Has anyone used thermal wrap on their extractors?

spope · 21-10-2005, 03:12 PM

I have recently installed stainless steel headers, and they generate an enourmous amount of heat.
So I was wondering-
Has anyone here used thermal wrap on their extractors?
If so, has it worked to reduce the under bonnet temp? Have you noticed any improvement in horsepower like they suggest?
And most importantly, have you encountered any problems? And what type/brand of extractors do you have?
I have read a lot of hearsay about the supposed problems that heat wrap creates, however I have not actually heard anything from people who have used it, most people seem content to just keep spreading rumours.
HPC coating is out of my price range at the moment, so I am looking at really only doing this short-term. Thermal wrap seems to be the most effective way of reducing the under bonnet temperature anyhow.
So anyone that has used or is currently using, please post away!

Damo · 21-10-2005, 07:06 PM

Dunno, but what's wrong with it getting hot under the bonnet ? It gets hot under there with stock headers.

Interceptor'85 · 21-10-2005, 07:20 PM

My mechanic recommended I put some thermal protection between the extractors and the steering column shaft for a bit of protection.

But yeah it all gets hot under the hood no matter what.

Racecraft · 21-10-2005, 07:25 PM

I was interested in using it on all my intercooler piping but the gentleman that I spoke to didn't recomend using it on thin walled tube.. He sells the stuff, so if he doesn't think its much chop I tend to believe him

EDXR8 · 21-10-2005, 08:20 PM

Yeah I have heard from a number of people that the thermal wrap causes the extractor pipe to get way too hot and can cause cracking/splitting. Overall I don't think underbonnet temps have a huge effect on power because the air intake brings in air from outside the engien bay anyway, and if your coling system is decent, the actual engien temp should not change all that much evenif undrbonnet temp does.

montyv8 · 21-10-2005, 10:38 PM

i put moffat bonnet vents in my EB, after even a short drive, if you put your hand over the vents you can feel a ton of hot air coming out

mik · 21-10-2005, 11:41 PM

i had wrap on my old toyo extractors i think it did cut down a percentage of the heat, i did it mostly because of the heat soak into starter and alternator , i would do it again for sure , the stuffs not cheap, if i remember correctly it was about 50$ a roll and took 2 rolls to do a good wrap, i didnt have any cracking problems

spope · 22-10-2005, 01:00 AM

Cheers mik, that's exactly what I wanted to hear.

For everyone else, under bonnet temp is a problem because of heat soak - excess exhaust heat warms up your battery, causing voltage problems, warms your alternator and starter eventually leading to premature failing, and warms up all your intake components, leading to lost horsepower - cold air intake or not.
There is always gonna be a trade off - but thermal wrapping and heatsheilding allows you to direct where the heat goes - as opposed to just creating an oven.

Racecraft · 22-10-2005, 06:21 PM

yea, rollin is on it.. The guy that told me not to use the wrap also recomended Heat tape on the components I was worried about.. I know its not going to help with heat soak in alternators etc, but the brake lines, booster and battery should be insulated with heat tape or sheeting..

InitialD · 22-10-2005, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montyv8

i put moffat bonnet vents in my EB, after even a short drive, if you put your hand over the vents you can feel a ton of hot air coming out

Phil, would you say its worth doing not just because it looks snazzy?

Have you noticed any differences in anyway with engine temp or air flow, etc

mik · 23-10-2005, 01:57 AM

extractors can crack anyway from stresses placed on the pipes from welding etc ,anyway cheaper to weld pipe than replace accesories in my book

347Stroker · 23-10-2005, 07:28 AM

I know that on poorer quality materials, it does destroy your nice new extractors. I knew a guy that spent close to 2k on a set of custom stainless tubes for his 460 powered F truck, and wrapped the pipes with heat wrap, and within 6 months the pipes resembled alfoil, you could put your finger through them, it just ate the pipes away from the inside out.
I am not sure as to why it happens, but it does.
I would suggest speaking to some of the race teams in the lites series to see what materials they use, and see if they have the same problems.
if you walk around the pits at any motorsport event, you will see it on a large percentage of the cars, but budget is not a worry there.

Do your homework first, or be prepared for an expensive repair....

Biggoggs · 23-10-2005, 02:41 PM

Quote:

yea, rollin is on it.. The guy that told me not to use the wrap also recomended Heat tape on the components I was worried about.. I know its not going to help with heat soak in alternators etc, but the brake lines, booster and battery should be insulated with heat tape or sheeting..

Absolutely. I think the best way to get rid of heat is to disperse it, not absorb it. I guess you could put a heatshield over the extractors to vent air in a particular direction, but that'd get hot too.

When it's raining and I park or stop at traffic lights, you can see steam coming off the hood. I figure Falcons aren't at their best idling in city traffic anyway, and if I put vents in the hood, rain would get into the engine bay.

edit: Adjustable venetian vents, or a reverse-WRX scoop? :P

niko · 23-10-2005, 03:22 PM

use it on other items that it affects not the actual source, what ive seen exhaust joints do

DjAshman · 24-10-2005, 12:32 AM

Yeh, what Rollin said.

I had some EL bonnet vents fitted and the improvement in cooling is massive. Driving in the city and the constant stop and go gets the temp up pretty high but once I hit open road, the temp drops dramatically. I like the noise when I wash my car too and get some water down there, *TSSSHHHHHHSHHHSHHHHH*

But as for thermal wrapping.... let them be free. You'd find that the extractors will heat up more till the point of cracking. They will pump out tonnes of heat depending on differant circumstances, but thats pretty normal *I* think. I was concerned after getting my genies about the heat and yeh asked about thermal wrapping, bloke showed me the result of puttin some the stuff in his EL, looked pretty severe. Work on the cooling system ie vents... they seem to do the trick.