CryO2man

Check out this posted youtube installation video (on a gay-a$$ blue crx) on how to properly install header wrap - excuse the commercial (spam) - ha!



http://youtube.com/watch?v=55U2ArzgZf4

John

doesnt work

SSdan

Here is the correct link.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=55U2ArzgZf4

zinner

I fixed the original link

Area47

header wrap is bad

NapaGuy

not really.. .depends on the application... and usage...

Mikey851

I know what you're saying. I've seen it work to an extent, but not nearly as well as jet hot coating. With the header wrap the heat still transfers into the pipe rather than being kept in the exhaust gasses. With the coating on both the inside and out it keeps the heat in the exhaust as well as keeps heat from radiating from the pipes as much.

Area47

after about 6 months of having that wrap on the pipe. you take the header off. drinkin with the buds, and whoops. someone drops it.

smash!
it shatters.

well 6 months maybe a little short, say, about a year.

you get the idea

CryO2man

prove it - I've yet to ever see anyone post a picture of header that was damaged by any type of wrapping.

thanks for the fix damien

here's a link to a newsletter from a company that produces wrap. Granted it might be bias but the tech editor covers some good points...

http://www.designengineering.com/new..._update1-1.htm

Area47

13 years in the game, i have seen it all. working on a turbo honda a few years back. down pipe was wrapped with the dei stuff. the owner of the car pulled the dp off. walking over to put it on the shelf with the rest of his parts. tripped over the air hose, down went the dp.

now, since the wrap was on the car for a year or so, it was pretty worn out and dirty. no problem. order more stuff. get the old stuff off. the dp itself had a crack down the side of it.

hi, metal doesn't crack unless you freeze it, or, over time high heat, cooling, or just plain old heat cycle with a limited room for expansion and contraction. granted the wrap does flex, and gives room for expansion, it doesn;t give the chance for the heat to bleed off.


why would you want to wrap a header on a daily driver anyways? heat is not that big of a deal on the back side of the motor as it is. it's not a turbo drag car. if you want true heat reduction. get it coated inside and out, call it done.

this of course is my personal opinion, people are going to do what they want anyways

CryO2man

I read your post and respect what you have to say but from a factual standpoint there are some inaccuracies to your comments.

I guess for starters, you need to understand that metal undergoes an aging process each time any real heat is applied to it (even on a stock application). The thing is, the aging that occurs is so nominal it would take about 50 years for the physical composition of the metal to actually change and that would only be seen under intesnse magnification using a regular microscope.

Now using a wrap or coating simply accelerates this normal aging process but what once took 50 years now takes 30 - again, with the changes so small you wouldn't see them without magnification.

The only real reason any heated metal pipe would physically begin to breakdown (crack, rust, etc.) is (1) it is either constructed from a low grade or impure alloy (2) endures radically changing conditions on a consistent basis (snowmobile, hot pipe, intense cold air) or (3) the wrap is constantly being fully submerged in water during cool-down times thus creating rust along with the associated thermal shock (resulting from the an intensely hot pipe enduring contact with cold water).

Now again, I'm not denying that the downpipe your talking about didn't crack, I'm just questioniong how it cracked and I'm confident in telling you that the wrap or coating had very little to do with it had it been a high grade metal.

Again, I have yet to see a picture of such damage resulting from header wrapping and I've been in the automotive industry and boat racing for about ten years.

Jackalope

Header wrap IS horrible for headers! I've worked in speed shops and replaced many many many sets of headers for customers under warrenty from companies such as Hooker because they wraped them.

Header wrap holds in the heat this is true BUT it also holds in moisture and dirt and along with the heat this is a perfect place for RUST to form. I've even seen ceramic coated Hooker headers rust out in less then a years time from header wrap.

Hooker has come out with a ruling on header wrap and they're ruling is that if you wrap thier headers you just voided your warrenty. Sorry but if a company like Hooker says its horrible and I've seen first hand the damage it does then I would say steer clear of it cause IT IS NOT WORTH IT!

