Header Wrap - Yes or No? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

***Eye8Pussies*** · 10-25-2008, 01:16 PM

So, some of us will be trying the new obx performance headers (+y-pipe) that obx just came out with as a replica of the jpp setup (it's a lot cheaper $350+ shipping for the whole setup) and I was thinking about header wrap

of course, there is a lot of discussion about the pros and cons about it. I'd like to keep my engine bay temps down- basically because it makes things better for everything under the hood, especially fluid temps.

But the debate is over how holding the heat in the headers will shorten their lifespan and promote cracking and the brittleness of the headers, and also how they will cause the headers to rot by holding moisture in.

For the moisture issue, that can be dealt with, as there is high temp header clearcoat spray that can be used to seal the headerwrap from moisture, and the headers are also stainless steel, so they shouldn't rust or rot.

As for the holding in heat issue and damaging the headers though....not as sure.

I'm looking for performance and reliability, while also trying to keep things looking nice under the hood. I'm not the biggest fan of the look of header wrap compared to the look of nice shiny stainless steel (maybe a bit gold after the heat lol), but I think I can deal with black headerwrap. My other alternative is to build a heat shield for the headers, since I don't want the headers to give off crazy heat in the engine bay- even the stock header's heat shield has a use.

Ideas, opinions, experiences?

bigbird · 10-25-2008, 01:37 PM

the OBX ones i have are unwraped and they have been on there for over a year. so far the only issues are discoloring. i have not had any problems with heat soak effecting cooling either. but im not running boost so i know your exhaust temp will be higher then mine. in your case it may help keep the rad and oil pan cooler.

i was going to wrap them but a friend of mine suggested either having them ceramic coated or just leaving them as is.

***Eye8Pussies*** · 10-25-2008, 01:46 PM

yah...I'd go with ceramic coating...but for headers this cheap...the coating will cost more than the headers lol...that, and....well....poor broke grad student here...

and also, yeah, I'm only considering this as a possible need because of boost. if my car was still NA, then I would just leave the headers as is

bigbird · 10-25-2008, 01:52 PM

personally id do at least the front bank headers and the Y-pipe below the oil pan. im hoping the 4 psi i run will be low enough not to have to wrap.

***Eye8Pussies*** · 10-25-2008, 01:54 PM

hey! you should do your experiment again with the air temps as a before and after if you do it...I bet there'll be a good 10-20degree difference in the engine bay for sure

groovemasterodi · 10-25-2008, 02:02 PM

the coat-moisture clearcoat, plus a wrap I think would work fine. I know several people who live on their Harley's and a few of them have done the similar thing, and it holds up. Their's is exterior so after awhile they'll replace it for appearances, and I haven't heard anyone raging about it ruining their header or exhaust.

bigbird · 10-25-2008, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eye8Pussies

hey! you should do your experiment again with the air temps as a before and after if you do it...I bet there'll be a good 10-20degree difference in the engine bay for sure

Oh im gonna, i dont see why the gen3 would be any different then the gen4.

samarai912 · 10-25-2008, 03:10 PM

Just coat your bare pipes with something like thermotech 2100 degree paint let dry then wrap them( let dry) ,spray your wrap w/ thermotech and your done. when I removed my wrap it was as good as new. if I were you I'd go buy the hotcoat powder coating system. use it then return it

.

Venom_5 · 10-25-2008, 03:27 PM

we used it on the kart if u remember it from the pics i posted last year ... but on a street car i would never do it, i would spend the money on ceramic coating and be happy

if u really dont want them coated then paint them & bake them

Luckynumber5 · 10-25-2008, 04:33 PM

I would ceramic coat before wrapping, but since the quality of the welds is questionable I think spending any money on them to hold heat in might be a bad idea in the long run. Since they are steel heat won;t really be an issue.

There are quite a few turbo Grand Prixs running uncoated unwrapped exhaust (and there is a LOT under the hood of a 3800) with few underhood heat problems.

Cast iron vents a lot of heat into the engine bay, but I bet you will be suprised at how much less the steel will

***Eye8Pussies*** · 10-25-2008, 04:57 PM

^ you know, it's funny that you should mention that, because I was just thinking about the heat dissipation properties of stainless steel...and I think that it's a very valid argument for not needing to wrap the headers

we're not too sure about the quality of the welds, but from what we've seen so far, they look to be pretty solid.

as for all the suggestions to paint the headers...why on earth would I want to paint SS headers? if they were mild steel, then I could understand. also, what would painting them have to do with containing heat?? lol

Venom_5 · 10-25-2008, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eye8Pussies

as for all the suggestions to paint the headers...why on earth would I want to paint SS headers? if they were mild steel, then I could understand. also, what would painting them have to do with containing heat?? lol

*facepalm*

ceramic paints hold heat in the same way that a header wrap would ... thats why

and it doesnt matter if they are stainless steel or not, unless you bought SS for the bling factor ... i personally would rather have them coated and get rid of the chrome look

frenum49 · 10-25-2008, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by groovemasterodi

the coat-moisture clearcoat, plus a wrap I think would work fine. I know several people who live on their Harley's and a few of them have done the similar thing, and it holds up. Their's is exterior so after awhile they'll replace it for appearances, and I haven't heard anyone raging about it ruining their header or exhaust.

Yeah my buddy has header wrap on his Indian pipes. Used to heat up his right shoe and leg pretty good. It does ad a hot-rod look to the bike. I plan on wrapping the headers for my Nash for this look. Of course this would not apply to the Camry. I just wanted to remind you that once the wrap has a few good miles on it, the fabric impression will copy itself to the pipe so if you change your mind later and remove it, it will look shitty.

samarai912 · 10-25-2008, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frenum49

I just wanted to remind you that once the wrap has a few good miles on it, the fabric impression will copy itself to the pipe so if you change your mind later and remove it, it will look shitty.

thats why I mentioned that if you paint the pipe first with high temp/ ceramic/ or thermo the pipe won't even have a mark on it from wrap.

bigbird · 10-25-2008, 05:57 PM

my headers on my old OLD car had ceramic coating and they got HOT and staied hot because of it, but they were mild steel and not stainless. the ones on my current car actually cool quite quickly so i could see that as being possible. than again, thoes headers were on a iron big block V8 which generated alot of heat anyways. i mean its not a huge job to put them on then see. if they generate to much heat with the 7 psi then you can take them off and wrap them.

as for quality, like i said before, mine have been on the car for well over a year and no problems, and they look cheaper then the JPP copies your gettin.

ive never seen anyone paint headers except for asthetics, which can look really cool. most guys ive seen wrap or have them ceramic coated.