just doing the niggly ones first (oil temp gauge etc) then will come the remaps and inductions wink

peteA

2,762 posts

264 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
trackcar said:
There's no harm in covering the airboxes, but in my experience relatively worthless in HP terms. The bottom section of the airboxes seems (in many cases) to be made from some sort of honeycomb fibreglass and as such is possibly TVR trying to limit the heat transfer from teh exhaust to the air in the airbox, if subsequent attemtpts t improve it dont work very well it rather suggests that either the honeycomb stuff works really well, o there's just not that much heat transferred in there in the first place anyway.

I think there's probably far better places to spend your money smile
...would have though the biggest heatgain will be the exhaust manifolds so why not try and limit the heat emission from them...exhaust heat wrap maybe...?

or...a heat shield / deflector of some sort between the air box and manifold...?

Just a thought - have fun!

caduceus

6,127 posts

296 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
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dirty boy said:
The stuff i'm looking at will cover the whole box, it's a ceramic thermal barrier coating.
If you're thinking of the same stuff that is used on exhausts, it won't apply. As the exhaust has to be heated up to cherry red before the coating is applied. And obviously fibregalss doesn't 'do' that kind of heat.

Or am I reading your post wrong confusedgetmecoat

Storer

5,024 posts

245 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
Each airbox has 6.75m3 of air pass through it a minute at 6000rpm so I don't think the air is in there long enough to warm up very much rolleyes


caduceus

6,127 posts

296 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
Storer said:
Each airbox has 6.75m3 of air pass through it a minute at 6000rpm so I don't think the air is in there long enough to warm up very much rolleyes
nerd

ajp70

543 posts

216 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
caduceus said:
Storer said:
Each airbox has 6.75m3 of air pass through it a minute at 6000rpm so I don't think the air is in there long enough to warm up very much rolleyes
nerd
Storer. That's an incredible piece of info.teacher How do you get that in at dinner parties?

Spawn

597 posts

226 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
Mine are looking rather tatty, was thinking of sanding them down and respraying them black as I assumed they were plastic. Can this still be done or are there better methods for tidying them up?

Edited by Spawn on Tuesday 3rd February 19:03

dirty boy

Original Poster:

14,864 posts

239 months

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
quotequote all
caduceus said:
dirty boy said:
The stuff i'm looking at will cover the whole box, it's a ceramic thermal barrier coating.
If you're thinking of the same stuff that is used on exhausts, it won't apply. As the exhaust has to be heated up to cherry red before the coating is applied. And obviously fibregalss doesn't 'do' that kind of heat.

Or am I reading your post wrong confusedgetmecoat
It's similar to the exhaust coating, but they can apply it to fibreglass, they heat the material up, and 'fire' it at the fibreglass (which is cooled)

Hence I asked what they were made of, so I could ask the question.

Am waiting back on them, will post what I find out.

Storer

5,024 posts

245 months

Wednesday 4th February 2009
quotequote all
ajp70 said:
caduceus said:
Storer said:
Each airbox has 6.75m3 of air pass through it a minute at 6000rpm so I don't think the air is in there long enough to warm up very much rolleyes
nerd
Storer. That's an incredible piece of info.teacher How do you get that in at dinner parties?
I was at school before pocket calculators were invented so had to learn mental arithmetic. A simple calculation.

Don't get many invites to dinner parties frown

cupra20v.t

1,149 posts

219 months

Wednesday 4th February 2009
quotequote all
i am wrapping my manifolds on the weekend with charcoal impregnated exhaust heat wrap. would also like to know a price on ceramic coating as the 2 together should provide minimal gains,

dirty boy

Original Poster:

14,864 posts

239 months

Wednesday 4th February 2009
quotequote all
Another big favour please....

Anyone got a photo of the airbox off the car and any measurements?

I can then get back to them. I did supply a picture on the car, but that didn't help too much paperbag


As a side note, if anyone's interested...

"The cost to coat a pair of exhaust manifolds from a TVR Cerbera is £842 for our Performance White coating or £966 in the Performance Colours range. Prices inc vat but exclude shipping, turnaround is a maximum of 10 working days"

I don't think i'll go that route just yet, maybe if the engine needs to come out, it's something i'd look to entertain, so nice to have a figure in the back of your mind.

I believe the ceramic coating has numerous advantages, and they offer a 3 year warranty too.

dirty boy

Original Poster:

14,864 posts

239 months

Wednesday 4th February 2009
quotequote all
cupra20v.t said:
i am wrapping my manifolds on the weekend with charcoal impregnated exhaust heat wrap. would also like to know a price on ceramic coating as the 2 together should provide minimal gains,
Have a quick scan

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Allandwf

1,773 posts

225 months

Wednesday 4th February 2009
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I had mine at a steady 3000rpm in the garage the other day and was shocked to see that the manifolds glowed a cherry red !! All that heat has to go somewhere.