Tomcat Performance Turbo Blanket

[hunterrayhorvath]

I just installed a Tomcat performance turbo blanket, but I have been seeing mixed reviews about blankets. Should I keep it installed or take it off? If I do keep it installed, will the stock heat shield still fit? I worry the Turbo Dynamics 3" Super Quiet muffle I have on it will melt my side panel if I can’t get the stock heat shield back on.

 

[jonlafon1]

Not been many posts over the last few years about this or guys running them.. Same goes for the other muffler/header wraps he sells. I have no idea if they work or what the general idea is or how they benefit the sidewinder. Nothing against him or his product but just not many posts about these "blankets/wraps" on this site. Personally I feel there are other things you could spend money on for a sidewinder.

 

[KnappAttack]

Only thing I know is you don't want to use header wrap on anything like headers or pipes under this chassis. Have no idea on the blanket, but if it's not letting the air to the pipes I wouldn't use it myself. You want air circulating around the exhaust pipes and the turbo. I've seen the damage firsthand with melted gas tanks and other components when using wraps and not heat shields. The wraps actually hold the heat and runs hotter temps over time. Better to let things breath and air to flow past the pipes and red hot turbos. The factory heat shields actually do better at allowing airflow.

 

[Turboflash]

Seller's theory (don't know if it's actually verified to be true) is gases travel faster the hotter they are, or the hotter the media is they're traveling through. So, the hotter the air is inside the header, the faster the exhaust gases travel. So the hotter one can keep the header, theoretically the exhaust gases exit faster, thereby improving exhaust flow which in turn then increases intake flow, which in theory increases volume through engine which increases HP. THEORETICALLY.
Like I said, has it, or can it be proved?
Meanwhile, your gas tank is melted and your sled catches on fire, or your ignition coils melt, or your head gasket disintegrates at the back right corner of engine, etc, etc.
Personally I think there's already plenty of heat under the hood in this chassis, and I do all I can to get rid of it (like lots of extra vents all facing forward).
I would never run a blanket or wrap over my header.

 

[Upstater57]

Not been many posts over the last few years about this or guys running them.. Same goes for the other muffler/header wraps he sells. I have no idea if they work or what the general idea is or how they benefit the sidewinder. Nothing against him or his product but just not many posts about these "blankets/wraps" on this site. Personally I feel there are other things you could spend money on for a sidewinder.

I used the turbo blanket from tom on the turbo and header pipe on my 1100. I had no issues with them and was part of my heat management on my modstock 1100. That sled made more heat in the clutch bay than my 998.

 

[KnappAttack]

Seller's theory (don't know if it's actually verified to be true) is gases travel faster the hotter they are, or the hotter the media is they're traveling through. So, the hotter the air is inside the header, the faster the exhaust gases travel. So the hotter one can keep the header, theoretically the exhaust gases exit faster, thereby improving exhaust flow which in turn then increases intake flow, which in theory increases volume through engine which increases HP. THEORETICALLY.
Like I said, has it, or can it be proved?
Meanwhile, your gas tank is melted and your sled catches on fire, or your ignition coils melt, or your head gasket disintegrates at the back right corner of engine, etc, etc.
Personally I think there's already plenty of heat under the hood in this chassis, and I do all I can to get rid of it (like lots of extra vents all facing forward).
I would never run a blanket or wrap over my header.

Supposedly true on the hot pipes performance, but I had a 998 sled in here that had header warp on it, it was down on boost by almost a pound from where it should be. Riding it you could always smell plastic, like hyfax, but it wasn't hyfax. I suspected it was the header wrap holding the heat as the underhood temps seemed so incredibly hot by the tank. I verified the boost by logging and the underwood temps heat with a temp gun.

I took the header wrap off and no more plastic smell, boost came right up to where it should be as well and the underhood heat was down huge at the tank location. Same day testing! I'm talking down in underhood temps by 150F or more as I recall, was a few years back so don't remember exactly, but I recall the gas tank area was extreme for high temps after running it in the field and checking. Even after shutting machine off it held vey high temps for a long time. You could smell the plastic smell in the shop after shutting down worse then the riding it. The next day I had a fellow on the East coast tell me his sled had just melted a hole in the gas tank with the same header wrap on his sleds pipes. He had gas running out of the tank from the hole it had melted! So never ever would I put header wrap on the 998 exhaust at all after seeing what I saw. They need airflow over them on this machine!

 

[Doc Harley]

I to am a little sceptical in regards to blanket. If it really does its job it's quite possibly heating up the turbo bearing, more so then perhaps we'd like.
I use the stock shield and bought this muffler heat shield from Hooker headers and added a heat barrier to it to keep the panel from getting too hot.
Whatever....works for me.