420A Exhaust Wrap or Ceramic Coating

[onlytsuki]

Hello,

I wanted to get some opinions on what route I should go in terms of headers. I run a 420a and I planned on getting some stainless steel eBay headers (Only thing available on market). Should I go exhaust wrap or ceramic coating?

 

[Xarzor]

I'm assuming you're asking in regards to engine bay temperatures?

Exhaust wrap in my opinion is far better for keeping the heat in. If it's for presentation, ceramic coat looks better.

 

[onlytsuki]

I'm assuming you're asking in regards to engine bay temperatures?

Exhaust wrap in my opinion is far better for keeping the heat in. If it's for presentation, ceramic coat looks better.

I live in a really hot climate and was told ceramic would be better and that exhaust wrap could crack as well as my header? Would exhaust wrap still work as good as ceramic in my climate?

 

[We're on Boost]

I live in a really hot climate and was told ceramic would be better and that exhaust wrap could crack as well as my header?

I was also going to say that wrap is better, because it is thicker so it holds the heat in better - but the possibility of it cracking the exhaust manifold is a valid point, I think. I haven't seen it happen, but Lucas English called me before putting exhaust wrap on my manifold, to ask me if I was ok with it. And he said the possible downside of it was increased chance of cracking the manifold because the manifold will get hotter. Then he said, your manifold is nice thick stainless steel, well made by Ron Shearer, so it will probably be just fine. So I said ok let's wrap it.

And that's about all I can say about it except that the ordinary low-cost grade of fiberglass wrap does put off some amount of glass dust that just blows around all over everything in the engine bay, for quite a while after it is put on. I would probably try a fancier grade of wrap, like DEI Tatanium series (read the whole page, there's good info there). Maybe this stuff won't dust so much and it's probably better anyway than the cheaper stuff.
And using DEI stainless steel locking ties.

My manifold is still fine, but I'm in a cool climate. Your experience may vary!

 

[onlytsuki]

Yeah I

I was also going to say that wrap is better, because it is thicker so it holds the heat in better - but the possibility of it cracking the exhaust manifold is a valid point, I think. I haven't seen it happen, but Lucas English called me before putting exhaust wrap on my manifold, to ask me if I was ok with it. And he said the possible downside of it was increased chance of cracking the manifold because the manifold will get hotter. Then he said, your manifold is nice thick stainless steel, well made by Ron Shearer, so it will probably be just fine. So I said ok let's wrap it.

And that's about all I can say about it except that the ordinary low-cost grade of fiberglass wrap does put off some amount of glass dust that just blows around all over everything in the engine bay, for quite a while after it is put on. I would probably try a fancier grade of wrap, like DEI Tatanium series (read the whole page, there's good info there). Maybe this stuff won't dust so much and it's probably better anyway than the cheaper stuff.
And using DEI stainless steel locking ties.

My manifold is still fine, but I'm in a cool climate. Your experience may vary!

Yeah I was about to ask about DEI Titanium Wrap since my local autozone carries it. Might try it out and see how it’ll go. Thanks so much

 

[onlytsuki]

I'm assuming you're asking in regards to engine bay temperatures?

Exhaust wrap in my opinion is far better for keeping the heat in. If it's for presentation, ceramic coat looks better.

I prefer the look of wrap tbh looks cooler. Will go with wrap. Thanks

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

I had a Megan Racing 4-1 header (which is what the Ebay models copy), with fiberglass heat wrap for more than 5 years and never had a problem with it. I'd wrap and never look back. The coating is more of a visual aspect and doesn't do much for heat soak.

 

[Mitsubi-doo]

This is how i ended up doing mine, I used the dei wrap and the stainless zip ties for it. Buy a extra set of zip ties to make it neat. Have put plenty of miles on mine with no underhood temp concerns. The only thing I was worried about was the close proximity to the starter and cooling fans.

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[BLACK'98DSM]

Looks like mine. Good job