Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

Hi Guys,

The latest evolution of Motordyne Engineering’s plenum spacers is here... and now they’re Iso Thermal™ (patent pending).


The new Iso Thermal plenum spacer system combines our aluminum spacer with thermal management components that substantially reduce upper and lower plenum temperatures. Cooler intake air temperatures increase air density, reduce the tendency for detonation (ping) and that increases engine power on and off the track.


The Motordyne Iso Thermal (MIT) thermal management components reduce plenum temperatures up to 81°F from baseline. In other words, it takes the plenum from burning hot (~170'F) to just barely warm (~95'F) on a 85'F day.


1) The first component is an Aramid thermal isolating gasket that is installed between the lower plenum and intake manifold. This particular material was selected for its unique ability to insulate, its high heat tolerance (550°F) and its ability to resist degradation from oil and gasoline. Aramid’s ultra low thermal conductivity allows the gasket to be thin enough (1/16”) to retain use of 350Z’s strut bar or the G35’s engine cover when combined with the 5/16” plenum spacer.


The VQ35DE’s upper collector (plenum) is bolted to the lower collector (plenum) and the lower plenum is bolted to the intake manifold. The intake manifold is bolted to the hot engine heads and because the intake manifold is a thick-walled aluminum casting, it is very efficient in transferring heat from the heads to the entire upper and lower plenum assembly. And it all gets very hot!


Installing a Motordyne Iso Thermal™ Aramid gasket between the intake manifold and lower plenum, the heat transfer is significantly reduced and both the upper and lower plenum run much cooler.


2) The stock upper plenum uses heated engine coolant at 190°F-210°F+ to keep the throttle body heated. This is to prevent the throttle body from freezing during cold weather operation. While this is necessary for cold weather driving, it continuously transfers a great deal of heat into the upper plenum even when it is not needed. The Motordyne Iso Thermal System incorporates a throttle body coolant control valve that allows the owner to heat (or not heat) the assembly. With local weather temperatures below 55’F the valve is left open. In warmer weather the valve can be closed for maximum performance benefits.


3) The third thermal management component is the new Iso Thermal plenum internal supports. The plenum internal supports are self retaining and self sealing. Their cupped design keeps them in place even if its respective bolt is removed from an installed plenum. They won't melt even at 450°F; which is far above the plenum’s operating temperature. And they have a very low thermal conductance so they don’t transfer heat. Although it may be attractive from a cost point of view to omit the plenum internal supports (as the other spacer manufacturers do), we believe the internal supports are necessary for long term structural integrity and good sealing along the outer edge of the plenum.


A stand alone Motordyne Iso Thermal kit is available to previous Motordyne customers and even to those who have stock or other aftermarket plenums.
Motordyne Iso Thermal™ is the most comprehensive plenum thermal management system available. The upgrade will allow both the upper and lower plenum assembly to run much cooler.

The pictures below show the whole kit, the Iso Thermal portion, and the Strut Bar spacers.

When you install a Motordyne kit, you're not left needing anything to finish the job.

New dynos will be published in the next issue of Sport Z Magazine!

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

There is also the Copper Iso Thermal option. If you don't want to mess around with adjustments based on ambient air temperature you can get the polarized copper throttle body heater. Use it in place of the Coolant Control Valve (CCV), you dont have to adjust anything no matter how hot or cold it is outside.

In places like California, Texas or Florida temperatures generally don't go below 55' F so the Copper isn't needed, but if you live in temperate climates such as Chicago, Montana or Canada, the Copper Iso Thermal is a good option to take.

Even in sub-zero weather, the throttle body will remain heated while the plenum can run as cold as ice. Its almost like driving with a bag of ice on top of the plenum all the time (but without the mess). And cold air does indeed make a big difference on engine performance. Driving in sub zero weather is approximatly the equivilant of driving on 1 psi of boost due to the increased atmospheric density. If you can keep that air from being heated on its way into the engine, you will get a boost in performance accordingly. The same can be said on a hot day. If your intake is ingesting 95'F air, there is no reason to let it get heated up any further by a screaming hot plenum.

Here's a sneaky peak at the Copper Iso Thermal.

