Ive been checking under my hood lately after long runs to check that my new oil cooler lines arnt leaking. Anyway, there is a crap ton of heat comming from the headers. This is kind of obvious but I never really thought about it; one way to stop heat soak in the inter cooler is to stop the heat from the engine itself. The main source of heat under there that I could feel is the headers. These exhaust wraps claim to lower under hood temps by 70%. Has anyone tryed them? They seem like a really good idea. I might order the intake heat reflector and sticky backed aluminum sheets for the intercooler. All of these in combination could really keep things cool. Oh, is it hard to remove the header?

 

this stuff certainly helps but install requires the header to be off the car. Same people offer sleeves which you might be able to install w/ headers already installed.

Another choice is a heat resistant powder coat (forget tech name).

Other things to look at is the M7 aerogel engine blanket. M7 started w/ the DFlC aerogel blanket then progressed to a engine blanket and I expect them to apply this to other areas.

 

I have my header wrapped with that stuff, and as someone said when I installed it: if you try to wrap the header without removing it, then please take a video and share it with us!! We all need a good laugh now and then.
Related to my question on your oil cooler thread: where is all that heat going, that you are insulating/reflecting and otherwise absorbing with all this insulation and blankets and aerogel? There are those of us who have a slightly different approach--heat management is about air flow, and hence heat flow. The radiator, engine block and header must radiate heat, by definition, to work. The challenge is to remove that heat quickly, and away from intake components. This is a big challenge, grasshopper...

good luck,

 

I believe that was me

 

if the header is in the car and you don't want to remove the header here are two options that MIGHT work

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

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

 

Yes, and I took your words to heart! It would have been almost (and I use that term reservedly) impossible to wrap it properly in-car. It was still not-easy with it on my work bench. But it has lasted over 6k with no problems. (touch wood)

 

+1 on all of that! Heat management is the key, not heat suppresion....

 

I may be wrong, but I recall suggesting a post that this header wrap stuff is extremely harmful to your header as it will lead to premature failure (ie - disintegration?) since it basically keeps all the heat within the header and superheating the metal. This is opposed to ceramic coating the inside of a header which would just superheat the air that is traveling through it. I might be wrong, but I don't know where I came up with that idea. I'm only 22 now, I can't imagine what will happen in another decade...

 

Here's a link to some info:
http://www.centuryperformance.com/heatwraps.asp

Jim

 

I guess I'm not going senile...

 

Waaay back before I had a MINI I used some of that thermo wrap on a header I had installed on an early 80's Civic (only weighed ~1700 but had sewing machine motor!). The header wrap did seem to help reduce the underhood temps, but the header essentially disintegrated (the wrap was basically holding the basic shape of the header which at that point was a pile of FeO2) within about 1 year. It was not a stainless header, though, so that could help somewhat with longevity.

 

I used http://www.jet-hot.com/ to do a couple headers and exhaust pipes. They were looking nappy before. After they looked great and the coating never degraded. I used a coating that looked like aluminum.

You mail your part off, comes back pretty quick.

As far as whether it kept heat in I have no idea, didn't measure it, so can't give a first person feedback or data on that. Plenty of people saying it does, though.

 

Ok dumb question alert...

Are ceramic coats applied to both the inside and the outside of the headers?

For some goofy reason I always thought they were only applied to the outside.

But considering the article linked above and after thinking about it...umm...duh...they must be on the inside and outside...right? If so then I guess it's a no brainer on why they're better than just the old school heat wraps!

 

Inside and out (at least at jet-hot they're the only one I use)

 

According to Jet-Hot, at least one of their services is doing the inside and outside.

However, I don't think the benefit of it getting coated is just simply that there are two layers of insulation. It's mainly the fact that the inner coating traps most of the heat before it even hits the metal which is the real benefit of coating in my opinion.

I'm not too sure why it's coated on the outside though, doesn't it cause a similar problem to the headerwraps? It would seem more beneficial to just coat the inside and whatever heat that passes the coating should be allowed through the metal and into the air rather than trapping it in the metal althought at significantly lower temps than the header wrap, but still...

 

Some photos of my ceramic coated OBX should be found here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...7&postcount=94

Jim

 

Hot metal exposed to air oxidizes too. Coating the outside keeps the metal from oxidizing. So it won't rust from the outside in. Some people do this coating just for cosmetics. Normal powder coating doesn't work as well on exhaust.

They also promote lower under-hood temps, trapping the heat so turbos and catalytic converters work better. The layer on the outside adds another insulation layer so keeps more heat from escaping to the air.

I'm not sure, but I think jet-hot always does inside and outside if its a header. It's not a special treatment.

 

i understand this is a great way to ruin a cat . from the excessive heat . also it is said the life of the header itself will be cut short .

 

Are you guys using or thinking about using heat wrap professional racers?

 

OK, here's my take on my header wrap: I have a $200 Megan header. Actually I have 2, so one is a spare. I wrapped and sealed the header for about $80 and installed it. External temperatures are clearly lower, and the failure of wrapped headers was almost exclusively in steel, not stainless steel headers. But even if mine disintegrates, or has a shorter life than normal, I have a spare. I recon that all that ceramic coating, especially on the inside, just sends all that hot air (btw, Q:why does the header get hot? A:from the exhaust gas... so the ceramic coating isn't going to super-heat the exhaust gas) down to the cat, and resonators and mufflers, which if poorly made, contains fiberglass that turns to glass when heated by exhaust gases and then rattles..)

 

After all this, I dont think I'll bother with heat supression. Anyone tried hooking up a few PC fans in various areas to circulate air?

 

I didn't mean to discourage you--I meant to encourage you to think about heat management rather than heat supression! I also considered PC fans at one time, and I think the response was that they can't move enough air to make a significant difference, especially once the car gets moving and the air starts flowing around under the bonnet. But they might help at stop lights, and between drag runs.

 

The most interesting point made in that article http://www.centuryperformance.com/heatwraps.asp was:

Exactly my point in using this quote;

My OBX is Jet-Hot inside and out, no worries

 

Clarification...

DEI is the premier supplier of thermal material including an exhaust wrap. This forum thread was emailed to me by a consumer who frequently visits this thread and after reading all the posts I am compelled to make some statements in hopes of clarifying (ADMINs/MODs - not to advertise) some of the posts and questions posed by members.

 

DEI- I actually puchased the DEI wrap and paint for my headers, but after this thread I am hesitant. I would like to hear more from DEI though!!!