(P.S. I've been doing this for over 20 years and had cars in Hot Rod mag and was ASE master certified so no I'm not just talking out of my pooper)

CryO2man

...and yet there are no pictures of such damage. Congrats on 20 years of experience and your ASE certification. I wonder why SEMA car builders who invest thousands of dollars still wrap their pipes, hmm?

Johnson Hot Rod G-Force Cuda (wrapped)
http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tec...cuda_builders/

HRR Rosie Mustang
http://www.kerrst.com/hotrods/stang.htm

SPI Twin Turbo Viper
(can't find pics) - Placed Top 20 gumball races in UK

- credible SEMA and Race Car builders and all used the wrap and coating. Guess those cars don't ever get turned on.

we're just going to have to agree to disagree. I really don't think I'll ever buy a new project toy and not wrap its pipes, but I must be one of the lucky ones, ha!

Jackalope

Wait why do I need to provide you with pictures prooving header wrap causes rust when Hooker headers will void your warrenty if they discover you wrapped them? Never mind I'll let Hooker explain it to you since you won't listen to me.

Heres what Hooker Headers has to say about header wrap...Its at the bottom of the page.

http://www.holley.com/TechService/FA...20/%20Flowtech

Sorry man but I tend to lean toward listening to the actual header manufacturer who BTW has been in bizz since the 50's.

Race cars and street cars are 2 different things dude! A race car is designed to go as fast as possible no matter what they might break/ruin in doing it and that means headers too. If squeezing a last one hundreth of a second or 1 more HP out of your car is justification for destroying a header in your opinion then yes we will have to agree to dis-agree. I for one don't like to throw my money away on something that will only yield 1 hp at the most on anything less then a full blown race car! I bet you see cars with parachuts at the SEMA shows to, does that then mean we should use them at ever red light we come to? Just cause we see something on a full on race car doesn't mean it'll work good on the streets. Just shell out the few extra bucks to get it ceramic coated that way its protected AND looks great at the same time.

Sorry man but header wrap on the streets is pointless and does nothing but excelerate the were on the headers. Hey if you don't believe me thats cool, but I would invite you to argue not with me but to direct your argument toward Hooker Headers and see what their responce is. If you can somehow get Hooker to conceed that you are right and they are wrong then so will I. Till then I'm sticking to my guns that header wrap is crap.

Go ahead wrap your header, squeeze out another 0.001 in the 1/4 mile, and have to replace it after a year or 2. Me, I'll be running my unwrapped header and going 0.001 seconds slower with the same header for years and years and years. But thats just me I guess.

Edubs

If we're talking about stainless, I'd have to agree with Cry02man. I've talked to people who have been working with stainless since before I was born (circa 1981), and have been told that wrap has more benefits than drawbacks pending the car is properly warmed up every turn of the key and isn't driven in harsh conditions on a regular basis. The horror stories of rusted away and destroyed metal that I have heard have always been directly related to mild steel. Again, I would prefer in/out ceramic coating to wrap; however, wrap is a great short term solution. Maybe change it out and clean up the piping before installing new wrap every 1 to 2 years...

Jackalope

Don't know about stainless headers I've never worked with them but Hooker clais the retained heat destoys the headers so I don't know if they're talking about ALL headers or just steel ones. But if you can aford stainless headers you should DAMN sure be able to aford ceramic coated ones!

But you are correct that the wrap should only be used for short term exposures, Hooker says so in the link I posted. The problem is that how many of us are gonna wrap and un-wrap our headers to clean them? Thats silly for a street car.

Like you said just get ceramic coated and be done with it.

CryO2man

As far as hooker and their warranty, don't single them out as every aftermarket header company has that same warranty. But c'mon, us being cars guys no we don't need no stinkin warranty (famous last words, right!?) as that hasn't stopped us from installing intakes, clutches or what not. It just seems a little weird for vet car guy to pull the warranty card.

Well, it is what it is. That's whats so great about forums with veteran guys that are willing to provide facts over what they've heard. I guess we'll let the end user decide what's best for them in the long run as its all pretty much there on the table.