It works by providing high thermal conductance on one side and high thermal resistance on the other. Keeping the TB side heated and the plenum side cool. You no longer need to pump hot engine coolant (at 200+ deg F) through the plenum just to keep the throttle body heated for the occasional freezing weather day.

Note: the copper tubing is bonded to the pure copper plate with silver solder for high very thermal conductance. And the black rubber is 1/8" thick Nitrile. Heat doesn't pass through the Nitrile.

Putting all these different spacer and thermal management components on the plenum make a big difference on the dyno and even more so on the track!

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

Here is a picture of the "throttle body side" of the Copper Iso Therm.

This side uses a stock metal gasket and just a very thin layer of the heat transfer compound (on both sides of the metal gasket) for increased heat transfer.

See our website:
WWW.MotordyneEngineering.com
for more information.

And be sure to check out the installation manual for installation details.

An introductory GB will be started soon!

KPierson

iTrader: (1)

Do you think there will be any harm to the motor by eliminating a path of heat dissipation? The intake air may be cooler, but what is it doing to the block? If you look at the whole engine design it almost appears that Nissan engineered it banking that the plenum would draw heat up and away from the block.

Aside from that, the kit looks great. I've seen a few of the spacers and the machine work is very impressive. Good luck!

AmyCroft

iTrader: (3)

Mr H? - Have you a Twin Turbo - Test Car?

What if you and Mr O. did a study on before and after on a Primo Greedy TT?

PM - This car cry's to be outfited with ThermoCouples and Logging devices.

Cheers Amy -

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

Good question Kevin,

No, the plenum as a heat sink for the engine has very, very little heat transfer capacity relative to the quantity of heat produced by the engine. The heat transfer capacity of the radiator and fans is several orders of magnitude greater than the plenum. So the radiator ends up being the controlling mechanism for engine thermal equilibrium temperature. Additionally, the full capasity of the radiator is reduced (IE regulated) by the thermostat.
So there is a great deal of thermal margin controled by the coolant system, radiator, thermostat and radiator fans. The heat transfer capasity of the plenum is a drop in the bucket by comparison.

Besides, any heat leaving through the plenum just goes right back into the engine as air is drawn in, so the net effect is at or near zero. But one thing is for sure, a cool air charge is always helpfull for the longevity of an engine.

During the cylinder compression phase, the adiabatic compression of the air creates very high temperatures as a normal course of operation. On a bad or weak tank of gas, this can lead to nasty stuff like ping. Any reduction in valve inlet temperatures will help reduce adiabatic compression temperatures and any associated ping.

Ed 718

iTrader: (32)

Guys I recently had this spacer installed and prior to the install I always thought my car was slow. I thought my Invidia N1 exhaust was to blame then I thought my tires was the problem. I can honestly say this mod does actually work. I now can feel the car pull much harder and faster. I first thought it was just one of those mind tricks like when I installed my grounding kit. I took her for a spin and it just felt better and lighter to me. I also like the fact that the car can still remain stock with the same strut tower and no need for the hood spacers. The kit's strut tower spacers were used but the hood still closed fine with them. I was concerned about having to buy other mods to make this work. The kit was obviously thought out with this in mind and that was a huge plus for me. Anyone in Socal who would like to test this contact me as my car is still reletively stock ( Invidia True Dual g200 recently installed ). I understand not all Z's are the same in feel but I could not be happier with this spacer and the coolant control valve. This spacer kit is well designed and it shows alot of thought went into the development of this Spacer kit...Kudos

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

Mr H? - Have you a Twin Turbo - Test Car?
Gurgen is running a 1/2" Iso Thermal plenum spacer. But no thermocouples on it though.

What if you and Mr O. did a study on before and after on a Primo Greedy TT?

PM - This car cry's to be outfited with ThermoCouples and Logging devices.

Cheers Amy -

I've done quite a bit of thermal couple data logging. In fact I had thermocouples all over my plenum this past Spring and Summer. Since then there have been several beta testers and all reporting very good thermal, dyno and butt dyno results with the Iso Thermal setup.

Rickdogg

iTrader: (234)

Awesome products. It is too bad we didn't have meshing shedules to test it on my car when I had n20

TiPIACE

the thermal mods sound great, but i dont like the idea of having to switch that valve all the time

the throttle body option, is that a no cost option, or is it extra on top of the price of the plenum?

ether

whats the total cost including the TB option?

