Some pictures would be great.

 

Aside from the requested pictures, I would like to know if wrapping the downpipe near the oil pan is a necessity or not. If something bad could potentially happen (to the oil/oilpan) from not wrapping then I will do it, but if isn't that big of a deal then I don't see the need. Alternatively, would the silver reflective lining for the oil pan be a better alternative.

Also, can you get heat wrap at any local auto parts store? Thanks.

 

We wrapped my son's dp, then coated it with 5-6 coats of aluminized silicon spray. It's been on several months and looks perfect. The spray is necessary to keep water from getting between the wrap and the pipe. Also keeps it clean. We also wrapped the hotside of the turbo, but I noticed when we changed the stock turbo out for the 20G-LT, very thin layers of the cast metal were rusted more. I would not wrap the hotside again. It was not sprayed however, while the dp was.

 

Thanks for the response, but I am really trying to figure out if this is a true necessity or not. I don't have a "high" horsepower car, the TBE will be my only mod. I just dont want something to go wrong with the oil and/or oil pan.

 

Wrap is not a requirement but it definitely does keep the heat down. Considering how close the DP runs to the radiator, oil pan, tranny, etc. I think it's a good idea. I've used ceramic coatings in the past and there is no comparison in terms of the heat that radiates off the tubing. Ceramic coating helps, but it will still burn the hell out of you if you touch it. You could put your hand on a wrapped pipe in all but the most extreme circumstances. People talk about corrosion, but I think it's pretty hard for the area to stay wet when the pipe gets up to a couple hundred degrees. Unless it's cold and rainy every day where you live I think this is a non-issue. Don't forget, we own a car that has a massive hole in the hood that allows rain water to rust our engine blocks and manifolds before the car is even sold off the dealer lot. Why? All in the name of heat control. Obviously Mitsu placed a priority on that.

And as far as the loss of performance, there's no way wrap caused that kind of boost loss. If that were true then we should all switch to mild steel downpipes since stainless holds in way more heat than mild steel. I sure see a lot of pro race cars with wrapped stainless downpipes, which again seems odd if it's that much of a performance killer.

 

like your parents told you when you were younger, wrap it! but seriously we wrapped the DP and uppipe and IC pipes on a buddies STi and it was like wakeing up a monster the difference we saw. we both live in washington when teh army dosnet give us a year long vacation, and there has been no problem with rusting. thou we did hit the wrap with a high temp paint after it was all said and done.

 

Swaintech true ceramic coating FTW!

 

Thanks for the response, that is what I was looking for. I live in the northwest, so it does rain quite a bit. It sounds like the best idea would be to wrap the pipe and spray a couple layers of high temp paint on there for extra protection.

Do I wrap the entire pipe? How many layers/how thick should the wrap be? I don't want to do too much and have the pipe not clear.

Any pictures would be really great. Thanks!

 

Even with a good-fitting downpipe you don't have a ton of room, so I wouldn't do more than one layer. The typical way to wrap it is to have each "rotation" of wrap cover over about 30% of the previous rotation of wrap. So in some places you have 2x the wrap thickness and in the rest you have 1x. If you actually did 2 full passes you could have up to 4x the wrap thickness in some places and then you'd likely be running into clearance issues. Just make sure you pull it as tight as possible while wrapping it and secure it very well on each end (I use stainless worm gear hose clamps).

 

Ok thanks. I just called a local store here and they have 1 inch wrap for $38 and the 2 inch stuff is $55. I wonder if I can get away with doing the 1 inch. Probably not.

 

get the two inch stuff. it's twice as wide side it covers more area with fewer wraps, so as long as it's less than 2x the price of the 1" stuff it's a better deal.

This is what I used:

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

 

when wrapping it, you can get a much better fit when you soak the wrap in water before wrapping it. when its when when you apply it, it is much easier to wrap, and it will pull much tighter.

heres an example of my manifold wrapped:

 

the only problem i have with heat wraping things is that it keeps the heat in instead of disapating it. i have seen race manifolds crack due to heat wraping them. this is y i wouldnt wrap my exhaust mani, but downpipe near the oil pan is a good idea.

 

We half-lapped the DP from O2 housing to the cat/off-road pipe. Keeps the heat from the oilpan. On the curve of the downpipe, keep it very tight during the wrapping process. That way it will not have bulges in the wrapping (inside of corner is tighter than the outside of the corner). Big difference in heat under the hood. Good luck.

 

uh huh. keeping the heat inside is why you heat wrap it. keeping the heat inside the manifold will help the turbo spool faster. and i doubt you have seen any quality manifolds crack for the sole reason it was heat wrapped. more then likely there were a number of other reasons, such as an unsupported turbo, or to thin of tubing.

ironically, wrapping the downpipe i can't see a reason to do. i've tracked my car many times, without a heat wrapped downpipe and never had any problems at all with overheated oil.


oh, and before heat wrapping the mani, i thought the radiator hose was going to melt it was so hot in the engine bay after a 30min track session. after wrapping it, i could literally touch the header immediately after a 30 minute session. engine bay temps dropped enormously. next time i need to wrap my manifold, i'll be sure to log some temps.