Im going to do plugs and wires this weekend and since im under there, i bought about 115' of their header wrap. I more or less bought it to protect the new wires. So ive got a couple questions.

Should I expect any significant temp decreases under the hood or in the cab, since thats what they advertise?

I bought some 8" stainless steel locking ties but im certain theyre to small for the collectors. What size should i get?

The previous owner installed the headers and i believe them to be RKSport mid-length. What diameter size is standard for the primaries? I recall 1 5/8" but not certain.

Should i worry about the wrap retaining water and rusting out the headers? Is there any sealant that i could use?

 

Just curious as to why you would wrap the headers to protect the wires when there are products made to protect the wires?

Header wrap ALWAYS rusts headers.

To do it right, ceramic coat the headers and put these on the wires.


https://cableorganizer.com/insultherm-spark/


David

 

And those still won't work perfectly if they contact the headers directly, as is likely on #6 with mid headers once you account for the added bulk of the heat shield. They only handle 500 degrees directly.

All you can really do is get wild with zip ties; good wires like MSDs will handle pretty high radiant heat, but you gotta keep the wires OFF the headers. More's better, but at the absolute minimum, 1/2" away.

Agree... do NOT wrap the headers. Send back the header wrap and invest in coated long tube headers. They'll run a tiny bit cooler, but every bit helps.

 

This came off of #5 and is why i considered installing the header wrap.




I put new heat sheilds on so hopefully those will do better. Does the wrap rust the headers towards the collectors or all the way through the primaries? Ill just take your guys advice and not install it. I hate exhaust leaks because the make a car sound like an old farm truck.

 

Header wrap keeps all the heat in, and that means the mild steel primaries now have a tube metal temperature of 1000+ degF. Mild steel is not intended to operate at those temperatures. The iron in the steel starts to combine with the oxygen in the air (= rust), and the excessive heat cycling cracks the tubes and welds. Racers use header wrap because some headers are cheap and easy to swap, and they don't care if they have to replace them every couple of years. Street driven cars, with expensive headers, hard to replace, are not the place to use heat wrap. You have them cera-metallic coated, and extend the header life, in addition to reducing under hood heat, and adding a few HP.

 

the spark plug boot shown above is a poor quality single layer boot. taylor sells some made by http://www.atlantexmfg.com which can stand up to a constant 1200 degrees rather than a burst. my wife sells a similar item but i find them to be more flexible, (which could be good or bad). both cases, she had the 2 boots tested with a standard plug wire band clamped to a set of headers for a 1/2 hour and the temp of the plug wire sustained no significant damage (wire measured 182 degrees, not bad for being 1/4 inch off a header, only protected by the boot)
most plug wires companies wouldnt disclose there melting point of their product for better research.

 

I obviously threw those old fire sleeves away. They were on there when i bought the car and 3 more of them were burnt through and the plug wires were damaged almost as bad as the one pictured. I bought some Taylor heat treated firesleeves(1200F) off of Thunder racing which im thinking are the ones you are talking about.

As far as the header wrap, I pulled all of the old stuff off, which has been on there for quite a while, and the header had no signs of rust or cracking. The previous owner only wraped the #2 primary, and did a shotty job. i wraped 6" down the primary tubes(instead of all the way down to the collectors) where all the plug wires were close to touching. Hopefully that will work. Thanks for the heads up on the header wraps fire hazard and how it can potentially damage the headers.

 

they very well could be. ill post pix up soon of th e2 brands im talking about. one is flimsy and the other has a steel ring at one end. by all means idaho, im not trashing you or what you bought. btw, have you tried the tracers yet?

 

No offense taken. Maybe next time around, if these sleeves dont work, ill look into the ones you listed.

And no i havent tried those tracer rounds yet. Its been a dry spring and will be a dry summer, so id hate to start a couple thousand acre wildfire. I have some AP rounds loaded up and would send some to you but you went off and sold your Cetme.

 

Tried special sleaves,boots,ect on my problem wire
to header problem and no luck.

Cut header wrap in 3 to 4 inch strip, 2 stainless ties in
problem area and presto- No more boot or wire burning
problems.

Just a thought

Later

 

The ceramic coating on my SLP headers started to look like crap, so I stripped it off and painted the headers with high temp paint. Then I wrapped them. The wrap really cut down on the under hood temps. I've had this setup for almost 4 years now, with no problems and my car is driven in all kinds of weather.