I was just wondering if anyone could tell me whether or not exhaust/header wrap holds up? I was thinking about wrapping my headers, but if the stuff doesn't actually hold up to the heat, then obviously I won't use it. Any opinions?
Thanks smile.gif

It does, but it'll waste the pipes underneath. Now what I don't know is hot ceramic coated pipes will hod up.

It'll ruin the headers??

Yeah, it really does contain the heat. And I know for a fact with uncoated pipes it starts to wear them pretty thin because of it. I'm talking a street-duty car, not race car.

Wow....I'm glad I asked then. I just thought it might be a good idea because I keep melting spark plug boots. Do you have any suggestions for fixing this problem? I was looking through one of my summit catalogs and I noticed that some of the companies advertise that their spark plug boots on the ignition wire take high temps. Do you think there is any merrit to this?, or do I need to change something? :confused:
thanks

pegleg71,

Gene ..( 427L88 ) is correct.In fact most header manufactures will not warrenty any of their headers if you have used header wrapping on them... The heat gets so high it literly erodes the thin header tubing.

Nearly all speark plug boots will melt if the touch the headers for any length of time....

Taylor as several others offer hi temp insulation for their wires and boots.....

I will say this....If you use the header wrap for only an inch or two it souldnt create many problems ... but when you wrap the whole thing.... it really shortens a set of headers life span.

so if i were to just wrap the header tubes a couple inches around where the sparkplug boots may be touching it should be ok?

Ya you should be ok... although it might be better to use one of the other methods.... Ya have to remember that where the primary tube and flange meet is the hottest part of the header.... you can measure EGT at the header flange and just a couple inches away and it can be as much as 300 deg less just a couple inches away from the flange...

If one of the other insulated boot coverings simply wont work for you then wrapping for just a couple inches shouldnt hurt too much.... But I would still trying something else first.

I didn't know there was that big of a temp difference. :eek: All the plug boots that I was using that were gettin toasted were 90degree angle boots. I think i'm going to get the ones that come straight in, so to speak, with no 90degree bend, and are rated for high temps. If that doesn't work I guess i'll just have to wrap it. Could a differnt pair of headers possibably solve the problem? I might end up buying a new pair anyway because the ones I have are getting pretty rusty.

Thanks a bunch for the advice guys graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Originally posted by 69LS1:
If one of the other insulated boot coverings simply wont work for you then wrapping for just a couple inches shouldnt hurt too much.... But I would still trying something else first. =====
I ain't gonna touch this with,,,,,,well, never mind :D :D

But seriously folks ;)
I have had very good luck with the fiberglass boots that are about 4" long & just slip over the wire.
Taylor has them along with a couple of other companies I can't remember the name of but I have some hanging on the wall in the dyno room that we use when I can't get a wire off the header.
Just used them on a Chrysler that had some horrible fitting headers for about 10 pulls & they worked real good.

Yup... what Mike said graemlins/thumbsup.gif A good friend of mine used to have a Buick Regal with a factory Turbo V6 and he used the boots that Mike mentioned and they worked well for about 50,000 miles before he sold the car.Those Taylor ones will work fine... DEI ?? maybe I think offers a simular product .... They arent hard to find.

Ok.....thanks again guys. I guess that's the plan then. graemlins/beers.gif graemlins/beers.gif graemlins/beers.gif graemlins/beers.gif

I had a couple of 90 degree ACCEL boots that I thought were a little close to my uncoated headers so I bought two DEI boots from the Summit catalog for 20 bucks plus shipping. The things were so fat that they touched the header which DEI said was a no no. So I never installed them. Have been running the ACCEL wires for a couple of years w/o protection. Good thing about those wires is you can clock them to avoid problems. I'm talking about 1/4" clearance here.

Well,,I can tell you they definitely "touched" the headers on the Chrysler I had on the dyno & we leaned on it pretty good. It didn't hurt em' or the wires a bit
It did scorch or discolor them a little but the wires were fine & I still have the boots scorch & all & they still seem to do their job ;)

cool. but for a car that i plan on driving fairly often during the summer i really don't want to have to worry about that. but we shall see

Ya! Mummified headers are funny looking too!!

lol true true

I have a set of headers that the front 2 tubes go in front of the crossmember. they run about 1" near a mechanical fuel pump. the headers have been coated by airborn coatings. do you think there would be a problem wrapping about 3-4" near the pump? right now I have an electric pump but would like to replace it with a 172 nascar pump. thanx mike

I used the DEI's on all 8 boots just to be sure. The are GREAT - as Mike has already attested. I was running Doug's shorties and had 4 boots touching, 4 within .5 inch - darn tall ports on those al heads.

With the new full length headers, I went with the new Accel high temp wires (they have the highest rating) and the DEI covers on all 8 boots again. Better safe than sorry. I have 2 touching, 2 that close, and 4 with decent clearance. BUT, the ones that touch are just like Mike says - no damager to the boots - look brand new...cause they are. The heat marks on the DEI covers are just that - marks. I even looked at them under a microscope - no fiber necking, no little holes, nada. They work.

Moroso makes a nice set as well that you finish off at the open (non-boot) end with heat shrink.