Z BOY

iTrader: (41)

hey tony,
re the standalone isothermal kit, by how much does it decrease plenum temps, how hard is the install, what does the install involve, and can you think of any setups on which it would be contraindicated?
thanx
matt

taurran

iTrader: (18)

Awesome. I had a feeling we'd be seeing stuff like this soon after that Skunk2 spacer hit the market. I, for one, am more willing to go with a proven design such as Motordyne.

I have a question though. Will either of these plenum spacers fit with the stock strut tower bar AND a veilsidev2/SeibonVT vented hood? I've got the Veilside v2 hood on order, but would like to keep my strut bar and also run a spacer. Any suggestions?

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

TiPIACE, ether,



*Note: The Iso Thermal “internal plenum supports” only work with Motordyne plenum spacers. If you already have a Motordyne plenum spacer and would like to get the Iso Thermal upgrade let me know what size spacer you are using so you can get the appropriately sized internal supports.

The rest of the Iso Thermal kit (Aramid gasket, CCV and polarized Copper TB heater) are fully compatible with any type of stock or modified plenum. And it will significantly reduce their temperature.

Of course all 5/16" 350Z plenum spacers fit with the stock strut bar.


Matt, Taurran,
re the standalone isothermal kit, by how much does it decrease plenum temps,

36'F to 81'F decrease (delta) as independently measured and recorded by "OCG35" a Beta tester. Testing was performed over a 2 week period during the recent summer heat wave here in Ca. The deltas in plenum temperature will become even greater as the weather cools off.

how hard is the install, what does the install involve, and can you think of any setups on which it would be contraindicated?

Installation really isn't hard to do. It takes about an hour or two when you have a friend to help. Check out the installation manual on our website to see the complete installation details.

So far, there are no known fitment issues with aftermarket strut bars or hoods when you use the 5/16" spacer.

When you use the 1/2" spacer, the stock strut bar does not fit. It will probably fit with all the aftermarket hoods but this hasn't been fully tested yet.

35ounces

iTrader: (5)

when does this GB start/end and details for signing up?

sands

iTrader: (3)

Besides manually enabling/disabling the CCV, would someone compare the benefits/risks between the CCV and Polarized Copper TB Heater?


Lets say you forget to open the valve on the CCV and it is 32F outside, are we guaranteed a sticky throttle? I would think once the engine warmed up, engine heat alone would be enough to keep the TB warm enough.

TiPIACE

ill take one of these thanks......

8) 350Z 5/16" Iso Thermal plenum spacer (with all Iso Thermal components, Aramid gasket and Polarized Copper TB heater) $265

anxiously waiting the GB

Z BOY

iTrader: (41)

thanks tony. does the standalone isothermal kit without the spacer decrease plenum temps, too? what is the benefit of having just the standalone kit without the spacer?

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

Good questions!

There are currently plenum mods available that don't heat the TB and they seem to work just fine. There also people who live in cold northern climates who are using a bypass with good results. The same could probably be said for leaving the CCV closed in freezing weather, but Nissan designed the TB to be heated so it couldn't ice up in cold weather. So there must be a logical reason for it. If ice did form on the TB butterfly valve it would create a lean condition when you let off the gas. Fuel flow rate would go down but the air flow would continue at a high rate. A frozen TB would probably cause the car to stall out from an excessivly lean condition. Icing would effectivly create a air leak.

I have driven my car with the valve in the closed position with temperatures as low as 45'F... but thats about as cold as its been here in So Cal. In fact, I just leave it closed all the time and don't think twice about it. If it ever gets unusually cold, I'll open it.

If you want to avoid the possibility of freezing, just leave the CCV open except for the Summer time. Or get the Copper TB heater, install it and you will never have to think twice about it.

It costs a little more but your local weather conditions and peace of mind may justify it.

Hydrazine

iTrader: (53)

Yes it certaintly does and the difference isn't subtle. Tracking or cruising, you can easily feel the difference in plenum temperature when its installed.

The gain is about what is not lost as the engine becomes heat soaked. And we have seen over and over what heat soak can do to performance.