Anybody ever use that exhaust wrap stuff??? (hopefully you can see the pic that i tried to attach with my headers)

Well, i did, and i dont recommend anyone using it on headers at least, for three reasons...

1.) it really isnt that durable. i wrapped my headers that were only painted black when i did my 355 swap. i figured it would save my money over getting em ceramic-cromed and i thought it looked kinda cool. ive gotten a few positive remarkes from people, but when it i had to remove the exhaust system to get at the motor mounts, the stuff basically crumbles apart if you catch it on any sort of hard edge of something.

2.) IT IS AN ABSOLUTE BEAR to wrap a set of shorty headers with this stuff. that was LITERALLY THE HARDEST PART OF DOING A FULL ENGINE SWAP. you have to attach the ends (which most of the time start to fray) with hose clamps as best as you can and try to wrap it as tight as you can (which i did a pretty good job of)

and on top of that, it is very irritating to the skin, eyes, nose, mouth, and wind pipe. your supposed to soak it in water before you attemp to apply it, wear gogles, a mask and gloves (which i did). but even if you do something simple when its installed, such as adjust sparkplugs or wires, your gonna end up itchy, and have a scratchy mouth or throat for a coulpe of days at least. (kinda reminds me of asbestose, god i hope im wrong with that analogy)

3.) it really isnt that cost effective after you buy as much as you need, all the stainless hose clamps you need, and pay for the shipping.

So, this week im have my headers ceramic coated by New Image Coatings http://www.newimagecoatings.com/ and im glad not to deal with this crap anymore. i can see i being useful on a y pipe maybe... maybe. and obviously a turbocharger downpipe and the turbocharger itself.

anyway i just thought this would be some good food for thought. ill get off my soap box now and let yall chew on it...

thanx

 

Header wrap destroys headers in time
The material soaks up any liquid that spills on it.
I have personally seen cars on fire because of the wrap being dried up from many heat cycles and possible oil/fuel being soaked into the material........i would use it on small areas but not the entire header.

 

Header wrap is really old school to reduce under hood heat. Although a drag car may get away from using header wrap, it's not advisable for a street car. The thin gauge of most street headers will eventually rot out over time anyway, adding header wrap will decrease the life by holding in moisture to promote rusting.

Getting the headers coated is a much better option and will increase the life of the headers plus will reduce header heat better than the wrap will.

Another option is to use stainless headers. Although they cost a lot more, even uncoated, they'll last the longest since they'll never rust out.