So here is what I understand: Heat = Bad. I have a RRM setup and was thinking of having the pipes on the hotside ceramic coated. The intercooler pipes are polished right now, but would powder coating them really save me that much. I have had quotes for the ceramic coating for the hotside pipes at around 250 and the powder coating at around 300.

So what say you guys? What should I do?

 

You could always upgrade the radiator and get a vented hood. I'm not sure how effective ceramic coating is but RRM does it on their header so it must be doing something.

 

just use heat wrap from dei.

 

The problem with heat wrap is that it holds in moisture, more so on daily driven cars that drive in all sorts of driving conditions. That moisture leads to rust, as evidenced in my pipes which are rusty as a mother. I might consider ceramic coating and then wrapping as an added protection. The problem as I see it is that the heat generated by the turbo soaks in to the intercooler, making it less effective as you drive the car, additionally heating the intercooler pipes etc.

My desire is to keep the engine bay as cool as possible.

 

The heat shouldn't be soaking the intercooler (I assume you have a FMIC) since it's pretty far away and the intercooler obviously gets a lot of air flowing through it. The IC pipes are a legitimate concern and maybe ceramic coating is the way to go. You could always try to fab a turbo cover.

 

True... but wouldn't turbo cover/shield reistrict air flow. I like the idea of buying a vented hood. Or perhaps buying some functional vents. I don't even have the turbo on my car yet and I'm worried... this is why it's never getting put on.

 

No, it's just a metal plate that goes over the turbo to shield some of the heat. It's basically like the shield that goes over the stock exhaust manifold.

 

You could try ceramic coating the pipes but That won't make the air going through them any cooler. A vented hood is definately a good idea for a turbo. The evo style hood or that style vent is perfect because it's practically over the turbo venting it's hot air. A bumper with a bigger front grill and opening for the intercooler also helps a lot. Making the air flow through the engine bay works more than coating your parts, although thats helps as well.
You should install the kit anyways because it runs fine without any of these mods. But it would be easier to do them with the parts already off the car.

 

Talking about lowering the temperature...
What about getting some nice oil cooler????

 

Use reflective thermal tape for the cold-side I/C piping and yeah, ceramic coat or other heat-reducing coatings for the hot-side/manifold.