Sur5er

Had some spare "Rattletrap" left over from the sound insulation job and figured, why not? Aluminium faced on one side to reflect all that turbo heat and sticky on the other to stay put. Looks like a match made in heaven. Took all of 5 minutes to wrap the lines and the receiver/drier. Dang stuff is stycky so some spots look like they were done the morning after the night before. Got enough left to rewrap the lines to make it look pretty but I'm going to wait a bit to make sure the heat doesn't cause the whole shooting match to unwind

maxwellp

Grainger Item #4NLN6
Page 4062
Insulation Sheet, Flexible, Sheet Size 36 In x 48 In, Length 4 ft., Temp. Range -330 to 210DF, Color Black, Material of Construction Elastomeric

For accumulator

C Schomer

I bought 6' of Armaflex (rated 220) and I tore up the first 1' thinking I could glue the seam and slide it over the elbows - wrong. Then I worked it around the full length of pipe and glued it where it layed. The Armaflex is flexible enough to go around the corners w/o mitering. I had to put some electric tape around the top elbow cuz I put so much glue on, it wasn't drying. I got impatient and taped it instead of waiting any longer. I still had about 1' left over. If you guys don't want to insulate the line behind the battery box - at least do it from the firewall and go as far as you can. I've also been thinking of wrapping my turbo and downpipe to make it quieter. That will help with some more heat. Someone asked about my elec. fans. I have a 6 spd manual and I put 2 - 12" fans where the auto trans cooler would be and I wired them to the comp. clutch. Craig

C Schomer

I have pictures on my email now if anyone whats me to send them to you. Craig

Rednax

Mine has been okay since day one. Not meat-hanging cold, but good. The coolant shut-off was a noticeable change. (And I'll go ahead and change it to a full bypass). I need to re-charge a bit every year, but thankfully CC is nothing like Dallas (except this past week; thank G it cools off at sundown unlike that blasted hot city up north). On recirc, after a few miles, my temp gauge in center vent reads 38F. About 50F on fresh. The valve made a real difference (truck is now 8-years old). Almost a meat-locker, now.

Stopped by Lowes after a sandwich at Rudy's. Bought some cheap-looking stuff -- pre-taped -- from Plumbing (a number of upright boxes spread among the pipe racks). Didn't find a heat rating. Have some alum tape left from other jobs and some Reflectix. Will look at it tonight. No garage access this week and a west-facing driveway.

Edit: Will go back to Lowes (what else is new) and return this stuff. I'll wait till Monday and hit INSCO where I normally buy HVAC supply stuff. Get some other insulated wrap items.

INSCO (across from big TXDOT center)
5439 Greenwood Drive
Corpus Christi, TX 78417
Hours of operation :
8:00am to 5:00 pm Monday thru Friday
8:00 to 12:00 Saturday


Wish I had the bux at present for a turbo & exh. manifold blanket set. Wrap the downpipe a little as well. Happily this is not one of my old BB Mopar full-size cars, carb'd, with those huge cast-iron high-perf exhaust manifolds . . the diesel is much cooler (not to mention more air space). But I imagine that some heat control would help in any slow or stop-n-go traffic.

This may not do much, but it's another piece of the puzzle. I'm finding arguments elsewhere for & against. The biggest NO is about corrosion. The second is the possibility of "slugging" the compressor. The YES is that -- maybe -- it's worth 2F. Some cars have had it present and past from the factory, but the corrosion issue is the OEM reason not to, so far as I can tell. I do know I'll leave any joints uncovered, and just do the main runs.

With Texas heat I'm willing to gamble on this so the low side will see some "improvement"



.

C Schomer

Yeh, it has to be vapor-tight to prevent sweating and corrosion underneath. Spray foam would be great if it could be done w/o having it butt ugly when finished. I need to find an industrial insulation supplier around here. Turbo and exh. wrap is so darn expensive, I've been thinking of getting some Knauf high density FG and using that. IIRC, it's rated for 1200 degrees. Craig

Shorts

Wanted to revisit this. Been I guess a week since I did this. I noticed I can now turn the ac fan switch to the next to last tick mark instead of having it on high all the time. Usually the first-third do not keep the truck cool but the third has been able to keep up plenty since the insulation.

What I worry and probably might have to fix is the 1/2" is a hint big so it isn't snug all the way on the line. Since C mentioned the snugness to prevent corrosion now I'm thinking. I'll try to get a pic in the coming days to see how the cheap stuff us holding up.

Anyway I do think this mod does help the AC.

C Schomer

Yeh, the fan speed is what proved it to me. It made almost 1 click difference. I ran all over town yesterday and the OH showed 106 and 3 on the fan was almost too cold. Craig

railroaderone

Which wire on the comp. do you hook the fans to I have 3 wires on my compressor switch. or do you do to the clutch switch

C Schomer

I took the dust cover off the big elec. plug behind the left battery and probed with a test light til I found the clutch wire. I tapped that wire for my fan relays which I mounted in that area. Craig

railroaderone

Drivers side or passanger side bat.

C Schomer

Behind the left battery... driver side. Craig

ShaneCTD600

subscribed

gadget.35-06

You can also use cork-tar tape on areas that the Insul-tube won't easily cover. And get some zip-ties.

Rednax

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/NUC...FR1?Pid=search

Still too hot for me to do this work.