Aluminium piping. Is it a mistake or not?
 

Hi all.
I saw many replacing the plastic ducts in their cars with aluminium ones. Hell, I one of them :).
But than I read somewhere that the metal is a conductor of heat, and the plastic (the compound from with the piping are made) is heat insulated.
So is it or is it not a good ideea to replace the plastic pipes with aluminium ones?
Are the aluminium pipes going to transfer the heat to the intake air and by doing so to reduce the performance of our engines?
What do you think?

thats way you want to get a front facing throttle and intake setup to avoid running the intake right over the engine
http://www.supra.co.nz/ffi/ffi1.jpg

Do they make those for the 7MGE or just the 7MGTE?

Man... don't get me wrong...
It is easier to put the plastic back than to change the position of the engine...

Sorry, but I don't know...
But hey, you can ask them :)
Here's 1 site seling this stuff. I am sure youfll easely find others.
www.suprasport.com

A FFIM on a 7M-GE may not work well. You'll loose the ACIS which helps level out the power band a significant amount and give you more power on the low end.


Yes, the metal does soak up heat quite readily. If you're doing a lot of city driving it may not be worth it. At idle my N/A's intake temps climb as much as 20?F. How quickly those temps drop once the car is moving again depends on how much I get on the throttle, but it takes a few seconds. I'm planning on adding a fiberglass sleeve to insulate it.

I really can't say I recommend removing the resonator... but to understand that you would actually have to research it and learn how it works... so do as you will. :frown:

Whats ACIS???

Forerunner to V-Tec and VVT-i. The manifold is designed in such a way that a large butterfly valve in the surge tank can be used to emulate long or short runners as needed. Without it your power below 4000RPM takes a hit. MKIII and MKIV N/A's both have this system. Other 7M-GE equipped engines (such as that from the Cressida) do not have it and it's part of the reason they make less power.


EDIT: You could of course go with a completely custom FFIM with multiple runners and valving such as the manifolds BMW used with a couple of their newer inline 6's... you're going to need one hell of a crew to help you calculate and cut everything to the precise lengths needed though... If you tipped the engine a decent amount you could build something similar to the old BMW manifolds, but it'll have to be tipped further to still accommodate the stock ACIS valving. BMW M3

After a long drive down the highway i can stick my hand on my cooleeze pipes where it runs over engine bay and its cool to the touch, not cold but ya kno what i mean.... I can also lay my hand on the intake penlum which is only slightly warm....

Before i changed the pipes i couldnt touch the 3000pipe or the intake penlum..... was much to hot

All my pipes are ceramic coated though ;)

Well, first off, as you know ceramic coating makes a massive difference and second a lot of people aren't worried about the minor effects of a bump of a couple degrees while cruising. Most people who even think to ask this question are worried the most about changes in temp during acceleration... and coming off the line from idle the temp difference is pretty big.

So did you buy it ceramic coated, or is this something you ve done later on?

It is a big diffrence between SHOW cars and GO cars. Myself I am preparing my car with the GO factor Firsth in mind. But of course I like a clean shining engine compartment. Not enough to loose 1 sec on 1/4 mile thow. And that is why I have asked this, because in competition you stay with the engine runing and wait for your turn to go. The engine heats up, and if you have a alumimium pipe from the intercooler to the combustion chamber, your cooled-from-the-intercooler air heats right back...
By the time you race along... for the 20 sec. max down the track... Your pipes don't have the time to cool back.
get my point?
And this is why I have asked this. I was thinking that the metal is treated somehow, but I wasn't sure. Are all this aluminum pipes ceramic coated, or just some? Does the seller specifies if they are ceramic coated or not?

Your requirements are precisely the reason I push for people to differentiate between "my intake stays cool after a long drive" and "my intake hasn't even cooled after a quarter mile".

Some companies offer a choice of uncoated or coated, most don't even offer it. Don't presume that what you've got is coated though. It may come from the factory with a clear coat, but that does nothing for temps. Ceramic coating is typically rather inexpensive though.

Ceramic helps, but nothing beats an insulated sleeve.