Insulated Valve Cover
 

I was going to be clever and call this thread "A hat for my head" or something like that, but decided not to. :)

I've seen much discussion here lately over hood and engine bay insulation. I figure, whatever heat I can keep inside the engine won't have to be trapped by a leakier hood insulation setup. Of course you can't wrap the whole engine but I certainly could wrap my valve cover.

Future plans call for an outer cover to be made from 1" or 3/4" foam insulation. Sort of a rectangular hat to slip on over this very close fitting setup shown below. But that's for another day.

This stuff is about $6 per roll at Home Depot. Armacell pipe insulation. It's intended to be wrapped around plumbing pipes. It works very well in a hot engine bay.
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...n/100_0784.jpg
It has a peel off backing and a sticky underside.

It also has fibers running lengthwise and crosswise. This prevents the material from stretching so it keeps its proper thickness, 1/8".

To help it stick, I used brake cleaner to clean the dirtier parts of the valve cover. The worst area was behind the filler hole, on the vertical back face of the valve cover. The valve cover still looked pretty bad even after a scrubbing, but the insulation stuck very well. After driving a week, an hour each way to work and back, the insulation stayed put.

I laid down multiple layers. It's four to five layers thick, depending on where you check.
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...n/100_0786.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...n/100_0788.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...n/100_0789.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...n/100_0790.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...n/100_0792.jpg

Once you've gotten this far, it's easy to add more layers.

Bruce, I like where you are going with this... do you have any info supporting the pro's and con's of this, or are you just winging it?

Very interesting, I like it!

I would have thought that adhesive wouldn't have held with the temps it sees. Good to hear it does.

I'm just winging it as far as A-B-A testing and such. This isn't a mod you can easily remove and reinstall. OTOH, I think it's a no brainer that it would help reduce heat loss. I think heat loss is a more visible issue for those of us who do lots of EOC and who have reduced overall engine use and output. Or if using a block heater.

I've been watching it carefully for heat deterioration and it seems to be holding up just fine. As the weather warms up in spring and summer I'll watch it closely again.

As I now use a block heater daily i'm paying attention to heat loss from the engine. My block heater takes forever to do its job so I figure anything I can do to reduce heat loss while heating up is a good thing.

Have you noticed higher initial temps with the block heater, or even just faster warm up after starting to drive?

The highest engine temp I ever achieved using the block heater, 105 deg F, was after I insulated the valve cover.

Also,
Today I ran the heater with some snow on the hood. First time warming the engine following a recent snowstorm. The snow melted away first in a patch on the passenger side of the hood. That's where the distributor is attached to the head. Engine itself is on the other side of bay, where the hood was still covered with frost and snow after the heater ran about 8 hours. The heat was conducted into the head where it escaped to warm the hood. Heat did not escape from valve cover apparently.

Never would have thought of this! Does a lot of heat escape from the valve covers? When I do oil changes on hot engines, I never noticed that the valve cover was terribly hot.

My focus has too much ... crap ... hanging off of the valve cover to do this, unfortunately :(

Also - does the car have a hood blanket?

I would love to have 105f startups like I due in the summer...! I may have to look into a block heater, too!

As far as easily removable, you can always pick up an extra valve cover and it becomes removable with 5? bolts!

Not yet... ... ...

I doubt the benefit of this is enough to justify buying insulation. If you've got it laying around fine, do it, after other heat sinks have been insulated.

My guess is that it helps slightly with getting things to temp while plugged in, but, not a lot. You are insulating a piece of metal who's only direct contact to the engine is through a rubber/cork gasket. I don't think the amount of heat transfer is all that great. I would guess it is better to go after the intake/exhaust and maybe the oil pan.

pete c,

When you question whether it's worthwhile buying insulation, I'm not sure if you're referring to the valve cover or to hood insulation.

Anyway, if you think there's more return in insulating other areas, please do them on your car, and let us know how it works out.

The foam for the valve cover was $6 for the roll as I mentioned in the first post. What I did not write there is that I used most of the roll. I certainly could use the rest of the roll on this engine, it would only help. If doing an engine larger than my 1.6 liter Civic's, one would probably use the whole roll anyway.

I don't think this would be a "basic" mod, one of the first to be done on a car. But it makes a lot of sense for a car with already reduced fuel consumption and thus reduced heat generated. And definitely makes sense when using a block heater, in my humble opinion.

Never thought of doing this, can't wait to see if it works

Valve covers get a lot of heat from being doused by hot oil. Some of them are even finned to help reject more heat- not just for appearances.

Excess heat can weaken valve springs. If the engine tends to run really hot I would be wary of this and monitor temps closely. If you p&g a lot this could really keep the heat in.

