Header Wrap

[Lukey]

any way of covering up the clip thingos (forgot what they called lol)

[beeza]

Nice pics!!! Especially stretching.

Instead of the Loctite 587 blue silicone sealant which goes only up to 260 ºC, you should use the 5920 copper one which goes to 371 ºC. Your exhaust will easily go above 260 ºC. I use Permatex Ultra Copper which is the same as the 5920 and goes up to 371 ºC as well. The Permatex version is cheaper than Loctite though.

Thanks Aaron! Good one mate,might need to do that soon.

Great Diy. im planning to wrap mine also. but cant find reasonable priced wrap from sydney.
Also how come you didnt blue silicon the header but ony the 2-1 join?
Some wrap kits have steel ties. how would they work compare to steel clamps? which is cheaper?
Thanks in advance.

Thanks mate,where the header joins onto the head is flat and the gasket is in tact,so no need.When I smacked the headers a few times before I got a H-brace that now protects it,it bent where the 4 meets the 2 and ripped the gasket where the collector on the header meets the exhaust piping.

I know the SS clamps sound expensive but it's something that U should do,like SHU says below.

the stainless steel ties work fine, just like the plastic ones except they can withstand the higher temperatures that plastic doesn't. if i could do it again, i'd probably use the ones beeza's used as you can get a tighter seal with them. just becareful when you use the the SS ties, and have to trim them not to cut yourself cos they are blood sharp. learn't from experience. awesome write up bretty!

Thank U!

any way of covering up the clip thingos (forgot what they called lol)

Do U mean the extended bit of the clamp sticking out? U could cut it..

[Tegzieboi_BAR]

Great DIY, i plan on doing this in the not too distant future... Even Spoon CEO Tatsuru Ichishima said that this is a must for those tracking their Hondas as the exhaust travels so close to the oil sump n doing this will reduce oil temp rise quite dramatically. +Rep

[beeza]

OH YEAH!

Great to hear.The extractors heat up the oil which heats up engine and then the coolant.After 10 minutes of flogging it on the track my car was overheating and I had to let it cool down,so on the 28th of june,the next trackday it will be good to note the change! I know there will be one,I'm very happy with all these benefits of having wrapped headers,no wonder I wanted to do this for ages!

There's a definate performance increase too,definately.

Thanks mate.

[Mikecivic78]

]


EDIT: There's a definate performance increase,I knew there was after the first drive,just needed to make sure.

There certainly is.

Excellent DIY, rep point is on its way.

I can't see why there would be more performance. Can u explain this? Sounds like a placebo effect (I am a performance pessimist, and Hondas are notorious for giving low gains for mods). The benefits I can understand are less heat, therefore less chance of cracking at high temps... header protection and a different exhaust note.

Update: they won't let me rep u as I have repped u too recently

[Lukey]

Do U mean the extended bit of the clamp sticking out? U could cut it..

i meant the whole thing,

[90LAN]

just use spoon heat tape on the sump
cracking only happens to cheap exhaust manifolds and bad exhaust fitment with no proper flexing points
usually with custom exhaust set ups

i have wrapped my exhaust in the past didnt do shit imo
caused more problems when u got fluids on it and would burn and stink the car out

nice write up brett but

[Gio]

Excellent DIY, rep point is on its way.

I can't see why there would be more performance. Can u explain this? Sounds like a placebo effect (I am a performance pessimist, and Hondas are notorious for giving low gains for mods). The benefits I can understand are less heat, therefore less chance of cracking at high temps... header protection and a different exhaust note.

Update: they won't let me rep u as I have repped u too recently

I agree, i can't see any 'performance' benefits excepts minimising heat in the engine bay to a degree, but in bretts case it wouldnt have any affect because his pod is enclosed.

The only thing would be keeping the oil temp lower and minimising the chances of overheating.

And that loverly deeper sound mmmm mmmm.

Nice one beez

[beeza]

Thanks LAN and Chris!

Yes,I gotta be careful not to spill fluids on them,they have burnt edges now and has pull firm.

Excellent DIY, rep point is on its way.

I can't see why there would be more performance. Can u explain this? Sounds like a placebo effect (I am a performance pessimist, and Hondas are notorious for giving low gains for mods). The benefits I can understand are less heat, therefore less chance of cracking at high temps... header protection and a different exhaust note.

Update: they won't let me rep u as I have repped u too recently

Cheers Mike!

Just search on the net here for more info about it,there's lots out there

i meant the whole thing,

Nah,not really,it looks cool but..

[hitoriko]

You should mention taht if you wet the wrap before using it you can get a tighter seal on the manifold and this will make it easier to wrap - i was going to do a write up like this bu you beat me to it!

