That's A Wrap

[8Ball]

Has anyone tried wrapping thier exhaust pipes? Back page of Sept. MCN magazine has short article claiming 20 degree cooler oil and 'huge' decrease in heat coming out of vents of a Duck.

JC Whitney link

 

[jbay]

DON"T BOTHER IT DOES NOTHING FOR THE HEAT . I know from experience.

 

[nusman68]

I don't know what the latest data is....when that stuff was first marketed (back in the 80's?) my brother used it in a car he restored; the header, even though it had some upgrade plating on it, lasted about half as long as it should have..the manufacturer blamed the wrap..(hmmm...)

Looks like Jbay there has some first hand knowledge.

I see ThermoTec is selling some now, the claim its better...?

 

[slapnpop]

The wrap is just an insulater. It keeps more heat in the pipes, and through the rest of your exhaust.

*From here forward the post is all personal conjecture*

The increased temps inside the exhaust will probably carry on down into your cats and on into the pipes from there. The increased temp could prematurely burn up the cats, and if your exhause is of the fiberglass stuff typed (or other stuffings) the heat could be an issue here too.

 

[radman]

Wellllll.....race cars wrap the headers not for compartment insulation as much as for improved scavenging. The heat through the length of the system maintains expanding flow towards the exit. As far as the cats, they love heat. Heat is the engine that makes them operate, hence their location so far forward on any exhaust system. In fact, A.I.R. systems are in place for the purpose of providing enough oxygen to complete combustion of any residual fuel using the cats for ignitors. The AIR system in the feej operates only when the engine is cold-this same operation gets the cats up to speed quickly by completing the combustion left unfinished in a cold motor due to the richer starting mix, and relies on the unburned residual mixture exiting the cylinders to accomplish this. While the wrap may have limited success in reducing radiated heat from the exhaust, in the same way insulating the tank only delays the inevitable, I don't see it hurting anything in the exhaust system. Cats commonly run at 1000 to 1200 degrees, hence the heat shields covering most of them-on top to protect the vehicle, below to help prevent starting brush and other contacted materials from bursting into flame, hence the warning usually seen in owners manuals about parking over such materials. A more efficient heat shield for the exhaust would be just that-sheet metal located above the exhaust, while still allowing cooling airflow beneath.

 

[nusman68]

The Radster....gettin' technical! Very good explanation, BTW. In the case of my brother, the header from TRD (Toyota Racing Development) (insert turd joke here) was cooking the power steering rack seals; after wrapping the header, problem solved & underhood temps were noticeably reduced; life of the header was dramatically shortened, however. The TRD 'techline' told him that the extra temp. was killing the header, and not to use wraps, saying they were tantamount to snake oil.....like Rad said, race teams use them; in a true racecar, who cares how long the headers last, right?

If the TRD guys weren't making up some BS, perhaps that risk wouldn't be as high in the Feej since ram air is blowing over the header pipe....cooling it.

IIRC, I saw a thread here somewhere (not too long ago) where a guy was reporting postive results with header wrap in making his FJR run cooler...

 

[HondaCBX6]

Don't do it! Technical stuff aside, it looks like crap. And will turn all sorts of crap like color. It will stink like crap every time it gets wet. And will eventually fray and look like frayed crap. There I said it. CRAP!

@Radman

Great explanation.... But I thought that they ran closer to 1500 degrees.

In any case when I borrowed a freinds 1976 Mustang (in '82) (because I was in school and needed some wheels) and it didn't seem to be running quite right. I parked it in a dry field at a kegger party. Needless to say the whole field caught fire! I managed to move the car onto the road and we extinguished the fire. But that CAT was glowing so red it was almost white! I thought it was going to start the whole car on fire. It turned out the cat was plugged and was removed the next week. The car ran great after we removed it.

 

[galxy5]

what he said

scavenging. The heat through the length of the system maintains expanding flow towards the exit

I have the pipes wraped on my Harley bobber and Indian chopper,,

so the exhaust expands and flows out the pipes for better breathing,, it is the same for Hot Rods,, as none of these bikes or cars have cats,,

not such a good idea for the FJR,, as it will over heat the cat

 

[radman]

Only thing that will overheat the cat is an overly rich mixture, as in CBX's Mustang. Cats plug due to melting of the substrate, caused by ultra high temps from-you guessed it-too much fuel in the stream. A misfiring cylinder will dump raw unburned fuel down the exhaust,. eventually killing the cat. A plugged cat is a symptom, not a cause, of engine problems. Until, of course, it resembles Chernobyl.....

 

[roadrash]

I think Radman got it right the fjr runs lean and the cats love heat, unless the engine is running rich. If the engine was running rich the cats would burn up anyway only a bit slower.

The tape should work to help with the heat fix and improve exhaust flow and performance.

 

[spine60]

Wow, that would look nice!!

 

[panthercity]

Exhaust wrap is good for performance, tough on the pipes themselves. Holds in the moisture that condenses as the pipes cool. We used to wrap the pipes on the race bikes (4-strokes) but we put new pipes on regularly. We've used some of the ceramic coatings (not a do-it-yourself project for most folks). It significantly improved scavenging while keeping external pipe temps down.

Have zip-zero-nada experience with catcons and wrapping.

 

[ohiofjr]

Header wrap was a distinct plus for me as my honkin big feet are much much happier with the heat reduced. That said if you don't ride with your toes tucked in for ground clearance the won't be much apparent change for you. The only down side that I see after 12k miles is that the honey gold color that the heat changes the pipe to is now all the way back to the mufflers.