Should I be using exhaust wrap?

[GTS-t VSPEC]

I also think that the wrapped dump gives it that tough racing look, which is all important:D

When adding a bigger turbo, anything which helps reduce lag is good in my opinion:D

[BelGarion]

to my way of thinking, the heat is gonna evaporate the moisture outta the wrapping anyway, so ill probably use wrapping after i get some money, damn dump pipe has been an excercise in why researching things is a good idea for me :|

[Cubes]

i'll be looking for another dump pipe soon.

i'm thinking about the seperate wastegate thingo majig one.

Need to look in to it a bit i think as i've heard a lot of pro's and cons.

[Bl4cK32]

me too. did someone say group buy joel.....

[Cubes]

group buys in the previous with us two have ended up costing another 100-200 more.. i.e head.

lol

[Guest Robo's]

Searched the internet last night in trying to find some results in any performance gain, but couldnt find anything in comparison with a dyno with any gain!!

Yes the theory sounds right, and a good example was, "hot oil flows quicker then cold oil" which was used as a reference to exhaust gases.

But i was looking for an actual, real to life gain, and couldnt find anything.

[benm]

Originally posted by Robo's

But i was looking for an actual, real to life gain, and couldnt find anything.

That would be great.

If someone can post some before/after dyno results of the non/heat wrapped or even some before/after temps it sounds like a cheap effective modification.

When you guys say it makes the turbo spool quicker are you talking 100-200rpm or 500-700rpm ?

[akeenan]

i had the same problem, changed my dump/front.........

if you want some real life proof: before i put the tape on i could smell burning plastic all the time and id lift the hood and it would be as hot as **** under there, and after i put on the tape the burning smell went away and it is no where near as hot under there anymore..

good idea if you ask me

[JimX]

The biggest thing I'd be concerned about is the exhaust rusting from beneath the heat wrap because of condensation. Can you get your exhaust painted/coated with heat resistant stuff while it's on the car? And then put the thermal wrap on top of that.

Although, my exhaust is stainless anyway, would that be resistant enough to corrosion?

[GTS-t VSPEC]

I doubt with the temperature that a dump will get to you'll have much worry about condensation, besides, stainless is quite resistant:D

[tomeastlake81]

Exhaust wrap is good stuff in my experience. When coating headers, the headers would still get hot and I would imagine you'd still burn yourself if you were working in the engine bay after the engine was running. The wrap on my exhaust previously allowed me to work in the engine bay after the engine was running if I had to with minimal worries. You could even touch the manifolds themselves without burning your hands - of course you couldn't leave them there very long!

I find it interesting that most Japanese tuning houses and drag cars use header wrap.....

[JimX]

GTS-t VSPEC, a guy in these forums (sorry I forget who) had his exhaust rust right through from beneath his heat wrap. He didn't say if he had mild or stainless though I think.

The problem is not condensation while driving obviously, but after you park and it cools down. It probably won't be a *major* problem if the car is garaged but heat wrap being cloth and therefore porous, it will absorb small amounts of water from the air especially when it has the cold metal underneath to help the condensation in the first place.

Anyway I'm pretty sure stainless will be ok. It's not rustproof, but it's rust resistant which is probably enough. It may be my biggest concern but it's probably not a major one

Tomeastlake81, so you can heat wrap the exhaust manifold too? How do you do that?

[benm]

Anyone got any pictures of exhausts 'heat wrapped' ?

[Roy]

There is a little theory floating around about the increase in performance from coating and wrapping the dump pipe.

My thoughts are that as a hp modification its not worthwhile. Full stop. The theory about exhaust gases etc is correct, but if coating/wrapping was going to make a measureable performance gain then it is most likely going to be seen if done to an exhasut manifold. And then even most likely on a stressed race engine more then a road car.

But again i see the main reason for coating exhaust parts is in the search to drop underbonnet temps. There is numerous reasons alone why we should be trying to drop underbonnet temps. If you want performance increase then consider about every 4deg C at the inlet is worth approx 1% of engine power.

[Roy]

Oh and the instances of condensatoin, was that observed when using one of the more expensive brands like Thermo-Tec which aslo require the scothchguard type clear coat applied?

[SlowGTS-t]

The wiring loom runs in the same are. The heat shield helps prevent the heat from the turbo melting bits of wire.

I learned the hard way.. cut the heat shield with a hacksaw / bend it to make it fit.

[zaero]

hpc coated sounds like the better solution

[GTS-t VSPEC]

You can heat wrap the exhaust manifold, but it's hard work. I'm having mine ceramic coated, for the nice look and to reduce the under-bonnet temps.

[B-Man]

Has anyone ceramic coated the standard manifold ? Mine is pretty rusty and would require a bit of work to get it nice I guess - But I like the idea - Then ceramic coat the dump plus thermal wrap it !

[GTS-t VSPEC]

The stock manifold is cast and is poorly designed. I wouldn't waste the money on it. Doing the dump then thermal wrapping it make sense though.

The other option is to have the manifold heat sheild ceramic coated, they would reduce the amount on heat radiated into the engine bay from the manifold.