Exhaust wrap?

[mjmcbride1]

Saw some exhaust wrap in the JC Whitney mag this week, and was wondering if this stuff actually works in reducing heat. The NC summers are at times painful with the heat coming in. Wanted some opinions before i drop the big $20 bucks for this stuff. If its a gimmick or junk, i would rather blow the $20 on something else i dont 'need' but gotta 'have' from a EB vendor....any opinions/advice is welcomed!...thanks!

 

[dewshan]

It will reduce heat-but there are some drawbacks I think -- Do You have headers? I added some just around my starter area to help protect it from the header heat. could promote rust if water gets between exhaust and wrap. I think most header companies do not recommend it. I used thermo tec and it was in the $40 to $50 range.

 

[mjmcbride1]

I do have headers. Thanks for the heads up; in the event i do this, should i be skeptical of the price of less than 20 bucks for a roll of this stuff? You mentioned it cost you around 40-50 bucks, so i am curious if the cheap stuff is junk/potentially problematic.....

 

[RustyShackelfor]

it'll smoke a lot when you first put it on

 

[mjmcbride1]

awesome....anything to piss off (in a passive/aggressive manner) my hippie neighbor!!

 

[7elk]

Works good to protect starters but I would not wrap the header with it. I used some wrap on the starter in my high-boy because I got tired of replacing starters.

 

[dewshan]

Yes it will smoke for a while --smells pretty bad. I wrapped my starter with a thermo blanket and then put the wrap on the headers just on the area that runs near the starter. maybe overkill but thats the way it goes. If you have super ceramic coated or titanium headers probably be ok - I have regular steel headers- If they were wrapped entirely I think they would start to rust and get nasty - I got the wrap at a local auto store so not the best price- I am in a mad scramble to get mine back on the road!

 

[jim3326]

I wrapped both headers full length then sprayed it with the coating that came in the kit. It smoked a lot for about 20 min. and that was it. It did drop the temp about 30* at the floorboard. Haven't seen any rust so far but then again it doesn't get real wet around here. Oh yea, they are the full length headers also.

Jim W.

 

[markperry]

Looks like a pain in the a$$ to apply......insulate the interior and be done with it...my2 cents!

 

[dbevans2249]

I wraped a set of headers with it once. They were destroyed in less than 2500 miles. Held in so mush heat the headers burned out the "spider" between the tubes at the collector.

 

[mjmcbride1]

Man, that sucks....sounds like i am better off fixing my firewall/insulation issue than i am messing with this wrap biz-ness.

 

[markperry]

Man, that sucks....sounds like i am better off fixing my firewall/insulation issue than i am messing with this wrap biz-ness.

Their ya go .....That's probably your best bet!

 

[Broncobowsher]

I used header wrap once becasue the header was stupid close the the trans pan gasket. So close that the only way to install the header collector ring was to index it so it would clear the pan. I wraped it. The aluminum collector gasket never failed, but when I took it apart the gasket had melted and started to drool. It was only a degree or two away from completely letting loose. But being that close, it never scorched the gasket. So it did work. But I wouldn't do it again.

A cheap eBay carpet kit (with pad) was the best thing I ever did for controlling floor heat.

 

[gumbydood]

Thermal wrap is good for heat, but bad for the metal. Holds all the heat in and can cause premature failure of the metal. Also a pain in the ass to install, but you only have to do it once (per set of headers, that is).

I did do a thermal blanket on the starter of my cheby van, and spark plug boot insulators on it, since vans tend to run hotter than other rigs. I've never had a heat soak starter failure in 40K+ miles in that rig, and never cooked a plug wire boot either. Can't say I would have without the insulation, just that I didn't with it.

 

[Viperwolf1]

If you have the space, a nice aluminum heat shield between the exhaust and the floor would really help.

 

[Steve83]

The exhaust heat HAS to get out. If it doesn't radiate into the engine bay, it'll stay red-hot until it gets to the floor, the muffler, or the tailpipe. You can't stop it - you can only choose WHERE it comes out & which direction it goes. So don't wrap it - use a blanket on one side, or heat shields, or both. Be conscious of the airflow - you want air moving between the body & the heat shield, then out & away. On Frank's, we did everything: blankets, heat shields (sheet metal & self-adhesive), DynaMat, carpet, headliner, & upholstery.

 

[idhawkdriver]

If you have the space, a nice aluminum heat shield between the exhaust and the floor would really help.

I used some exhaust clamps and some sheet metal to make a heat shield under the passenger floor board that clamped onto my exhaust pipes. Heat still comes off the pipes but gets deflected downwards. Worked pretty good. Cost me a couple bucks and about 15 minutes to install.

 

[73azbronco]

tripple ditto the heat shield idea. Got that from my tacoma, lots of thin sheet metal deflectors along different parts of the exhasut held on with hose clamps.

 

[mjmcbride1]

Thanks for the ideas 'steve, idhawk and 73az"....heat shield hadnt even crossed my mind but makes sense when you talk about keeping the air flow in the engine compartmet, but redirecting that heat downward/outward.....