We are finally getting into the thick of summer here in Minnesota so the weather is heating up, and after driving around I pop my hood and that header is so hot Im suprised it doesnt boil the paint off the hood, not to mention the cooling hose right above it.

What do you guys think of these exhaust heat wraps they sell? I read they can actually damage the header. Or they make some sticky aluminum stuff I could put on the hood and around the hoses to keep the header heat from them.

Any opinions on keeping the temps down on the header would be appreciated.

 

DEI makes all sortsa of insulation, reflective material, coatings and accompanying products for controlling heat. Unfortunately I can't remember their webpage, but you can find it from Summit Racing's page.

I dunno about heat wrap damaging manifolds. I'd be interested in reading up on that if you have any specific info you were referring to. I intend to wrap and spray coat mine and top it off by putting reflective coating on the underside of my hood. (If you've seen my manifold you'd understand why). If you think your underhood temps are bad you should feel mine.

 

I live in the middle east and the tempreture here at the moment is over 110F and i drive my evo every day.. i dont think you'll have a problem with the paint pealing off the hood or anything like that

 

The story with the wraps is because if done improperly it can trap anything that gets in there and further corrode the manifold. If it is wrapped properly it's fine.

 

When I was working in racing we used it on the headers of the race cars, dunno, should be fine.

 

Well I bought 50ft of 1" wrap yesterday for 24 bucks. I should have it in soon. Like timzcat said supposedly the wraps trap heat and the header temps start to get out of control and break down the steel. I think if you wrap it tight enough, no air between the wrap and header, it should be fine. I guess Im going to find out.

 

You might also want to consider some kind of high-temp coating of the header.. That is what I'm doing, and Alfriedesq (sorry if I mangled your handle) also has done the same..

 

The coating costs a bunch, but it looks a lot better. I dont give a rats a$$ about what it looks like under the hood. I'll take a picture of it when I get it done so you all can see how ugly it is going to be.

 

Yeah, I have 50' of 2" wrap. Unfortunately it's a bit of a chore to get my manifold off (I know I could do it, but I never have any free time) so it's probably going to be a while, but I will get to it eventually. I think that's only if you overlap too much or have an existing (however small) corrosion problem. You're supposed to clean the manifold or whatever you're wrapping before you wrap it anyway so I guess it's a sort of user beware type situation.

EDIT: My complete list of underhood heat products awaiting install:

(1) 50' roll of 2" wide heat wrap
(8) 8" steel locking ties
(1) Can of DEI high temperature silicone coating (aluminum)
(2) 24x24" rolls of adhesive backed aluminized heat barrier

http://www.designengineering.com/

 

how did rapping the heads work? I am thinking about doing myne

 

Well the only thing I ended up using the wrap for was the downpipe on my ill advised turbo project , dont know if it makes a difference or not because it still gets hotter than hell and I dont care to hold my hand on it to see the difference. I do know the manifold on a TC application gets so godd@ammed hot that it breaks down the steel it is made from, like it brings out cracks and flaws in the material that you couldn't see when yo made it. I cant image how fast this would happen if it was wrapped. On a header? Well a crusty old guy named Ed ( www.headersbyed.com ) who is local here told me dont even thinnk about wrapping a non-race application header because the day to day abuse will destroy it quickly. He is old and has been hand building headers since like the 60's. I think I trust his knowledge.