Header Wrap

[mln385]

Well since the engine bay gets so hot on these cars, I am thinking of going wih some header wrap.

Any opinions on the plus or minus's?
I have seen a thread or 2 saying this makes your welds fail on the headers?

Marc

[Cobrabill]

All header companies will void the warrantee if you wrap them.It makes the metal crack from heat fatigue.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by mln385

Well since the engine bay gets so hot on these cars, I am thinking of going wih some header wrap.

You're better off ceramic coating your headers.

[Cobrabill]

I coated my headers and wrapped them-once.Then i got edu-ma-cated and removed the wrap.What were once nice shiny silver headers now looked like blasted grey headers.

Food for thought.

[Michael C Henry]

My car came from Reno NV where it competed in Virginia City Hill Cimb and had with wrapped headers. The wrapped headers looked great and underhood temps were OK. A week later the first turn on #7 let loose. I had fiberglass fibers everywhere. Once I unwrapped the rest of the headers , there were so many (large and tiny) fractues (looked like a web)that it was obvious there was no saving that set of headers. Once I had a new working set of headers and sidepipes, I had them ceramic coated inside and out. I had headers, collectors, and turn out pipes and three sets of interchangable 3 1/2" mufflers, EM original, Low-Bak, and open striaght pipes, no glasspaks. It all looks like polished alluminum. the car also came with heatsheilds for the nearby body areas like the footboxes. Thin skin layer of alluminum and a 1/2" thick layer of stiff fiberglass mat insulation

[Roscoe]

I've had my headers wrapped for over 9 years and 25k miles. They are in just as good a shape as they were when I wrapped them. I've had them off for a motor rebuild two years ago. If you do it properly it's fine; assuming the steel your headers are made out of is not poor quality or thin wall.

Roscoe

[HI Cobra]

Mine were wrapped for 6 years. They started looking gnarly so I had the
headers and some new side pipes ceramic coated at the same time. I had
about 15k miles on mine and they were still fine - no problems coating them
either - just thought I'd try something else and the price was great.

[Excaliber]

I wrapped mine a few years ago, there holding up well, no issues. WOW, what a difference THAT made in footwell temps, you gotta do SOMETHING to get a handle on the heat, thats for sure.

[mln385]

Thanks for the input my headers are ceramic coated but it still gets hot!

Seams like half the responces are good and the other half are bad.

Marc

[601HP]

We started riding in our Cobra in late 1994. The primary header pipes were ceramic coated but not wrapped at that time. There were some in-town rides when we thought our tennis shoe soles were about to melt.

I had the primary headers re-coated, exterior and interior, by Jet-Hot in about 1995 or 1996. This second coating was not their standard coating, but a higher temp coating rated to somewhere around 1900 degrees. I chose this coating because of some premature peeling of their original coating. The newer ceramic material has a texture that is quite grainey looking, but not of any consequence to me because I wrapped the pipes after the new coating.

Over the years I've had those same pipes off several times, most recently this past winter when I re-wrapped them. The pipes show no deterioration, exterior or interior. I am certain the ceramic coating protection has been the primary reason.

What an amazing temperature difference the wrap makes, in the engine bay and riding compartment. I can reach into the engine bay after a drive and quickly drag my hand against a pipe and not be burned.

David

[Roscoe]

Here's how I wrapped mine:

Sprayed the headers with ceramic paint and baked in bbq. Wrapped headers and then sprayed again and baked in bbq. This final coating protects from moisture getting into the wrap.

Roscoe

[Michael C Henry]

My headers and side pipes get hot when running . I had melted a large hole in the right side of my shorts recently when they breifly touched momentearily. The car was jacked up about 2 feet off the floor and I was reaching over the fender to operate the throttle. I'm also warry about leaving the car set over any part of the grass I may want to keep when it is still hot. I did that a few times than noticed the dead grass pattern matched the engine and sidepipes. It would be affective for controling the grass in the center of the alley. I also use the perforated SS sidepipe heatsheilds from FinishLine accessories.

Remember every descission has a consequence.