Hi,

I've got HKS headers which are wrapped but it really annoys me in wet weather that the wrap soaks up moisture and then steams for about 10 mins after start up, so that everyone thinks your rad has blown!

I was thinking of painting the wrap with heat resistant paint to keep the moisture out but having looked in Halfords etc. all the high temp paints are rated only to 650 degrees max and I've seen near 1000 degrees on occasion in the manifold.

So what does everyone use?

Thanks

Rich

 

I use 850 degree paint and it's not burst into flames yet. It helps, but doesn't stop it altogether. Best fix is not to get it wet

Richard

 

Thanks.

In UK it's almost impossible NOT to get it wet, especially this time of year

The best I can find here is upto 650 which is way off the mark.

Anyone else any ideas?

Rich

 

Agree with Richard - I have HKS pipes + wrap + high-temp paint (Demon-Tweeks supply the stuff) & they steam lots! I've never run any manifold without the paint (well, I ran some for a while with no paint but in the summer so that doesn't count ) so don't know what difference it makes.
I find it all wafts nicely out of where the TMIC should be so doesn't cause too much of a problem

 

I got my high-temp paint from Rally Design. It's rated to 1,500°F. Should prove more than sufficient! I painted the wrap in the hope that it will minimise the general dirt/grease/moisture that the headers will be exposed to. Don't know how effective it will be as they're not fitted yet.

 

Sperex do some VHT paint, 700 C 1300 F, cheap from local motor factors, halfords etc.

Hope it works OK, my Cooltek wrap is sprayed with it!

 

Nice one guys.

Thanks

Rich

 

hi m8s,

i have cusco headers WITHOUT any wraping at all!
thus no steam!! and no i have not melted anything under the bonnet! though i have made sure that nothing is to close

cheers robinh20

 

I heard that not wrapping headers / removing the heat shields could lead to overheating a cylinder ( No. 4 ?? ) ?

V

 

Not sure about the cylinder stuff, but it's certainly not good for the headers (massive heat cycling) nor for performance (mucho heat loss!)

 

The "melting" issues were nothing to do with cylinders - it's wiring you need to take care of. There have been instances of people fitting tubular headers and having their the insulation of their under-bonnet wiring actually melt. Clearly that could cause all sorts of problems!

 

robin you are a lazy cow get them wrapped!

 

see here: http://bbs.22b.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000194.html

 

Hey, that was mine!
I think that was actually caused by a short excursion to 1100C+ EGTs so the slip-joint over slipped somewhat & destroyed Pat's otherwise marvellous job at wrapping But anyway, the effect of this short-term lack of wrapping was a molten fan cable, which is obviously not going to help heat management much!

 

PLUS

The more heat you retain in the exhaust gases the more KE they will have and the quicker they will get up to the turbo, reducing lag (well in theory anyway)

Plus 900 degree unwrapped headers won't work wonders for UBTs I would have thought.

Rich