[1self]

Hey Guys!

Just stumbled upon this article: Use wraps at your own peril!

All About Header Wraps

Quite an eye opener that!

If you find more such articles...do post them here.

Thanks!

[paras211]

this jet coating is some kind of ceremic coating?

anyways the gain aint that great using these wraps .

any clue on if the wrap for the intake pipes effective?? i ve got a short ram btw

[S@~+#0$#]

Originally Posted by 1self

Quite an eye opener that!

, especially the bit that says we need to replace the header after each race. Why? Does the wrap damage the header or does the header get damaged while removing the wrap(for reasons like checking leaks or change in header design)?

[1self]

1. Wrap on the intake pipe will be quite effective.
2. Jet coating is high temperature paint coating.

Originally Posted by paras211

this jet coating is some kind of ceremic coating?

anyways the gain aint that great using these wraps .

any clue on if the wrap for the intake pipes effective?? i ve got a short ram btw

[1self]

They are talking about pro racing, which uses high octane fuels etc. What they say is that the heat of the exhaust remains in the header making it so hot that the exiting gases take some metal with them(ie welds etc). Over long term their strength is lost. Also the header manufacturers warranty is void.

Originally Posted by S@~+#0$#

, especially the bit that says we need to replace the header after each race. Why? Does the wrap damage the header or does the header get damaged while removing the wrap(for reasons like checking leaks or change in header design)?

[kumar_ranjan]

Thanks for the link and it was really Quite an eye opener. I was planning to get the wrappings for the Header and after reading it has made me rethink about it.

[rjstyles69]

A few of us here are running the headers without any wraps as such .
Wait and how many of us red-line very often ?

[paras211]

be safe and dont wrap. i seriously doubt the gain being more than 1hp. if your importing the header check if the offer a ceramic coating .or does any one do this kind of thing here.

[doomsday]

Nice read.. I always thought that a ceramic coated headers will give better performance (due to better scavenging) Seems like there are a few offshoots.

[S@~+#0$#]

Originally Posted by doomsday

Nice read.. I always thought that a ceramic coated headers will give better performance (due to better scavenging) Seems like there are a few offshoots.

Just to clarify, Ceramic coated headers are good for performance but it is the header wraps(wrapped around the headers to retain heat) that supposedly have problems.

[crazydiablo]

Any updates on this? How did viper find the use of header wraps?

[viper]

Hi Guys,

I have found absolutely no problems using the wraps and will continue to use the same.

Please understand that there are always 2 sides to a coin. You will always find someone rubbishing a product and someone praising it. Those reports are not applicable to our cars and driving styles. It may reduce the life of bigger engined cars running very high octane fuel and redlining constantly for prolonged durations on a race track but still there are people who swear by the same.

Viper

[sanjz]

calling all the tuning gurus. I recently got a FFE for my Getz it was sourced from one of the fellow BHPians. Unfortunately due to some oversight and owing to time constraints the header was not coated with the ususal heat resistant aluminum paint or ceramic coat. Was googling this query to find out how effective are heat wraps ( seen them on vipers cars and rocams car pics .)

Came across an interesting piece of information which has really got me confused. Will all the car tuning gurus here pls help in clearing this confusion.

Background on header/exhaust wrap. The use of header wrap started on the race circuit, mostly NASCAR, to improve on power gains. After time they figured that changing the headers and that after each race was not cost productive for such a minimal gain, the practice was done away with. Now, they use chemically treated or eclectrical applied treated headers. These include Jethot, Airborn, and others. Just imagine for the average street car owner/enthusiast, having to replace a set of $700 to $1200 headers each week. You would not have any money to do any other modifications that would be of more benefit.

Proper use of heat wrap would be to use this for protecting fuel and oil lines. Most cars have adequate firewalls to protect the driver from the engine heat so using that as an excuse for wrapping is incorrect.

Headers need to be surrounded by cool air to function properly. When you use wrap you basically are trapping the heat in, and temperatures can almost reach the melting point. You have seen videos of cars on a dyno. Notice how hot the headers get? I saw one where they glowed bright red. Imagine that wrapped up, what would happen to them. I read that some designers and engineers say that the material used for the headers are designed to withstand those high temperatures. This may be true. But when the header is not allowed to cool properly this leads to nothing but failure of the part. It is simple thermal isolation. The headers get the heat source from the engine. The heat on the outside of the header is basically trapped between the wrap and the header, causing a layer of extreme heat to have no where to go except back into the header material itself. Over time, this is amplified and can fatigue the header. Another thing to realize that is over time, header oxidize, losing some material in the process. This leads to lighter and weaker headers. When wrapped this basically speeds up the process.
What works. On a test track circuit with 10 laps using Jet Hot coated and uncoated headers, the Jet Coat headers actually lowered the temperature measured 1" from the header by over 450 degrees.
Jet Coat and other companies use a process which actually becomes part of the material of the header. Example. the header is allowed to cool normally because there is no thermal barrier trapping the heat in (header wrap) but the coating acts like the thermal wrap in that it helps to reduce the amount of heat into the engine bay. Wierd huh? Not really. Plus the corrosion of the headers are reduced, and because the heat is not stressing the metal they last longer. This process is permanent, meaning that it actually becomes part of the header itself.
In Closing, I have explained that manufacturers will not warranty headers if they have been wrapped. Just because a product performs the way it is advertised, it doesn't make it the right thing to do. This is the case with heat wrap. You would be best off protecting the fuel and oil lines with it instead. If you want a true thermal barrier that allows for normal cooling plus protection from heat, have your headers treated inside and out for the best quality protection. Just remember that this is a permanent process, and once done it cannot be undone. And be sure that having the headers coated should be the last thing you do to them, ater ensuring adequate it and any small modifications are done to them. This will save you money in the long run.

quoted from Header wrap vs Header coating - Nissan 350Z & 370Z Wiki

[vdiatech]

I recently sourced a FFE for my Corsa from Mumbai. I by default expected the manifold ( headers ) to have some type of protective coating ( like a lot of responsible tuners do) . I should have checked though before placing an order..Anyways, we all learn the hard way.

I did some reading online and its my opinion that its perfectly safe to use the wraps. Its the quality of the material used in making the headers matters ! If it is bad quality then it would crack under the wraps very easily !

Now, I was confused too, about heat wraps.I have decided to get a heat coating paint first and then the heat wraps over it. Because, my engine bay gets awfully hot and I am scared to drive it .

I just hope, the guy I bought from did not make a cheap quality header that would crack .

Anyways, once the painting and wrapping is done, I will post on here.

Cheers