What a cool idea. New thinking. I like it. But in line of logic with what Frank Lee says above, have you thought about the possible down sides? I wonder if a removable, insulated cover for the valve cover would be better for the warm months. Secure it to the valve cover using "plumber's tape," perhaps?

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...PkA8KqJv98xUAi

Here in Cali, it would have to be removable. Insulation like that would probably be an instant fail on emissions testing. All such mods need a CARB sticker to pass.

Thank you Frank. I had counted on the cooling system keeping everything within safe temperature limits. However I hadn't considered the requirements of valve springs and their environment.

Do you think the insulation is flat out unwise? Only safe if coolant remains below some particular temperature?

Based on your note above, I'm considering removing the insulation. or maybe just remove it from the valve cover's forward face, which is located directly above the exhaust ports and exhaust manifold gasket. Does this make sense?

Thanks again for your input.

I wouldn't just outright dismiss it but I think if one does it they should monitor temps closely. It does make me nervous enough to not think about trying it. As noted, though, some bits might get hot and you won't necessarily see that on the coolant gauge.

My purposes for running grille blocks and blankets are to retain more heat while parked, and aid external pre-heating equipment like block heaters; I want faster warm-ups. I'm not interested in raising operating temps while it's running. There is still flow through my engine bays- albeit reduced- but I don't want to create any local hot spots.

How hot would the head need to get before the valve springs were damaged tho? they have a constant flow of oil going over them.
Of course you can get nice little 1/16" thermocuples who's leads would squish in to the valve cover gasket if you wanted to get a reading on how hot they really are getting, otherwise a $15 remote kitchen thermometer would work too, for about $30 you can get one with a wireless readout that you could put in the car and just stick the probe inside of the valve cover next to a valve spring, wired in place of course.

Many newer car use some sort of composite material for valve covers, what amount of oil cooing if any do they provide. The question is if the designers of your engine were counting on the valve cover for any type of cooling. Driving style and other mods will play into this. Don't think it will cause any problems in the winter in Ct. Monitoring the temp is prudent.

Plastic valve covers and intake manifold on the Fiesta, as well as many of the newer cars. Much less expensive to manufacture than metal castings. As far as long term reliability, that remains to be seen. When you consider the total surface area of the engine available to radiate heat the valve covers are a small percentage.

Valve springs would not overheat until the coolant temperatures were astronomical. Oil cooling for the valve stems, with the valve heads radiating heat into the cylinder head. The seals would probably melt first and then the engine would start smoking like crazy.
Of course driving for mileage means lower overall temps compared to design maximums so I see no problem with insulating a lot more than just the valve covers if you are in lower temperature climates.

Get down to 20 below and you could probably spray insulation over the whole engine and just leave the oil filter exposed to a flow of minus 20 air.

Just remember the engine is acutally cooled by air, oil, and water-antifreeze.

regards
Mech

I doubt overheated oil could have an effect on spring tempering. It would seem to me that if it got that hot you'd have bigger problems. I think a bigger issue might be other components that could suffer heatstroke if they are under this insulation.

I think hood insulation is a very good idea.

The valve cover less so, because as I said before, once you stop and there is not hot oil spraying around inside, I don't think the cover is has much heat to radiate. Remember, it is isolated from the head by a gasket. The head, manifolds and block are the primary sources of heat radiation.

But, what the heck, it's 6 bucks, worth trying just from a curiosity point of view.

As far as some remaining concerns re loss of cooling due to insulation-

Don't those (decorative??) plastic shields over our more modern valve covers limit air cooling of the valve cover?

I would think a blanket over the whole engine you could pull off before start up would be a good answer also. maybe a horse blanket , to cover the horsepower, lol , course you'd have to wait a few minutes after shutdown to install it .

for the engines that do have them, they're more for acoustic insulation than they are thermal, but they do provide a decent function of it. you could make them even more effective if desired.

I like this idea. I think the best thing would be fiberglass bat insulation. Could be put on immediately as it is heat resistant. You could apply duct tape to the back to hold a few pieces together to form a blanket

the pink fiberglass insulation starts to decompose at around 160 degrees i was told, the whiter stuff they use in ovens etc, does not, i used to make solar panels back in the Carter days thus my info on that, also all i know ,

back to screens again , maybe if you made a sheild out of some hardware cloth over the exhaust it wouldnt be an issue

I have some stiff foam insulation panels. My plan is to fasten them to the underside of hood. Also possibly make a removable "hat" for the valve cover, to go over the built up foam layers it has now.

