Header Wrap.....

fastsc92

Registered User
Ok while most of the motor is out of the car, I thought it might be a good idea to buy some header wrap and wrap the lower IC tube, to avoid picking up heater from the drivers side manifold. I bought 50 feet and i still have about 30' left. Is it a good idea if i wrap my manifolds in it as well? The package says thats what it's designed for, but i wanted to ask you guys if its good to keep the heat in....or let air pass over the manifolds to cool them down.
 
From what I've heard, the header wrap will cause your manifolds to rust out by holding condensation against them. I haven't had experience with this first hand, so take it with a grain of salt.

-Rod
 
as long as ther is no other coating on the manifold/header, i did my son's when we did head gaskets. i used d.e.i. header wrap. we use it where i work at. you can touch the primary tube with the engine turning 1500 rpm under a light load, you can't hold on for very long but at least you won't get instant blister. i think if you did just the intercooler tube and not the manifold the i.c. would probably still heat soak. and then there is the thought about the wrap not letting the i.c. tube release any heat. i think it is worth it we can feel the diference, the most in cool weather.
 
this is jsut what i heard but that it isnt really worth it. they do resist heat for a while but do heat up and act as an insulator for the heated pipes making them stay hotter longer and not have a chance to lose the heat very well. Im not sure. This is just what i have heard. Let us know how it works out. Zach
 
well i wrapped the manifolds and the lower IC tube....so we'll see if it works. There is no paint or coating on the manifolds. I think it will keep under hood temps down..and i think that will provide the most benefit. With the header wrapped and the ic tube on the drivers side, i think the header will produce less heat and the tube will pick up less heat if its wrapped. we'll see...i'm looking for other input as well.
 
I've heard that moisture thing myself but this is what I know from experiance. I've worked in industrial construction for over 23 years now and have seen that stuff(Nomex) used on steam piping in various different plants and factories since day 1 and most of it is in the outdoors directly exposed to the elements.

The guy's that install the stuff for a living tell me(and I've seen it used) that they put a mastic coating on the outside of the wrap once it is installed so that rain does'nt get absorbed by it. The coating seems to work pretty good because I've torn out old piping systems that have been in service and wraped in it for well over 10 years and none of that pipe was any rustyer or eaten up than pipe that was not wraped and just exposed to the elements.
The people that market the wrap as header wrap also sell a spray coating to put on the wrap after it has been installed on the headers or whatever you put it on to seal it up from moisture.
High temp header paint does the same thing, just put several coats on it and let it soak in good once it dries its sealed.
You know...I just dont see how anybody has gotten the wrap wet on there exhaust manifolds. Could they be using there SC as a swamp buggy? Besides that at around 1500 deg how long would a manifold stay wet even if it got wet? I just dont see moisture as being a problem, at least all the evidence I've seen down through the years indicates its not a problem.
I have several rolls of the stuff myself and I'm not affraid to use it.
 
I wrapped my lower IC tube, but I used heat-reflective wrap from Thermo-tec, not header wrap. The difference is that it has an aluminized outer layer to reflect radiated heat. This should be more efficient than header wrap. I had intended to do some before/after type tests, but I never got around to taking the "before" measurements, and it's too much work to swap in the spare lower IC tube (unwrapped) and see if it makes a difference...
 
well i'll see how it turned out. I just didn't want ta negative effect on the manifolds, but i think those alone will help keep most of the heat off the lower ic tube.
 
I know this is about header wrap but...

Have you ever thought of having the lower IC tube jet hot coated? I received a quote from them for both inside and out coating for $15 per linear foot, if I remember correctly. It'll do a couple things. First off, isolate the air in the IC tube much more effectively than with wrap and also the inside coating will smooth out some of the imperfections in the IC tube itself. That translates into better velocity. I'm planning on doing that, just want to get the IC tubes ported first...
 
Fastsc92, I wrapped my lower tube and top of my headers. Stuff is great. You can literally hold the IC tube after runnin the car hard without gettin burnt. As for what mike said, what are the odds of a manifold gettin wet and being moisturous.
 
pearl95sc said:
Fastsc92, I wrapped my lower tube and top of my headers. Stuff is great. You can literally hold the IC tube after runnin the car hard without gettin burnt. As for what mike said, what are the odds of a manifold gettin wet and being moisturous.
LOL!!!! moisturous?.........Man thats a cool word. I like it!:D :cool:
 
I believe that the moisture concerned in that the rumor I had heard of was due to condensation, not water being sprayed onto the manifolds.

-Rod
 
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