There is a substantial amount of heat which emits from the headers as my MCS heats up, or under spirited driving...like all others. This heat then enters the nearby engine area and heats up the intercooler. I was wondering if by heat wrapping the header, could it keep the engine area/intercooler slightly cooler and therefore give a better performance? Or when the car is in motion, cool air from outside enters the vents and this heat then becomes negligible as more air gets forced through the vents? Is it worth doing this mod?

 

Yes and yes. The more you keep the heat in the header the faster it flows thru the header. Thats about as technical I can get, but can steer you to a more educated answer if you like I ceramic coated mine because I didn't think I could do a good enough job in wrapping it, but wrapping is supposed to be better than coating it.

 

Though not "cheap"--M7 has a very effective 'lil "blanket" that takes about 15 min to install---check it out ---wrapping a header IS way cool--- but "aerogel"

 

I have the M7 aerogel too, but it only keeps the engine bay cooler....does nothing for the actual header.

 

I have my aftermarket header wrapped with DEI Titanium wrap and it is definitely cooler in the engine bay than when I had the OEM header and all the head shielding. I removed the heat shields above the header but kept the one over the PS pump

 

Jimmini, i wouldnt mind the more technical explaination!
Judging from the lack of responses, is it fair to say that this mod is not done by the masses and contrast to that its not worth it?

 

"53": the Warriors got it "the way"-------but I (personally) don't think ENOUGH guys have DONE MINIS to trully have ALL the answers. I think that the wrap is containing TOO much (heat) & the possibilies exist of shortening the "life span" of both the primary o2 & the cat itself. Those header mfgs take into acct the heat loss in radiation or otherwise they WOULDN't work "properly"; it "convects" and is one of the MAIN reasons for the "equality" in length. IF you wrap it up-well?? You said the eng comp / bay is gettin too hot------right ?? Thats why the heat shield & then peter came up w/ the aerogel---I've gone so far as to use a VERY accurate thermo IN the bay ; then debated all the "fixes" and ended up using the louvre set up from "coolrunning" and the m7 aerogel----but thats just me and just an alternative-----stared at that header and in truth I kinda wished I'd wrapped it-but those guys that engineer all the goodies surrounding & connected to it didn't and I think they may be on to something cause it DOES get TERRIBLE hot in that locale and "directing" it somewhere else versus "deflecting" it seems to work super (for me) -40 deg min diff over stock in the eng bay & that IS "a bit"

 

I like Wrap Ihave run in the Japaneese tuning circles for years and used a lot of it, there is nothing like being able to drive youd car 30 miles than grab the header with your bare hands. The whole intention of wrap is to keep the exahust gases as hot as possible, because hot air moves faster, and the faster you get the spent gases out the more efficently the header will work. I have even wraped my entire Exahust up to the muffler before.
The only down side is that with too much heat any header will crack and the thinner the metal the more likely it will happen to you(Cheeper headers often use thin cheap steel)Keeping the heat out of the engine bay that is just a good side effect.

 

I've also heard the downside of wraps is that they tend to degrade the header. With EGT's in the 1200-1500F range, you're well into the stress relief zone and almost to annealing the steel. A lot of heat is lost (as you can tell) into the engine bay. Coatings are nice because you get it on the inside and outside so less heat gets to the header to begin with.

I've used wraps on racecars but not on the street. They're also not going to last as long as a good coating because it's just fiberglass cloth, it's going to work itself loose at some point; even if you safety wire the entire length.

 

 

PMed you

 

Jimmini: THAT IS BEUTIFUL !! One question:do you keep a shield by the power stearing pump ?? I've heard conflicting thoughts----I don't know why a guy wouldn't (insurance) but then YOUR job--------WOW !! I wonder if there IS someway to "failsafe" the material ?? Anyhow--I know some Italian net fisherman who'd like to talk to you !! heh heh--REALLY NICE

 

Well.....that is not mine I can link you to who did it He is not on NAM anymore I posted those just to show what can be done

 

One simple method is to put heat reflective material on the underside of the heat shield. I did it with a DEI product and I recorded consistent measurable, temperature differences on the surface of the heat shield. There's a thread in here somewhere about it....

 

the problem is that the header generates too much heat that if you do wrap it...it will warp and shorten the lifespan of the header...the heatwrap is a trick usually done by professional race teams because they dont use those parts for a long period of time so if it does warp they can just toss it away and move on to another...plus also if it gets wet or water does manage to get in there it has been known to corrode the metal...there is a reason why the ps hoses get heat shields...ive driven my mini in stop and go traffic in some hot places and honestly it doesnt heat up to the point that a header wrap would be necessary but if you have the money to constantly swap out headers when they warp by all means go for it

 

According to the thermal fluids guy on my SAE team ceramic coating your headers reduces power. I'm going to bug him for a thorough explanation though.

The best explanation I can come up with for that is if the exhaust gases are approaching sonic velocities in some areas. If that is the case then you either want to slow the gas down or get bigger pipes. I really need to bother him about this one.

 

I've wrapped numerous headers and never have had warping issues. I've had my header on my mini wrapped for 12k miles many of them hard miles and its still perfect today. Unless you store the mini for extended periods of time rust will not form. The water that does get trapped is easily and quickly turned into steam. Sure, certain heat coats like SPCoating EXTREME works well but the cost and ease of install with header wrap makes it all worth while

 

wow....sonic speeds man? There is no way the air leaving the cylinder head is at levels near that. Granted if they were it would make sense to increase the diameter of the piping to decrease the effective speed but in this case that is not the issue... increasing velocity out of the cylinder head is what increases power output. Hence why we install bigger, longer tube headers and larger diameter exhausts

 

I've been wrapped for a long long time. The stories of people having problem are from the days of mild steel headers. Modern headers made form better material like 304 stainless will not have problem's.

LB

The mummy

 

that looks almost identical to mine