Basically, which one is more benificial. I would assume ceramic coating would lower temps more but I just want to make sure. I couldn't find a definitive answer in my searching.

 

Amazing as it is, insulation wrap keeps the parts cooler.

I don't direct experience with the Jet-Hot or HPC stuff, but we have a shop locally that does it, and it flakes like an ezcema victim!


-Ted

 

Intersting. I was wondering because my brother-in-law builds drag and land-speed cars, so he has connections and can ceramic coat stuff for me for a pretty good price, I think close to cost.
If heat wraping lowers bay temps more, I guess I'll go with that. Would it help at all to wrap, then ceramic coat it, or is that even feasable? I would think it might help keep water out.
My wife sure is gonna miss her foot warmer once the winter comes around again. lol

 

If i remember right, Heatwrap will destroy the header faster than if it wasn't heatwrapped due to it trapping moisture in while Ceramic will make the header last longer. Which one performs better, that i can't answer.

 

I heard if you wrap it will keep too mutch heat in and burn out the o2 sensor downstream in most cars. Thats what the local shop said anyway.

 

I doubt it will burn out an O2 sensor.

Ceramic coat to keep the moisture out. Coating does remove alot of heat from transferring out to the air so it is beneficial on both counts. Once you have ceramic coated the piece, then heat wrap it. I used a spiral pattern that overlaps halfway all the way down so it had 2 layers of wrap. It reduces temperatures in the engine bay ALOT. Not to mention that if you have an aftermarket turbo manifold and do this to it, it will decrease spool time a little bit by keeping the exhaust energy on the inside if the pipes so it can turn the turbine.

With the wrap on, the ceramic shouldn't flake.

Just my .02.

 

On the RX-7 list, aka The Big List, this issue was kicked around some years ago. As has been noted above, the wraps seem to retain moisture. IMHO, owners in dry climates shouldn't have to worry about that. My climate is pretty wet (Maryland), so I did worry. I put the Jethot coating on my old 3rd gen and on the RXX-7 in its 2-rotor days.

I had no problems with the flaking mentioned above. That may be due to the fact that I have a good mechanic (Todd Harris at Harris Automotive). Before he sent off the header, he did some checking and learned that rotaries require a different, higher-temp application, which at that time was only done in a Jethot location in (I believe) Louisiana.

 

If you're doing a rotary with Jet-Hot, you have to get the super high temp stuff.

I've got my RB headers heatwrapped and have had them wrapped on my non-garaged daily driver, and they're fine. Been fine for three years. They look ugly if you take the wrap off though. the RB headers are chrome plated, that probably has a good deal to do with it.

 

wrap it

best way to go and will last for many years

 

Retain water....lets see rotary EGTs top 800C. Yeah, it might hold a lil water around the pipe until you start the car.

And don't forget about all the water that is part of normal combustion inside the pipe when you first start it...

Honestly, its not going to make your exhaust fall apart.

And the oxygen sensor should not be a worry considering how close it is to the turbo to begin with. Now maybe if you have a wideband sensor in there...that could be a concern.

James

 

I'd probably go with Performance Coatings, they offer 2000F coats and I even liked that they provided a table of data so show what their coating can do. To me it looks impressive, but some of you know better and can give me a reality check on their sales pitch. But I think if 2000F is enough to keep up with a rotary engine then that would probably be the way to go.

http://www.performancecoatings.com/b...TESTING%20DATA

They also coat the inside of your header which is something heat wrap can't offer.

 

I guess that depends if water can pass through heat wrap. Sure the exhaust gets REALLY hot, but what does that matter if the water (steam) can't escape?

Just a thought.

 

the wrap is a form of cloth (or at least a clothlike substance) and not some super-amazing silicone product that can both withstand 800C AND retain water while doing it!

 

There goes my idea

 

Yeah, I know about the water retaining issue from reading other threads. Thats why I was wondering if ceramic coating would help eliminate that. I'm going to have to ask him exactly what it will be coated with, I didn't get any specifics. Also, my car is an NA so its quite as super hot as turbos. As long as ceramics reduce the heat a good bit, I think I'm gonna do that. I'd rather not have to mess with wraping it and having to worry about damage to the header. I might end up wraping it too just for the hell of it. Just depends on how much time I have on hand.

 

Instead of facing them off...why not have the best of both worlds?


Ceramic coated inside and out, with heat wrap on the outside.

 

fyi
my heatwrapped downpipe since about 1/8" from the plastic bottom of my abs pump
and the abs pump stays cool enough that I can touch it

 

Ceramic Coated and then Heatwrapped does sound like the best way to go about it.

As to the trapping of moisture, i was meaning more while the car wasn't running. Atleast i'm assuming you're not doing one of those indurance tests that require it to run 24/7...

 

Has anyone tried to do both and take the wrap off for shows? Will it be really hard to clean up? Keeping in mind that the car is garage kept and does not even have wipers (will not see rain)

 

wrap it and then spray it with the aluminized spray paint that the makers of the heatwrap sell. It keeps the wrap from rotting by resisting moisture. The aluminized spray also dresses up the wrap a bit.

This is what I plan to do for my turbo manifold and DP. I drive daily (expect winter) in PA.

 

So coat + wrap doesn't violate JetHot's warentee. Seems like it would.

 

Well, one of the reasons I'm worried about moisure is that this isn't a daily driver, so there may be times when it sits for a few weeks if I'm really busy. Also, its damn humid here.

 

meh....don't worry about moisture. Its absolutely the smallest concern in this regard. Even if you wrapped a bare cast manifold and let it sit in a humid climate - its not going to rot out in a short period of time. Trust me - I've got customers with motorcylces that have wrapped headers and they abuse these bikes...wet riding etc...and the headers are fine after (at my last count 5) years.

The biggest thing is it will reduce radiant heat off the exhaust bigtime. It won't rot it out in a year or two. This is like me saying "should I put a larger aluminum rad in the car for the cooling benefits? or will the extra water in the system wear out my water pump faster?" hehehe.........just do it and don't sweat it my friend.

Plus header wrap gets you laid......

 

Now I just gotta convince my wife of that. lol

 

Well, I'm sold.