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Header wrap

texas_bugeye

Jedi Knight
Offline
I'm thinking of wrapping my header to contain engine bay temprature. Question is does it work and is there any down side to doing it? Its already getting hot down here and I'm looking for ways to keep it cool and ME! also looking to puting some dynamat or somthing on some of the panels floorboards.

948 wont pull an AC unit.
Maybe a swamp cooler on the deck lid?
 
I have header wrap on our Mini. There are benefits but the scuttle-butt is that there are issues.

First, I do find the firewall and engine compartment are cooler. I bought my wrap on sale and therefore, it wasn't much of an investment.

Second, wrap has a reputation for trapping condensation that can cause the header to perforate sooner. This is one reason why some people prefer to use ceramic coating instead of wrap.

In my case, the header was already a bit rusted and I patched the holes before deciding to apply the wrap. I figured I had nothing to loose and it would indicate whether ceramic coating would be justified when I got around to putting a new header on.
 
It's not condensation that causes the problem... it's metal fatigue brought on by temperatures beyond what the header / metal was designed to handle.

https://www.stahlheaders.com/faq.htm#wrap

I'd go with your Dynomat idea, first. If you really find the headers to be problematic, ceramic coating seems to be the best solution.
 
Regardless of what happens to the headers, there are multiple reports that wrap reduces the life of the pipes.

Again... in my case I chose to apply the wrap as a test to determine if ceramic coating of the eventual replacement header would be justified.
 
I have mine wrapped, ceramic is better but more $$$
 
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