Lava Turbo Shield And Exhaust Wrap Install With Before/After Comparison

An unshielded/uninsulated turbo and its supporting systems represent horsepower being left on the table, and an exhaust wrap install can easily help you fix this. In addition to its wasted potential, an uninsulated turbo system will also have negative effects on reliability as the constant high underhood temperatures accelerate wear on underhood components.

The real head scratcher with seeing an uninsulated turbocharger setup is how easy it is to insulate the system, keep more heat in it and enjoy the benefits it provides. From cost to installation, there are no insurmountable or even remotely difficult obstacles standing in the way of placing a turbo

Insulating a vehicles exhaust system has multiple performance enhancing benefits, especially on turbocharged or supercharged vehicles. When it comes to performance improvements, the key factor is exhaust gas velocity (EGV) which ties into exhaust gas temperature (EGT). On the other side, insulating the exhaust system significantly reduces the amount of heat radiated by the exhaust system inside the engine compartment and underneath the vehicle. This reduces the amount of damaging heat exposure components near the exhaust system are subjected to, leading to longer component life and proper function without heat being a major factor.

Follow along as we break down the benefits of keeping more heat in your exhaust system.

Turbocharged Applications

On turbocharged applications, insulating the “hot side” of the turbocharger and keeping more heat in helps in multiple ways.

An unshielded turbo is about more than just leaving horsepower on the table (or in the garage might be more accurate). Beyond the unrealized horsepower, an unshielded turbo also creates significant underhood heat that can wear on components, heat vital fluids to the point that they don’t function properly and cause intake air temperatures (IATs) to rise enough that the computer will start pulling timing from the engine. That last one is a doozey, because your engine’s output could drop by 100 horsepower in the blink of an eye.

Heatshield Products offers the most complete line of turbo shields/blankets to fit a variety of turbo housings, applications and situations, from street to marine. With the popularity of turbos climbing steadily in the last few years, we have responded by improving our

The fine vessel you see pictured here was worked on by David Mahler, the president of TCS Marine Services in Bellmore, New York, and his crew. David reached out to us recently to share his experience with installing a thermal barrier from Heatshield Products in the engine room. The high-performance Caterpillar Marine C-12 diesels powering the yacht had a special heat-resistant painted applied to their turbo lead pipes at the Caterpillar factory. After time, the paint had begun to chip off and was an eyesore, otherwise pristine million-dollar, ocean-going vessel. Plus when anyone had to work around the running engines or reach across them (something that happens frequently), the result was often painful burns to the arm and chest area, or, at the very least, some singed skin and hair.

As David told us, “Marine engines need much more ‘hands on’ and literal laying-on-top-of care than with a car engine. So, keeping them clean and as cool as possible is criti

We’re more than just heat-control specialists. At Heatshield Products, we put our passion for performance vehicles to work by proactively finding new ways to use our thermal-barrier materials. After recent discussions with our friends in the turbocharger market, we saw a need for a turbo plug.

Why? Here’s something we see far too often: People will close off the turbo with a wadded-up shop rag or similar DIY hack. But this “solution” could create multiple problems. For starters, if the turbo is very hot, the rag could ignite and start a fire. Or, if the rag is forgotten, it could get sucked through the turbo and air intake when the engine starts up. And here’s the harshest reality of all: The rag method does NOTHING to keep out moisture or airborne debris, especially if the open turbo is on a vehicle or boat being towed on an open trailer. All these scenarios could cause catastrophic damage to the turbocharger, intake system or engine.