Question about heat wrapping headers?

Gas tanks are bad for a.couple reasons.. they contain 4 or so gallons of highly explosive liquid. In the even of an accident it could combust. Or leak fire pee on you.

They rust out. And may leak.fire pee on your pipes. .... speaking of that. Damned oil coolers too. Fittings leak. Bungs crack welds and leak. Thwn bam oil hits your hot unwrapped pipe.

Your on fire.

If your worried about fire. Stay out of cars trucks planes tanks motorcycles and lawn mowers. They will all kill you dead.




Heres some header wrap facts.




Its a woven material so yes it can hold moisture. But can it retain moisture whilst wrapped around a 1200* tube? Thats a big no. If you get caught in the rain bfd. 5-10 mins of running without new water applied will dry the shit right out.

Oil. Yep. Oils bad. It starts fires. Whats ot do when it hits a near cherry red raw stainless header pipe holy sheepshit fireballs.

Wrapping is a great thing. BUT you have to treat it well. I.e. DONT LET IT GET OIL SOAKED!. Just as you dont want oil on your bare headers.

Rust is also a direct reaction from misuse or being lazy or both. Idiocy is the problem not the wrap.



I fucking hate it when people do that...

Moral is

DONT BE A FUCKING LAZY TOOL. TREAT YOUR BIKE LIKE YOU GIVE A SHIT ABOUT IT. and its amazing what WONT happen.
Btw i rock header wrap all winter on my big triple arctic cat. And i have very nice pipes under the wrap. Cause they are cared for and treated with respect.






My pipes constantly eat snow and get wet. But they DONOT stay wet long. Its pretty awsome actually.

Should I use a Header Wrap?*
NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT. There is nothing that will damage a header faster than the use of a header wrap, other than attacking it with a hammer or shot gun.* As advertised, these wraps do keep the majority of exhaust gas temperatures within the header.* The result is the wraps will prohibit the header tubing from cooling properly.* If you reduce the ability for headers to dissipate adequate heat properly, the result will* be premature failure of the metal.** Depending upon the application use and temperatures involved, the life can be reduced to only a few hours.* We consider exhaust wraps to be the header manufacturer's best friend.*

If engine compartment temperatures are an issue, the best solution is to use insulation materials on the sheet metal.* One alternative in some applications is to build a box around the headers and actually duct outside air into the box.* In some applications ceramic coatings have been known to help (see notes on coatings above).* Insulating any components that may be sensitive to heat, such as wiring, fuel & oil lines, etc., are a better option.

IMPORTANT: Use of header wraps will void any warranty.
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From: http://www.stahlheaders.com/faq.htm

They make headers, they're not selling ceramic coating, but they do say its ok. Header wrap voids the warrenty.

http://www.centuryperformance.com/exhaust-header-heat-wraps-do-not-use.html

Another article, a bit more technical and indepth.

I personally don't care if you wrap your headers in banana peels and glue on skittles, but a sticky in the newb section should hold some information about the pros and cons.

On a side note, I notice your headers go up above your engine, rather than down around it like a motorcycle's. Thus, when you change your oil and filter there is slim chance of it leaking all over the cloth header wraps. On the other hand, it's very easy for a motorcycle to dump oil on a header during an oil change; so how do you wipe oil out of cloth as opposed to wiping it off bare metal? Unless you think it's a good idea to change your oil with cherry red pipes (of course, wouldn't the bike have to be running to keep bare metal cherry red)? Sure, it's great to sound cavalier about a fire erupting between your legs, especially when it's something you don't have to worry about.