2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Turbo heat shield or not?

What are you trying to do with the M7 heat shield? It may keep the heat off of the hood scoop but it will do little else. I've read that it can cause the plastic pieces under the hood to melt.

The only heat shield that actually does something is Way Motor Works Turbo wrap. It keeps heat inside the hot side of the turbocharger, increasing turbo efficiency. it also really reduces underhood temperatures. It hides under the factory heat shield.

http://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-turbo-heat-shield.html

 

I use the OEM solution. It's cheap and works well. I did have to trim it a bit to better fit my LCI model. I too have heard of the M7 heat shield causing plastic bits under the hood to melt.

http://www.detroittuned.com/mini-cooper-s-hood-scoop-heat-shield/

 

There have been reports with certain heat shields causing the valve cover to melt. This usually only happens in very warm, dry areas or when tracking the car. That being said, its generally not really recommended to run these kinds of heat shields because of the risk involved.

 

This is what I've done. I've read bad things about what those M7 heat shields can do, I've also read that wrapping the turbo itself comes with it's own bundle of issues. I went the safe route.

 

Interesting, What issues have you heard of, concerning wrapping the turbocharger hot side?

I wrapped mine when I first got my car, six years ago and have had no problems.

 

Those R56 heat shields, M7, NM, AEM and the like, keep heat around the turbo. So while it protects your hood scoop there is added heat around the plastic valve cover. In the end you coke up the oil line faster, risk melting the valve cover and assorted wiring nearby and keep more heat in the turbo.

Does this happen in every case? Nope. Mostly track use, hot climate and hard driving causes the issues.

Save your money for a walnut shell blast instead.

 

From what I've read, it shortens the life of the turbo and they're not worth the money as they begin to deteriorate within a couple years. They're mostly used in race applications which is why I wanted one, not that I race or hit a track that often, but figured if it's good for racing it's good for street There was a couple articles that I came across that spoke specifically about MINI's equipped with a turbo blanket and the pros and cons that came along with it, I'll try and find it again. They mentioned impeller bearings crapping out early due to the excess heat. The only benefit of the turbo blanket was that it allowed the turbo to heat up faster and any gains were negligible.
I just said fuggit and protected the scoop itself.

 

With the flat roof type heat shields, the air that comes in through the radiator gets heated by the hot side of the turbo and that hot air then gets dumped out the back side of the heat shield right onto the front edge of the plastic valve cover.... Then you start getting gooey black melty bits and leaky oil seepage from the distorted valve cover...

The OEM heat shield does a pretty good job of keeping the radiator air flow from being super heated and dumping onto the front edge of the valve cover....

The problem has to do with the heat rising off the OEM heat shield and hot turbo after the engine is turned off, which tends to melt the plastic air scoop.... This is why MINI came out with the second heat shield that attaches to the bonnet...

 

I just noticed that you are missing the additional hood heat insulation.... #1 in the picture... Not very expensive... You might consider adding it... Mine came from the factory with this... Some may not have for whatever reason....

P/N 51482755612

 

I wanted that! Couldn't find one for the life of me. Thanks for this! :beer

 

Hood Scoop Protector the best

I agree this is the best way to protect the hood scoop. I did a lot of track days and daily driving in Texas summers and the hood scoop protector does the trick. However, I did the Way Turbo Wrap many years ago and have had not troubles with it. I also put the NM Engineering heat shield in mainly because I like the looks of it...no other real purpose. Again, I've not had any issues with it. Admittedly, my track days were generally only four 20 minute sessions on the track per day...and the track was at best a 110 mph track.

 

Our Coupe came with a much larger version of the insulation. Unfortunately, I can't find it on realoem. I'll see if I can remember to get a picture tomorrow.

 

Yup...

Small, Medium and Large...

 

My lower heat shield wouldn't fit with a different downpipe. I had a universal turbo blanket thing I tried to put on but it was really ghetto. I sold it to one of my Subaru buddies :idea:.

I then decided to keep the OEM top heat shield so I wouldn't melt my valve cover and wrapped the downpipe. It looks bad but I feel like it's the best solution. Haven't tried the way wrap but I'm tired of messing with it... Pretty funny how they designed that little hell heat tunnel...

I didn't know about that updated insulation, good info there

 

Not really updated...
The #2 & #3 insulation is for the diesel... Probably mostly to tone down the diesel clatter...
Not sure why it evolved to smaller surface area... Maybe a cost cutting step...

Some US turbo models arrived with the small #1 and some didn't.... Maybe the line workers stopped installing them towards quitting time and were more interested in the room temperature Guinness beer down at the local pub....:beer

 

Here's the coupe's. Dave.0, avert your eyes. It's filthy.

 

I'm jumping in late, as usual, but my nine-year-old R56S has the shields and insulation that came from the factory, and I live in Dallas, where 100-plus days/weeks... sometimes months, happen every year. We hit 105 a few days ago.

I think, maybe, the warped scoops were a scoop manufacturing problem that was corrected. I don't know, for sure, but my scoop is fine.

CD