I got some high temp silicone to USA as an adhesive. Also rivet nuts to attach it to ribs in the hood.

However the winter weather is working against me. I'm not sure if I'll get to these later stages of the project before winter's end.

I did something similar to that. It helps to retain some of the heat. I have also added a fire blanket (like other fellow ecomodders) over a good portion of the engine bay. I will post pics tomorrow.

Wonder if anyone has ever tried a very well insulated small garage. Make it as small and as airtight and insulated as possible. Probably wouldn't pay for itself, but, if you want to have a garage anyway, it might make sense.

My thought in insulating the valve cover was to put the insulation as close as possible to the mass whose heat is to be preserved. A small amount of insulation wrapped over the valve cover seems to do a good job of conserving the heat.

Insulating further out from the engine can also help. But keep in mind that the further out you put the insulation, the more the heat energy will disperse before the insulation traps it.

However because you can't (I believe) insulate the whole engine, there is potential gain in insulating the hood or engine bay, and maybe even insulating outside the car as pete c suggested above.

I've never considered to insulate the valve cover, but after seeing some Cummins and Detroit Diesel engines fitted with valve covers and oil pans made out of fiberglass-compound materials I've already considered to do so in other engines. Would involve some custom-made parts, but to me it doesn't sound like a problem.

been giving the small garage idea more thought. Trouble is it's kinda big and expensive. How about something smaller that would be more like a boot that could just cover the front clip? Make it about four feet tall, maybe 2 ft wider than the car, stuff it with lots of fiberglass batt insulation with a tarp on the inside which would hold the insulation up. Opening with the car not there would be a little smaller than the front clip. As you pull into it, the tarp/insulation expands for a nice cozy airtight fit. You could even place insulation on the floor which would sit roughlt the same height as the bottom of the car.

Done right, there would be virtually no airflow. I would think that such a device could keep the engine at least warm to the touch overnight.

I think you could build this for under 100 dollars.

Here is the engine bay insulation on my car.


http://imageshack.us/a/img824/4964/dscn3215k.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img802/4642/dscn3214o.jpg

Sounds like a more elegant version of what I did a few years ago when I didn't have a good enough anti-freeze mixture in my car when winter began to set in, and couldn't get it started to circulate new antifreeze through the engine block.

I basically draped a plastic tarp over the hood & held the edges to the ground with rocks & bricks, then put a couple 150 watt light bulbs under the engine plugged into extension cords. It was ugly & I'm sure my neighbors weren't too impressed, but my engine block didn't crack. I was finally able to get it started & enrichen the antifreeze mixture during a warm spell, so I only needed to keep it that way for a couple of weeks.

But I like the sound of your idea - add some sort of a heater under there, and you'd really be "set" - even a light bulb on a timer!!

None of the best one are.
I'm not going to remove my turbocharger off my suburban for A-B-A testing.
Maybe if I had a lot more time on my hands.

If you want to cover your engine bay, or whole vehicle to keep from defrosting a canvas tarp would be a good canidate.
Only problem is a canvas tarp large enough for a vehicle is going to run $50 to $70, but its cheaper than most mods.

I really like the idea of the insulated micro garage. Due to lack of portability it really would only help at home, but it could help a lot there.

It definitely deserves its own thread if anyone builds one.

One design challenge it has is where it needs to snug up to the windshield, and hopefully also snug up to the car's belly pan. Probably could use a drawstring in those places, maybe elastic. A bit like the internal cuffs on sleeves of a good winter parka.

Hmmm...
I was thinking it would be a framed structure filled with insulation and a liner.

Instead it could be like one end (half) of a sleeping bag, just cloth and fluff. Stow it in the trunk or back seat when you leave home and pop it on when you arrive at your destination.

It would need to be waterproof.

Frame it using 2xs Sheath the outside with 1/4 plywood with the exterior painted. I would have it shaped pretty much like a lean to, taller at the open end. . Use any old tarp for the liner. Maybe even use an old sheet as it would likely be nicer to the car's paint finish.

Where in E. Ct are you. I'll donate the old tarp and my supervising/design/criticizing skills. :)

I think getting a fairly airtight seal along the bottom is possible. Just lay a few batts of insulation across the ground at the opening. Drive right over it, it will pop back up after your tires cross it.

Great ideas - I started a thread for the car front shelter
 

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post348663

My wife is a quilter, so she has the sewing skills. I have 1/2" pink foam insulation at home. If it is cut into sections, and taped at the seams, it can fold and articulate, but still hold together inside the inner and outer shells.

Feel free to chime in on that thread. It is a concept thread. I would build a mockup over a toy car before I got too far. I hope to see what people come up with...