Carbon fiber wrapped headers

Seems like a waste of time and money. You want to lower the heat in the engine compartment, install a test pipe in place of the cat converter. I did on my 328, the car not only runs cooler on the hottest days, the motor compartment is probably 25 degrees or more cooler . I can feel the difference every time I drive the car. You cant even see the headers once they are installed, so whats the point ? . When the wrap gets wet, its not at all good for them. You also might want to get rid of the POS stock muffler and buy a TUBI, your car will run even cooler. Mine sure does. Wrapping the headers is not going to make a difference in the heat produced in the engine compartment, not on a 308 or a 328 .

Big G

 

Wrapping the headers makes a MASSIVE difference in tube and engine bay temps compared to open headers. Probably doesn't do more than the factory heat sheilding that my qv and i assume 328s came with, but compared to bare tubes its very effective with the tube surface temps droping 300-500F and 50-100F drop in engine bay temps. My primaries are double wrapped are you can put your hand on the headers with the engine fully up to temp and not get burned.

As you say though the headers don't last as long wrapped and they steam for a while after rain or washing gets the wrap wet. My biggest complaint is the fibers really get into your skin handling them, I hate that but the temp reduction I love so....

 

There really is not that much surface area to wrap, with that being said, does it really lower the engine compartment temps ? It seems like the wrap would keep the headers from getting hotter from the heat of the motor. Like you said, most likely does not do more than what comes from the factory, I still think the cat converter is the culprit of all the excess heat in the motor compartment. The OEM muffler also heats up more than a TUBI, or other aftermarket exhaust.

G

G

 

mke said the factory shielding works pretty good. With the mid engine set up on the 3 x8 s, Im not really sure how much the overall temp in the motor compartment would come down compared to the stock set up. What I can say is that I noticed a big difference in the motor compartment heat with the test pipe and the Tubi set up, as well as the water temp gauge readings. If your going to notice a difference in power and the overall way the car runs, a Tubi and a Test pipe is the way to go. I know I felt it in my 89 328. Once you get them installed, let us know if you can really tell a difference in motor compartment heat. If so, I would consider getting mine wrapped as well.

G

 

The exhaust gas temp leaving the engine is around 1200F and depending on air flow in the engine bay and what metal the headers are made from the outside of the primaries will be about 700F at low power and glowing near 1200F at full power. The front bank doesn't get much air flow so the front head, starter, alternator all get quite hot as a result but just leaning over the engine the heat radiating from the rear unwraped/unshielded header is pretty obvious. It really is a night/day difference compared to an unshielded header. When I got my car the factory shielding was beat up and ugly so it came off and got replaced with wrap so I've never made any temp measurements of a factory shielded header and I don't know how it compares to that beyond a guess that the factory stuff is probably decent if its in good condition.

No doubt removing the cat will also drop temps, its hob is to burn any fuel left in the exhaust the the slow down light tells you when it getting so hot its about to melt, that can't help engine bay temps. The muffler, I don't know...I guess it is freer flowing it will interact with the exhaust less so more heat will stay in the exhaust gasses and exit at the tail pipe, at least in theory.

 

Careful with articles that make claims but have no measured data. There is lots of temp data out there for wrapping and I've measured my car finding its in line with what I've read. Getting a measurable hp or torque change is harder and I've not seen data I trust...if they had the data it would be plastered all over the manufacturers websites and the whole the internet like the temp data is, but its not so I'm pretty skeptical there is much truth in it.

 

I have no firsthand experience with these folks, but their work certainly looks to be very well done:

HeaderShield™ – The Ultimate Thermal Management System.

They have a FAQ section, as well as a dyno comparison video showing a Cayman, which is startling (in a good way). I'd recommend that y'all view it.

Anyone here ever work with them before?

DM

 

The main purpose for wrapping headers and/or exhaust piping is to keep heat in the exhaust path which promotes better/freer flow. This is especially important in turbo applications where heat and flow are required to drive the turbos effectively.

A biproduct is a cooler external temp but it is not the main reason for wrapping.

 

And yet when you click the link and look at the web page the only thing they actually claim is reduced temperatures and sometimes increased gas velocity, no hp claims. In theory there should be a hp increase, particularly on turbo applications, but its very had to put numbers to. If anyone could get repeatable hp increase numbers they would be plastering them all over the internet. A lot of the OEM effort to move turbos closer and insulate is about getting the cat hot sooner for emissions and the rest is heat management.

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I fully agree that any claims of increased engine power due to header wrapping seem to be dubious at best. My sole interest here is in minimizing engine bay temperatures as much as reasonably possible.

DM