Heat wrapping aftermarket headers/bypass pipes?
 

Would this do more harm than good on a catless exhaust system? Or would any benefits not be worth the trouble of spending the time to wrap them up.

Ceramic cost them at jet hot or the like if you were so motivated.

I would say not worth it though.

I looked into this when I added my headers, I intended on getting them coated by a specialist. He advised me not to do it on the stainless units so read all the facts first.

Did he provide any reasons to not coat/wrap stainless exhaust parts?

If I recall it was something to do with causing corrosion. I don't remember exactly but this guy did work for a lot of pros so I took it at face value.

Ceramic coating may have it's benefits, however, in my opinion it's a costly endeavor in this case. On the other hand, wrapping has been known to cause corrosion as a result of trapping moisture . Unless, the headers are precisely wrapped by an experienced person using the appropriate material it will do more harm than good over the long run . Why do you feel the need to do either ? Furthermore, are you making an informed decision with regard to going catless ?

It's not that I felt a need to coat or wrap the pipes, but was wondering if there was any benefit to it.

And in regards to going catless, I want to do the basic bolt-ons then get it tuned with everything on there

You do realize that going catless will not only cause CEL issues and OBD II compliance problems, but there's a performance downside as well ?

I'm aware of the cel issues. But I haven't found a definitive answer as to power gains or losses. It almost seems to be an issue of preference

Wrapping or ceramic coating improves the combustion process of the engine. The question is, what exactly are you trying to get out of your engine. The cost to benefit issue here is high on cost and low on overall benefit. If you are looking to spend money on performance, there are far better means with this engine.

Your question was fairly vague in scope and deep in possibility. Expanding on your end product might help in the responses.

My goal is to maximize power without increasing displacement or adding forced induction. My list consists of full exhaust, some form of air intake which I haven't decided on yet, under drive pulley, and a bored throttle body, and finally complete everything with a custom tune. I've toyed with the idea of LN Engineering Nickies up to 3.6L, but right now that's just not possible..

But how I'd love to build a 3.6 turbo... A guy can dream

The main problem with wrapped headers is too much heat build-up in the metal, which can cause it to crack. All metals weaken at higher temperatures, and stainless is better than most, but still not impervious. Stainless strength starts to fall rapidly above 1000 F.

I used to have wrapped stainless headers on my race car (Lola T-592S), but finally got tired of having to get them re-welded, and removed the fiberglass wrap, No cracking problem after that, and no significant Hp difference.

Definitely not worth it in my opinion.

i've thought about it also. regarding hp, folks will say that the gasses stay hotter so move faster and increase hp, but for me it was all about keeping as much heat out of the engine bay as possible. i've heard that the headers don't last as long as a result, but at $69 for a set of ebay wonders, you can afford to wrap a new set every spring.

I was also thinking this, and if it would keep oil/gearbox oil cooler. I don't have any immediate plans to track this car, maybe it doesn't really matter if I wrap them or not

yeah, forme heat is only an issue at the track, but at the track heat management is a big issue, and i see benefit to wrapping (moreso than coating).