Header wrapping

[DohertyCM]

Has anyone wrapped their headers?

Any problems?

Any benifits?

Any pitfalls?

[Joe Bob]

Promotes rust......ceramic coat them if you really need to....

[aigel]

It's a real PITA to do a good job. I have wrapped V8 american headers before. Definitely helped a lot with heat though and was a lot cheaper than ceramicoat.

George

[Miguel Antonett]

It keeps the heat where it supposed to go. No rust, unless you let them stay wet; but normally all moisture evaporates real quick after reaching oper temperatures. I use it w/o problems at all...

[shbop]

Done several.
1.) Any problems? PITA to install well.
2.) Any benefits? You won't get burned as badly, if you touch them by acident. Helps reduce ambient heat.
3.) Any pitfalls? see #1

[DohertyCM]

IT WAS A PITA!

But what do you think.....

[Joe Bob]

Nice job.....just don't get them wet. I did and they rusted pinholes inside of three months.

[Maltese Falcon]

Doherty, the old type fiberglass based header wrap was proll'y the worst, and the newer type materials are better. But like MikeZ sez, "Any trapping of moisture" and you're on your way to buying another pair of headers...btdt.
Just about all header mfg's (myself and even Bursch) will not warrant any damage claims when returned with evidence of heat wrap.
Marty

[DohertyCM]

I normally dont drive in the rain, but I will watch the water.
I am going to run the headers as a test to see if I like them, If I dont I will go back to an SSI setup. I dont like heat and dont like the fact that the heat from the heaters dumps into the engine bay, Some one needs to come up with a mod that takes care of that.
I have an idea, but I dont know how practical it is.

[DohertyCM]

I got the headers installed, and they sound weird.....Just me I guess, Im not used to them. But when i got it home from my friends house where we put them on, i let it set for a minute just so I could listen and then took a look underneath and this is what I saw.....AT IDLE........is this normal?
And no that is not an orange light or paint, They were glowing orange at idle...
Maybe the stock ones did the same and we just never saw it because they are enclosed in a housing..

[911pcars]

I've measured surface temps. of 400ºF + when the engine was idling. I suspect that with the wrap, the pipes are getting a little warmer under load.

Sherwood

[aigel]

No surprise. Breaking in cams on V8 cars with headers, I frequently would see headers glowing red hot at 2000 rpm (no load). It would not get to that temp just idling, but if you drove it before, its nicely preheated.

George

[DUK]

Check your timing also. If your retarded too far it will also make them glow. But I suspect it's normal.

[DohertyCM]

The timing was just checked, but I have been trying to get the CIS system set right and I believe it is on the rich side a little too much because I just fixed all the air leaks.

[HawgRyder]

You want to see something better?
Try looking at the tops of the pipes on an old Triumph or BSA 650 twin when running at night.
The pipes get so hot they turn transparent.
You can see the exhaust gases moving inside the pipes!!
Bob