exhaust wrap

need you guys advice, I've been thinking about wrapping my exhaust with exhaust wrap, but a friend told me to be careful as he had heard that this stuff can catch fire etc, weird as i thought if thats what it is designed for the last thing it would do is catch fire......would be good to reduce the heat from the exhausts in the engine bay, and secondly i really like the look of wrapped exhausts!!! thoughts, has anyone else heard if they can catch fire, also does this reduce the noise from the exhaust??


thanks
 

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Hi James,
If helps for sure to reduce the heat radiation on stainless steel exhausts.
On steel exhausts it also will help but less effect since steel radiates less heat as stainless.
Noise absorption...perhaps a bit on very thin stainless steel exhausts since they sound higher pitch...I prefer thicker stainless steel or normal steel as exhaust material.
Good quality exhaust wrap will not catch fire on its own.
If it would catch fire, perhaps some oil and fuel must be spilled on it.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
I did my GTD 's exhaust with ceramic coating inside and out. It's been 10 years now and still looks like new. The reduction in engine room heat is dramatic. Well worth the money IMHO.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
I did my GTD 's exhaust with ceramic coating inside and out. It's been 10 years now and still looks like new. The reduction in engine room heat is dramatic. Well worth the money IMHO.

And the wrap will eventually destroy the headers due to the high heat within. So if you've got a spare set laying around, the ceramic coating is what I see as the only long-term credible alternative.

http://www.centuryperformance.com/exhaust-header-heat-wraps-do-not-use.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUwxRT2MxDo
 
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Pat

Supporter
+1 on the ceramic coating.
I tried the header wrap and it eventually came to pieces with bits adhering to the header tubes. I had to get them media blasted to get the all the stuff off. After that, I went with the ceramic coating.
You may also consider directly shielding what you are trying to protect from the header heat. I've found ZIRCOFLEX and Lava Mat to effective under the rear deck.
 
And the wrap will eventually destroy the headers due to the high heat within. So if you've got a spare set laying around, the ceramic coating is what I see as the only long-term credible alternative.

Exhaust Header Heat Wraps - Do Not Use

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUwxRT2MxDo

If high heat will eventually destroy the headers, what's the difference between retaining the heat with tape or ceramic - won't it be the same thing?
Unless maybe you coat the inside also, and reduce the temp the metal is actually exposed to?
I've heard that tape retains moisture and that contributes to header failure if they're not stainless, but don't know if that's true or not.
I do have tape on stainless headers on an engine, and so far so good, but I realize that it doesn't prove anything!
 
I have had my headers wrapped on a 351 Cleveland for 20 years. Never an issue of it "coming off" or "catching fire". I guess it would if you threw gas all over it.

It reduced the engine bay temps significantly.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
If high heat will eventually destroy the headers, what's the difference between retaining the heat with tape or ceramic - won't it be the same thing?
Unless maybe you coat the inside also, and reduce the temp the metal is actually exposed to?
I've heard that tape retains moisture and that contributes to header failure if they're not stainless, but don't know if that's true or not.
I do have tape on stainless headers on an engine, and so far so good, but I realize that it doesn't prove anything!

I wished I could properly or technically explain the reasons. My best understanding is that the wrap increases the temperature of the header material beyond acceptable limits, whereas the coating allows the header material to see overall lower temps that are not conducive to it's deterioration. I've seen several wrapped headers deteriorate quickly (within a couple of years), and I've also seen my coated headers (many of them) last beyond the ownership of many cars (15 years +).
 
They have known for a long while, that high heat can cause the steel to "glow", and
will eventually cause the steel to "flake off". Stove manufacturers have known this for a long time and try many ways to control the temps(air entrainment) so that they don't get too high. I am planning on starting up the manufacture of a low tech stove for home and/or workshop heating. A retirement business for something to do after July 31st. In the early days of the development of these stoves(Google "Rocket stoves") they found out that the burn chambers were being destroyed by the high temps that they were seeing. 1/4" steel pipes were literally gone, in huge sections due to the heat. All they could find in the bottom of the stoves was flecks of steel.
Adding ceramic coating to the inside of the cars exhaust pipe(s) keeps the heat from ever getting to the steel, thus increasing the life of the metal.

Bill
 
Played with rocket stoves (small ones) for fun.
Did one using 4 concrete blocks, stacked correctly. It worked well enough to cook a meal.

Sounds like an interesting endeavor Bill.
 
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