melted valve cover
 

i've autocrossed my 2014 nc with a garret 2860 turbo multiple times without issue. my co-driver and i did an event which had 20 minute road track sessions plus a tiny autocross. i noticed a little oil on the engine under the valve cover adjacent to the turbo, thought it was the valve cover gasket. pulled the vc, realized that the cover had melted; the edge is now wavy. this was under the heat shield on the valve cover. the turbo is wrapped in a thermal blanket.

we probably should have let the engine idle after the track session? put the hood up? the hood is vented.

i've ordered an aluminum vc from napp. should i get another heat shield to put between the turbo and the vc? the aluminum won't melt like the plastic oem did, but does the turbo heat damage the head, valves, etc?

does anyone open their hood with a turbo at autocross events after laps? keep the car idling after laps? after track sessions?

thanks

You must have been putting out some SERIOUS heat from that turbo to have melted the VC!! I've done autocross back in the day and have done numerous track days since then and the only thing that melted under the hood was a brake reservoir (THAT was fun) towards the end of a 20 minute track day session.

At the autocross, I would always raise the hood (even though it's vented) after a run. And at the track, I would let the car idle for several minutes with the hood up to exhaust any excess heat (and remember kids, I also have a switch on the center console to run the fans and keep the coolant temps down. DON'T apply the parking brake in either case. Chock the wheels to keep the car from moving).

Not the first time I've seen NC's melt their valve covers. I can count at least 3 cars I've personally seen this happen on- two of those cars had turbo blankets and reflective tape on the VC. So no, not exactly a rare thing for those with top mount turbos. The aluminum covers exist for a reason. The radiant heat from the turbo will not damage anything inside the engine.

Yip, known issue on the NC. The aluminum VC fixes all, switch to that and run it. Good synthetic oil won't get too hot or anything like that from the turbo heat.