Wrapping your headers is it worth it?

[73MidgetLigon]

Im running my stock 1275cc with a DCOE 45 I Made my own heat shield for the dcoe im wondering is it worth it to wrap my headers?

Also iv seen this question asked before but never very completely answered Is it going to help/hurt me any to take out my thermostat? i am constantly having to fight with it getting to hot im wondering if this will help

 

[sparkydave]

If you already have a heat shield, I doubt wrapping the headers will do much. I had a vapor locking problem once, and in trying to eliminate it I wrapped mine, which seemed to have zero effect. Mostly that just made a big mess when I had to drain the coolant, since the block drain was right above the exhaust pipe. Messy.

Removing your thermostat will not help with overheating. It may actually make things worse if you take it out, because it regulates the coolant flow so it only flows when it's hot enough. If you take it out, coolant will always be flowing, and may not be soaking up enough heat while it's in the block.

 

[Glen_B]

Header wrap will lower the under bonnet temps and to some extent, shorten the life of the headers due to rust. Removing the thermostst will help if you put in a blanking sleeve. No blanking sleeve=no help. If your overheating is in city traffic, the electric fan will help quite a bit. Best is an electric "suck-through" fan in place of the waterpump fan blades.
Running a hot 1275 with a turbocharger has forced me to try out every possible temp reducing scheme over the years. The above tips coupled with a Speedwell aluminum radiator and 11 row oil cooler have been the answer.

Glen Byrns

 

[73MidgetLigon]

i have an electric fan sucking but it did not change anything should i put the pump fan back? and have both? Does the pump fan push or pull?

 

[Glen_B]

The fan blades attached to the waterpump pull air through the radiator, but not much air when you're waiting at a light. The electric fan should be all you need. I turn mine on manually instead of counting on a thermostat that turns it on too late to prevent trouble. As soon as I hit 190, I turn on the fan, or as soon as I get caught in traffic.

Glen

 

[Luke_Healey]

Have you had the radiator pulled and rodded out lately? My 1098s run really cool as far as cars go, but the radiators are physically larger I think.

 

[dklawson]

My Mini has its original header wrapped. I was told this would shorten its life but I already had patched it in several places and didn't think I had much to loose. Most people say that ceramic coating works equally well at reducing under-hood temperatures without shortening the life of the header. However, I have no first-hand experience with ceramic coating. I can say that wrapping the header will lower the under-hood temperatures.

In the Mini world, engine temperature in the U.S. is always a concern. When people have built high-performance 1275 engines like Glen-B discussed above, a fairly common fix is to buy a heater core from an American car and plumb it in as an auxiliary radiator. I'm not sure where you could mount such a solution on a Spridget but just increasing the volume and surface area would probably help some.

Don't forget about running Water Wetter instead of anti-freeze for the summer.

 

[73MidgetLigon]

What does Rodded out mean ?

 

[jlaird]

Cleaning the inside. They take the top and bottom off and run a rod through the passages the water flows thorugh to clean em really good.

 

[kcbugeye1275]

If you have any oil in your engine comp. wrapping the headers is a bad idea because if the oil gets to the wrapped headers, you have a serious problem. Its a potential for fire. I had a good rad. gone through by a rad shop this last winter, its OK driving around town, but it gets hotter on the highway. I really dn't think it is realistic to beleive that all the scale is removed in the tubes, and any left just isn't helping the cooling of the rad. Think heat transfer through the scale. That leaves either an aluminum rad or recore your present rad with a 3 row core. I think either decision is a good one.

 

[73MidgetLigon]

ok ill have to try some things when i get my carb back on would you guys say run both electric and pump fan?

 

[Sarastro]

If you live in a hot area, that's not a bad idea. My bugeye came with both an electric fan and the pump fan in place. The guy who restored it lived in the desert near Sacramento, and he took cooling pretty seriously. Of necessity. I have had no problem with overheating, even in traffic and on 100-degree days, although under-hood temperatures are obviously high and the carbs make the running a little sputtery at times.

The electric fan is on all the time; it has its own fuse and is wired into the switched power, with a relay to minimize current in the ignition switch. I have thought about a thermostat, but keeping it on permanently doesn't seem to hurt.