Hello, I am thinking about heat wrap my custon exhaust system http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/348-355/340978-348-custom-exhaust-system.html Everybody know about wrapped headers used in race cars. What I am thinking is to wrap the whole exhaust you can see in the link; catalitic converters, silencers and pipes (not headres because they are insulated yet, neither tail pipes of course) to lower the temperature in engine bay. In the really hot summer of Spain, I notice that the bell housing (where the clutch and flywheel are located) gets too hot, and I don't like it. Nothing to say about all electronics and wires. So what do you think? Clould it be dangerous? can it damage the engine or exhaust? Is there any risk? A waste of money? Is the titanium fibre really the best? Thanks for reading!
Some advice or comment will be much appreciated. I am not sure if goin ahead with this insulating exhaust wrap. I'd love to lower engine bay temp, but I don't want to take a big risk. Here you can see what I mean: Heat Wrap Photos, Heat Wrap Pics, Car Photography
Do a Google search for "Ferrarichat heat wrap" and you'll get quite a bit that you can read. I'm not informed enough to have a pov on this, but it seems opinions vary widely on this. For a street vehicle, one con I've heard that I think makes sense is moisture. The oem setup protects the insulation whereas if you wrap it, the wrap is exposed and gets wet each time you wash the car or (heaven forbid) get caught in the rain. But I'be tead other opinions that say this is harmless. Need to see if someone that's actually done it will chime in with their experience.
My Fabspeed headers are wrapped with thermotech wrap and so far no issues. Noticeable drop in engine temps from before (when I purchased the car the headers were not wrapped).
Thank you very much Matt and Brownie for helping me to take a decision. I've been searching in Fchat, as Matt suggested, and found different opinions; rust and metal brittle, or better performance and lower temps with no problems. However, Capristo offers the F-430 heat shield blankets that covers the headers and cats, and they seem to work very well. Not the same thing, but the same theory. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/challenge-cars/302720-430-challenge-headers-protective-heat-shield.html Brownie, nice to hear about your own experience, I am now closer to wrap my 348 exhaust system.
Why not have the headers and all tubes ceramic-coated? Expensive, but very efficient: you can put your hand at five centimeters from the header, engine hot, and fell not heat at all. Rgds
Mine are Fabspeeds, coated with ceramic inside and out. They were on the car when I bought it this past January, so I have nothing to compare it to...but have seen no problems and specifically had the tech look for heat problems during the PPI and he didn't find any issues, but it's not aleays easy to detect. Lots of opinions about whether ceramic coating is enough. The debate rages on, and I will continue to watch my car closely.
Good advice, ceramic-coat is a nice solution that looks great, but the price is a matter for me. The headers on my 348 are OEM, with the original heat shields too, so I will let the headers as they are. I want to isolate the rest of the exhaust (catalytic converters, mufflers and pipes). The look is not as important for me because these parts can barely be seen. You can see what I mean in the link above. Regards
Which is good because the airboxes are less heatsoaked, in theory, would have to be proven by measuring the intake temps.
Test (Cat delete) pipes will be the best solution for your car outright for heat dispersion. But if you live in an area/country where you need cats, then Ceramic coat, preferably inside and outside if you can afford it. Wrapping them would've been the most cost effective, but there are moisture issues. Wrapping is fine if your car is a pure racing car where you can re-wrap when doing engine servicing if there is moisture and never really drive it in the wet, but as a street car there will always be rain, car washing, puddles etc etc. You cant just re-wrap every few months so its just not cost effective, even garage queens get washed! Go with the Coating, it'll cost, but then you forget about it! For those of you who don't know how well these coatings work ask the shop to give you a heat demo comparison, you will be amazed.
Interesting note on wet weather, didn't know wraps would be affected by that. As for the coating, do they coat both the inside and outside of the pipes? I read here that it's pointless unless inside is done as well.
There are differences of opinion on the impact (if any) of moisture on wrapped headers. My headers were wrapped by the #2 rated Ferrari mechanic in North America (as rated by FNA) and it was his suggestion to wrap them. I suspect he knows what he is talking about and if there was an issue with moisture he wouldn't have recommended it.
I can see how moisture trapped underneath the wrap could break down the metal if left, but for the sake of arguement, wouldn't the heat from the exhaust basically remove any moisture when running?
I have just received the heat wrap. Looks nice, it's made of titanium fibres. There is no need of wet in water nor wearing gloves for installation. I will share some pictures and impressions when installed.
Apparently there are sprays or paints that will seal the wrap and prevent moisture from affecting it. I have no experience with them so no comment on how well they work or which ones to look into, just food for thought.
You are right, but those sprays are not indicated for titanium heat wrap, as far as I know. I've been reading that the paint does not stay well in that kind of fibre. However, those sprays are very recommended for the fiberglass heat wrap, for sealing it and making the fibre last longer. I will try with no paint, time will tell. Regards.
Apologize for the delay, I've been on vacation. I wrapped the exhaust with 10 meters of titanium exhaust wrap and some steel clamps. I been reading that it's not needed to wet the wrap for installation, and it's true. But if you try it, I recommend using gloves and protective eyewear, because this thing emerges a itchy fiber when installing. To be honest, the installation was really tedious, and I needed the help of my lovely wife. It should be much easier with the exhaust out of the car. Initially, I thought that 10m. would be enough for wrapping the whole pipes and cats, but I was wrong. So I left half the tail pipes naked. I am now considering of buying some more wrap for finishing the whole exhaust pipes and mufflers. See pictures on this link: Exhaust heat wrap - a set on Flickr
The test results: - Some smoke and smell when heating the wrap for the first time. - 15 minutes later the smoke and bad smell has gone forever. - First 5 minutes idling and the cats are still cool (It's hot here in summer) - 9 minutes and water cooling fans started. - 15 minutes idling and the cats are warm (I can lay my hand on the cats for a long time) - 20 minutes idling and some revving and now the cats are getting hotter, but I can touch them with my hands without burning myself, and the engine block is much hotter than the wrapped exhaust. - After a hard drive, and instantly stopping, I could touch the cats and the wrapped pipes with my hands, however just for a pair of seconds. Before wrapping, I could loose my skin doing this. The engine bay was cooler than before too. - The engine bay temp goes up when driving with traffic, but not as high as before. - the wrap has not changed its nice looking after the test, it's just shrunk and tight. I think that I should wrap the rest of the exhaust pipes and both silencers to make it work even better. If so, maybe I could go without the stock heat shields for a better heat dissipating around the clucth belhousing. I'm happy with the results, and IMO looks nicer and more... competizione???
Great infomation Moiluck.. now go yonder and get yourself an infrared thermometer... allot safer on the fingers than the exhaust touch test.
Haha! You don't like my old school thermo-sensors? They came with the arms, are very accurate, and I can carry them with me everywhere... What else could you ask for?
