i've used wrap on headers before and it definitely ages the non coated ones faster. is there any reason not to wrap cast manifolds? my engine bay gets hot on its own and to help the heat issue i'd like to wrap the stock manifolds on my ls. any experience with this?
-
Aug. 25, 2011 9:25 a.m. itsarebuild Reader
-
Aug. 25, 2011 10:49 a.m. Raze Dork
In reply to itsarebuild:
helped crack the cast iron manifold on our XR4 in no time. On the up side the engine bay was significantly cooler, downside, it was smoky...
-
Aug. 25, 2011 10:51 a.m. Teh E36 M3 HalfDork
Mine was really smokey. And it cracked my (non cast) header.
-
Aug. 25, 2011 10:59 a.m. N Sperlo Dork
I was thinking about the same thing.
+1 on the heat shield...
-
Aug. 25, 2011 11:17 a.m. itsarebuild Reader
Raze wrote:
In reply to itsarebuild:
helped crack the cast iron manifold on our XR4 in no time. On the up side the engine bay was significantly cooler, downside, it was smoky...
that is pretty much what i was afraid of... was the Xr4 turbo?
-
Aug. 25, 2011 11:23 a.m. RossD SuperDork
I think that is the reason why manufacturers use heat shields rather than wrapping. Could a fabbed heat shield help? You could add in brake ducting to route to the heat shields...if you have room for it.
-
Aug. 25, 2011 12:11 p.m. cwh SuperDork
All XR4s are turbo.
-
Aug. 25, 2011 12:30 p.m. itsarebuild Reader
RossD wrote:
I think that is the reason why manufacturers use heat shields rather than wrapping. Could a fabbed heat shield help? You could add in brake ducting to route to the heat shields...if you have room for it.
at least one of them already has a heat sheild. while they do protect adjacency specific parts from extraordinary heat, they dont do much to reduce ambient temps under the hood from rising... and i'd like to use my ducted air for other things if i can.
i think most of the reason manufacturer's dont do it is because it takes too much labor to wrap individual parts and correctly apply fasteners. a heat sheild is a stamp it, join it bolt it operation..... basically 30 minutes vs 15 seconds. and since most cars have their floor pan and fire wall insulation in tact and dont get ridden as hard as this one will it generally doesnt matter.
-
Aug. 25, 2011 12:58 p.m. HiTempguy Dork
A ceramic coating is WAY better than a wrap.
-
Aug. 25, 2011 1:16 p.m. itsarebuild Reader
HiTempguy wrote:
A ceramic coating is WAY better than a wrap.
true, but i dont have any ceramic coating lying around my garage from other old projects!
-
Aug. 25, 2011 1:49 p.m. Raze Dork
In reply to itsarebuild:
Yeah it's a turbo, and it's got a secondary brace so it wasn't the turbo hanging off it that cracked it. Matter of fact we cracked 2 before we stopped wrapping the header, problem solved...
-
Aug. 25, 2011 1:58 p.m. dculberson HalfDork
So, wrap the header and have it crack or buy ceramic coating? I would say using the wrap is false economy.
-
Aug. 25, 2011 2:27 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork
everything I have read on wrapping.. it corrodes/breaks the manifold. How about coating?
-
Aug. 25, 2011 2:57 p.m. HiTempguy Dork
mad_machine wrote:
everything I have read on wrapping.. it corrodes/breaks the manifold. How about coating?
The coating protects the manifold from corrosion, as well as does not trap moisture like a wrap does. Beyond that, a coating is simple once done, unlike a wrap which can come loose, fall off, be a pain to install, be a pain to work around, etc.
And if you find the right person, coating doesn't cost that much more once you factor in the labour of wrapping correctly, and how much that wrap costs
-
Aug. 25, 2011 3:07 p.m. Dr. Hess SuperDork
Be careful not to get the inside ceramic coated. Those coatings can flake off, and flakes rushing towards a spooled up turbo is not a good thing.
-
Aug. 25, 2011 3:23 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork
I was considering having the manifold and downpipe off of the saab coated.. I will have to check prices
