I have a set of hedman 1 5/8" long tubes on my 84 z28 with 3in exhaust. I getting a lot of heat under the hood and I'm thinking about thermo wrapping the headers...what y'all think?

 

That'll void the warranty, just something to think about.

If that doesn't bother you, personally I'd rather have them wrapped than bare.

 

Warranty doesn't concern me unless my buddy still had the reciepts for'em.....but I heard they corrode faster with the wraps on

 

I have mine wrapped (shorties) and they work fine for me. I always enjoy when people think that wraps will completely disintegrate a set of headers in a year. Can they cause them to rust, yes, but so will driving around without wraps. Unless they are made from stainless or coated all headers will eventually corrode (but will still probably outlast the engine/car they were put in)

 

If mine are already years old, and already fully corroded and brown, there's no harm in wrapping them at this stage right? Or will it damage the header in some way?

 

Yes, they corrode faster and once you try it the warranty is not going to work, I doubt they'll replace it.

 

Mine are wrapped Headman shorties and it did make a difference in under hood temp. Also my car is only driven on nice days, It's not a daily driver so the corrosion thing is not an issue for me.


Mark.

 

Yeha i only drive my car in the sunshine (no rain, and definitely not snow or below freezing temps), so is there any risk to putting these on? Reducing underhood temps can only be good no?

 

I've only had mine wrapped for about 2 months so I can't tell ya long term but short term so far so good.

Mark.

 

From what I have been told, wrapping them causes the internal temperature to reach such a level that the steel begins to break down molecularly. That heat is normally radiated out...
Ceramic coating, done inside and out, actually protects the steel- I would go with that rather than wrapping.
Corrosion, what we would normally call rust, should not be an issue with wrapped headers- they won't retain moisture under normal circumstances, since it will just evaporate off due to the heat- it is that molecular breakdown that is the problem...

 

on my 87 I used it

I put it on my shorty headers and my y pipe all the way to were the cat used to be...

It lowered my under hood temp 150 degrees

In my oppinion its the best thing I have done to my car under hood wise I have about 200 $ in it all

 

A friend of mine has a 69 Cutlass Supreme and wrapped his headers....
Kept the primary tubes cool enough to touch them quickly.... You'll never do that with unwrapped headers!!!!
Obviously his under hood temps are way down...

As far as Voiding a warranty...
Headers are cheap!!!! Who cares if they get changed every 5 years?
Either way they're gonna get rusty.... and burn through eventually.

I went Ceramic coated.... (& I think they're still hot!!!) but for what it's worth I'm gonna wrap my Y-Pipe.)

 

I know this may be a silly question but... Could they ever catch fire? Also, how far should you wrap them? All the way to the cat, or further?

 

The wrap itself won't burn but it can act as a wick (oil leaking into the headers), that's why I always liberally spray my wrapped headers with silicone. Just the headers will do, not as far back as the cat con. To the collector is fine.

 

What does spraying it with silicone do?

 

Preventing it from becoming a wick. The silicone saturates the .wrap

 

All the way back to cat was prolly a little overkill but it helped me alot...

My temps was only down about 100 degree with headers and with y pipe wrapped it was down 150 degree under hood

 

So ceramic coat or wrap?

 

I've seen my ceramic coated headers glow red/pink during a "lean" break-in condition. So hot that they melted my Accel plug wires, then they caught on fire!!! I ordered new wires and boot protectors http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TAY-2566/

So even though ceramic coatings are used to keep temps down I would say that they don't compare to wraps!!!!
If ya got the $$$ do both....

That's my

 

no they don't. I had my shorties wrapped for something like 5 years and they looked like new when I unwrapped them to sell them. If you drive in salt in winter, all bets are off.

no risk, you'll like them I promise. I also noticed the plastic tubing my wires and stuff are in stopped baking and getting brittle. I think my wrapped shorties had lower under hood temps than my ceramic coated long tubes do, but I can't prove it.

Some people claim wrapping "mummifies" the headers and they can't breathe properly but I don't buy this. If you're wrapping a good quality header you'll be fine. If you're running junk headers, or if your exhaust is in a bind constantly pulling on the headers, then you're going to have problems with cracks and breakage regardless of wether or not it's wrapped.

 

Yes, the wrap will have a much bigger effect on underhood temps than ceramic coated headers ever will.

 

My father has a magnaflow system,Im going with the the pypes

 

What ?????????
How does that statement pertain to the Original Poster's question???

 

Not even close. If that were true steel couldnt be welded for anything structural

 

if that was the case, the heads would start to break down too, especially the aluminum ones

 

Wow can't beleive i didnt think of that one lmao..

 

I just got my headers ceramic coated. Think I'll wrap them and the i-pype as well.

Any brand wrap better than the other?

 

definitely gonna get a set as well.. best brand for edelbrock shorty headers??

 

I don't think that any "ONE" brand is better than the other..... especially for a particular manufacturers header.... Take your pick! There's fiberglass, ceramic, carbon fiber...... whatever

1" wide would be good for headers, but I'm sure you could use 2"....

To figure it out how much length you need take your 1 5/8" primary tube size (for ease of the example lets say 1.75" X by pi=3.141593 = 5.49" circumference)
Measure the combined length of each primary tube and multiply by 5.5"
Remember you'll be overlapping each layer by about 1/2 so double the equation....
Don't forget the collectors!!!

 

2" wide wrap gives you better bang for your buck... Why?

Because you want to overlap each strip by 1/4".

A 1" wide wrap effectively becomes 3/4" wide, and 2" wide wrap effectively becomes 1 3/4" wide.

Might seem like a small difference, but it adds up. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

A 2" wrap is much harder to get around tight bends like primaries. I have 2" wrap that i only use for downpipes. Get the 1" wrap.

 

I wrapped the exhaust pipes around the transmissions on a Navajo and a Bronco II years ago, both daily drivers and off road use. have not had any trouble with either.

 

I actually just bought a kit of DEI wrap, going to get that done at some point this winter. 5 years after I originally posted in here, and still didn't do it yet lol. Shame on me haha

 

Header wrap is just a band aid...find out what is causing the excess heat.

Might be timing or tune.