Heat wrap manifold, worth it?

[Dreadi]

So theres 2 fat rolls of exhaust wrap next to me and i'm thinking of going out and doing some wrapping.

Do you guys think its worth doing and is it true it can crack your manifold? I got a SS aftermarket one on there..

 

[merlin]

What car is it and which manifold?

 

[BillytheImpaler]

Absolutely not. Keeping the heat in the headers will soften them and make them more likely to crack or bend to an undesirable position.

 

[Dreadi]

What car is it and which manifold?

Civic Esi 94' and its a DC sports SS mani

Absolutely not. Keeping the heat in the headers will soften them and make them more likely to crack or bend to an undesirable position.

I have heard this but assumed it was more related to high performance cars ?

 

[merlin]

Civic Esi 94' and its a DC sports SS mani

It is prone to cracking, but not because of heat issues. The manifold is thin and on stock engine mounts the movement of the engine in the bay will stress the manifold.

So forget the heat wrap, just look into uprated engine mounts.

If you drive the car hard - they're a must, if you don't - you may want to just take the chance.

 

[Dreadi]

Ok i know nothing about the engine mounts thing

 

[merlin]

Ok i know nothing about the engine mounts thing

Uprated engine mounts will stop the engine moving around the engine bay.

This in turn will stop the manifold getting shoved around and obviously that's bolted onto the engine & isn't designed to flex.

They're rubber mounts - usually one at the front, side and rear of the engine. You can replace them all or just the front and side or rear and side if you're concerned about increased noise & vibration (which a full set will cause).

 

[Ev0]

Also if heat wrap isn't applied properly you get cold and hot patches which isn't good for some reason, again coupled with the above it can increase the chance of cracking.

 

[GT3]

Wrap it, massively reduces underbonnet temps. My mate wrapped his stainless tubular manifold on his vts and the oil temp guage never goes over half now when it used to be at almost 3/4's when caning it! You can now grab the manifold with your bare hands and its just warm!

 

[Dreadi]

well so far the negatives outweigh the positives here altho other people else where have told me that it shouldnt be problem

 

[-Neil-]

Don't wrap purely for the looks, I love the look of a shiney manifold

Neil.

 

[Ev0]

Plus wrapping it properly usually involves doing it with the manifold off the car, the other alternative are these jackets you can get that slip on.

 

[GT3]

Lol who cares what the manifold looks like

When mine arrives I'm getting it ceramic coated I think though simply because its easier to pay a company to do that than sit there wrapping it!

But if you do wrap it, make sure you do it off the car to ensure it's done properly.

 

[Dreadi]

Looks? no one is ever gonna look under there i doubt, doing it to help the car.

Theres no way i can be assed to remove the mani and i know it would be tight but i thinks its easily done whilst on the car, just takes more time.

 

[D.Roberts]

people do it to lower under bonnet temps to increase horespower the cooler the air the more potential there is at getting more bhp.

 

[Dreadi]

people do it to lower under bonnet temps to increase horespower the cooler the air the more potential there is at getting more bhp.

Thats what im going for but if its gonna shaft my £300+ manifold then i dont wonna do it as intend to run this car a little while longer yet

 

[D.Roberts]

the manifold will run hotter but cant see it killing the thing if done correctly.

 

[Gribs]

As long as the manifold is decent wrapping it shouldn't cause any problems. The only reason not to is if you like the look as stainless manifolds turn a really nice colour after a bit of use.