Heat management is an area that is often ignored during engine modification.  Power can’t happen without heat, and although the engine must reach & maintain it’s full working temperature, certain areas of heat must be carefully controlled.  In the same way that excess heat from brake discs must be evacuated by means of cooling fins & ducting, under-bonnet heat must also be managed.

We manufacture a range of insulating products designed to keep cylinder head casting and inlet manifold temperatures down.  The Thermal Inlet Gasket (TIG) will help slow cylinder head heat from conducting into the inlet manifold, and the Thermal Exhaust Plate (TEP) can slow exhaust manifold heat from soaking back into the cylinder head.

In theory, if you can create a cooler & denser inlet charge, then a small power increase should be available (if you can run a little more ignition timing before pre-ignition occurs then power should rise), but these products main strength will be in helping to keep temperatures under control during & after prolonged engine use.

Thermal Inlet Gaskets (T.I.G.s) – to reduce heat-soak from the cylinder head to the inlet manifold.

Drag race or pit-lane situations where a stationary warm-up period is unavoidable will always result in increased inlet manifold temperatures, and re-starting a hot engine after a period of engine shut-down will also allow stored heat to creep back into the inlet manifold.  If the inlet manifold is insulated from the cylinder head then this heat transfer can be reduced.  We recorded an average 24 deg C drop in manifold temperature during a pit lane simulation (i.e. engine up to full operating temperature while stationary, then shut-down for a short period before re-start).

The Thermal Inlet Gasket can be supplied exactly as the original gasket, but any water passage from the head to manifold should be deleted.  From a performance point of view it is preferable to keep all hot water out of the inlet manifold (coolant temperature is usually around 90deg C, much higher than ideal inlet charge temperatures), but you must be sure that there are no engine management implications (i.e. a temperature sensors that reads manifold coolant temperature may need to be relocated).  It’s worth noting that none of the current “favourite” engines have any water flowing from the head into the manifold, and race engines will never have heated manifolds.

Engines with plastic inlet manifolds do not suffer from heat soak to the manifold so will not require a TIG, though most heavily modified engines discard these in favour of cast aluminium alloy.

Thermal Inlet Gaskets are available for most engines in a choice of thicknesses, and are paper coated on both sides for sealing.  Price for an average 4 cylinder engine is £43.00 in 5.0mm & £53.00 in 7.0mm, and other thicknesses are available, please enquire for more information.

We have hundreds of drawings on file, please ask.

Engines with a “V” configuration generally have inlet manifold/head geometry that does not allow this type of gasket, but the same theory can be applied to plenum chambers and carburettor base plates etc.  Prototypes can be created quickly in a variety of thicknesses – please call Mick Tanski on 07519 719 242 for more details.

For engines with inlet & exhaust manifolds on the same side of the cylinder head, please see Thermal Exhaust Plates below.

Thermal Exhaust Plates (T.E.P.s) – to reduce heat-soak from the exhaust manifold back into the cylinder head casting. 

An exhaust manifold (especially turbo) is a large (iron or steel) store of heat that can transfer back into the cylinder head.  A Thermal Exhaust Plate placed against the cylinder head can help slow this heat transfer.

Please note that this is not a gasket – the T.E.P. material is very rigid and will not compress by much.  The T.E.P. should be placed next to the head casting, and an OE type gasket should be used between the plate & manifold.

Engines with non X/Flow head designs (i.e. those with both manifolds on the same side) should have both the inlet & exhaust products made from the same ultra high temperature material.  It is also possible to supply pre-cut heat shielding to go between the inlet & exhaust manifolds to help prevent heat transfer & fuel evaporation problems on carburettor engines – these can be tackled on an individual basis from a “cornflake packet” template.

Price for an average 4 cylinder engine is £46.00 in 4mm thickness.

We have hundreds of drawings on file, please ask.

All materials & tooling used in the manufacture of these products come from ISO9001/9002 suppliers, and all Ferriday Engineering products are made entirely in-house using current-technology CNC machinery.  Help over the phone is available should you need it – speak to Mick Tanski on 07915 719 242.

© – Copyright Mick Tanski, Ferriday Engineering 2024 – not to be reproduced without permission.