[crazy2287]

You are "supposed to" lightly dampen the wrap while applying it as it get its to wrap tighter and set better.

A few things to know about the wrap. Obviously the degree it affects your headers is going to be based on a number of factors. Such as, Timing, AFR, type of metal used in the extractors, environmental conditions (humid, salty).

I am one of the cases that had this stuff totally rape the face off my extractors to the point that they look an aborted child's face after its been run over by a an industrial, diesel powered cheese grater.

you can kinda see a before in this shot. These are pacemaker extractors on my falcooooon. Pacemaker is a well respected brand for these cars.
Ignore the dodgy hot air intake, this is when i was running the cam it, did a quick dodgy up to get the run in done before fitting the aftermarket ECU.


then my wrapping when i first done it (before i bolted back together)


and about 2 months later i developed a hole in my extractors. which quickly worsened.
I pulled the wrap off to investigate.



as you can see the damage was not only local to the "hot spot"

I used the wrap to try and lower under bonnet temps. it worked well. However you get a hotspot at the end of the wrapping. which happened to be my collectors. Also you can see this accelerated rust scale from the metal breaking down is from the heat and ingress of moisture from the wrapping material.
This combined with my high exhaust temps due to far retarded ign.
There is no doubt in my mind that this was caused by the wrapping.
i blasted, weilded and painted the extractors but they are not what they used to be. And they still have a damn leak..... *RAGE* Basically i spent like $90 to have something waste 2 hours of my time, a gasket, some gasket goop and slowly destroy my headers. Thumbs up. *lame face*
Obviously it's not necessarily GOING to happen. But seriously... why risk it?
a better alternative is simply some alloy sheet bent up into a "heat shield" Effective and nil negative side effects.

Performance boost??? Unless you have a turbo the performance boost is negligible. a 300-600HP car may pick up 5HP from wrapped turned length exhaust on a NA car. Something i doubt you'll be able to "feel" other then placebo. An FI car will experience gain because it's the velocity and HEAT energy in the exhaust that drives the turbine. If you wrap the pipes between engine and turbine then you will get more heat energy into the turbo.

so, IMO, don't use heat wrap unless you got plenty of money to be wasting... ESPECIALLY at the price they charge for the shite!

That said and done, It was a good writeup!

[hitoriko]

You are "supposed to" lightly dampen the wrap while applying it as it get its to wrap tighter and set better.

A few things to know about the wrap. Obviously the degree it affects your headers is going to be based on a number of factors. Such as, Timing, AFR, type of metal used in the extractors, environmental conditions (humid, salty).

I am one of the cases that had this stuff totally rape the face off my extractors to the point that they look an aborted child's face after its been run over by a an industrial, diesel powered cheese grater.

you can kinda see a before in this shot. These are pacemaker extractors on my falcooooon. Pacemaker is a well respected brand for these cars.
Ignore the dodgy hot air intake, this is when i was running the cam it, did a quick dodgy up to get the run in done before fitting the aftermarket ECU.


then my wrapping when i first done it (before i bolted back together)


and about 2 months later i developed a hole in my extractors. which quickly worsened.
I pulled the wrap off to investigate.



as you can see the damage was not only local to the "hot spot"

I used the wrap to try and lower under bonnet temps. it worked well. However you get a hotspot at the end of the wrapping. which happened to be my collectors. Also you can see this accelerated rust scale from the metal breaking down is from the heat and ingress of moisture from the wrapping material.
This combined with my high exhaust temps due to far retarded ign.
There is no doubt in my mind that this was caused by the wrapping.
i blasted, weilded and painted the extractors but they are not what they used to be. And they still have a damn leak..... *RAGE* Basically i spent like $90 to have something waste 2 hours of my time, a gasket, some gasket goop and slowly destroy my headers. Thumbs up. *lame face*
Obviously it's not necessarily GOING to happen. But seriously... why risk it?
a better alternative is simply some alloy sheet bent up into a "heat shield" Effective and nil negative side effects.

Performance boost??? Unless you have a turbo the performance boost is negligible. a 300-600HP car may pick up 5HP from wrapped turned length exhaust on a NA car. Something i doubt you'll be able to "feel" other then placebo. An FI car will experience gain because it's the velocity and HEAT energy in the exhaust that drives the turbine. If you wrap the pipes between engine and turbine then you will get more heat energy into the turbo.

so, IMO, don't use heat wrap unless you got plenty of money to be wasting... ESPECIALLY at the price they charge for the shite!

That said and done, It was a good writeup!

does your ford have an under engine splash tray?