Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance header wrap question

I was told I was boiling my fuel cause my headers are to close to my intake and the car would run weird at idle so I wraped my headers and now it won't idle it just runs completely different. I did notice that there was a lot of moisture comming from the one tail pipe and after I had wraped the pipes someone told me that they can cause hots spots and head gasket problems is that true? Should I take the wrap off? Thanks

first off the wrap will rot your headers from the inside out.
Secondly what intake are you useing. Not that this really matters.I have ran both the offey and cliffords. And at one time had the carbs mounted with the bowl right over the center(3&4) headers tubes and never had a problem with boiling the fuel.
But anyway you can buy a heat sheild that goes under the carb.It is a thin sheet of alum.
And if you think about all that for a sec. Look at how close the stock intake is.. Not any closer then your headers are to the intake.

For the most part, I have seen first hand what header wrap can do to a set of headers.

They will deteriorate (SP) the metal & cause them to fall apart after a while.


Other than that,they do really cool down the underhood temps.

I ran Clifford headers for years w/out headers wrap & had not run into problems with the intake causing the fuel to boil.

Cali weather,never needed a choke.

MBHD

I'm running a clifford intake and custom headers that sit about 3/8 inch away from the intake. I will pull the wrap off this weekend and I am thing of ceramic coating the headers is that thew same as wraping them or will that make them last longer

Another approach is to get the headers ceramic coated, it will keep the heat in (not quite as much as wrap) and keep the tube from rusting.

Heat wrap is recommended for headers made of high temperature stainless steel such as Grade 321 or monel. 304 stainless steel tubing will tend to crack, and carbon steel will corrode/erode internally at the elevated temperatures.

The ceramic coating will help w/the heat,not as good as the thermal wrap.
The ceramic coating w/help the headers lasts longer.
With the thermal wrap,you can actually touch the header pipe w/your hands on a hot engine,can't do that w/just ceramic coating.


MBHD

Ceramic is pretty, somewhat efficient at reducing under-hood heat, and very expensive. IDK how durable. It may cost more than buying a new header every 3 years. Use a light color: silver or white.
Wrap is, 90% of the time (except: actual race cars with tuned exhaust, and turbos), posing. Any light color is filthy after 1 month, and impossible to clean. If you get an oil leak on it, it will smoke and stink for months. It's one of those things you look back on and say "what were you thinking? Did you dry your old shop rags on the engine?".

IIRC, I paid $80 to ceramic coat my SPA turbo exhaust manifold.


MBHD

I've been running a set of Pacesetter headers with ceramic coating on a Nissan 720 pickup that's been my daily driver for a bunch of years. I've had those headers on it for at least 5 or 6 years, and they still look good and show no signs of rust or corrosion. They were $100 more than the same header uncoated, so I'd say that the ceramic coating is more than worth the money. I'll never have another set of headers without it.

It's a great deal if you have buy them like that, sometimes they're guaranteed.
Having it done afterward is painfully $$.

I actually found a place in warminster pa not to far from me that does it reativley cheap I think it was like 175. Almost as much as I paid for 2 rolls of the wrap. The website is http://www.boneheadperformance.com they do powder coating to they did one of my buddies headers and a lot of powder coat for him to really good looking stuff. Thanks for all the input.

Panic is right, doing it afterwards is more costly. Jet Hot quoted me $350 bucks to coat a set of long tubes for a 6 cylinder for me when I last checked with them. Shorty styles will be a little cheaper.

Header life is reduced but I wouldn't take it off if it's working. It's not going to hurt your engine. Headers are kind of a consumable anyhow. Make sure your timing is right and dwell is proper, then check where your vacuum advance is hooked up and possibly switch it. Check for vacuum leaks. The headers on my V8 S-10 have been wrapped where they are close to the clutch master cylinder since 1999 and haven't rusted out yet.