How much diff does Heat Wrapping make

[stuart_hatch 0]

Recently bought a VR6 with a Raceland 6 Branch Manifold, a few people have mentioned heat wrapping it, is it worth the bother?

Cheers

 

Stuart

[millerman 0]

question is would you wrap a std manifold and what holds more heat stainless steel or cast iron ??

[rookierod 0]

a lot of people are saying there isnt any gains from rapping it as a waste a time, but i havent done it myself so never no.

[millerman 0]

unsure but i would like a 6 branch manifold so would also be interested to know about this

but im sure all it would do i keep underbonnet temps lower

[dragon green 4]

It does work,but has its drawbacks -

if you drive through a large puddle,it could be likened to driving a mobile sauna !

If you leave the car ungaraged, it tends to draw in moisture (see above)

if its not a good quality stainless header,it will quickly rust !

You want to keep exhaust temperature down,have it camcoated,inside and out , it works !

just my 2p worth thats tried both ways,heres a link, have a look,lots of different colours

http://www.camcoat.u-net.com/

[MikeVR6 0]

I have e-mailed the Camcoat agent here in Germany for a price to coat my 6-Branch.

How much did you pay Dragon Green?

Which coating did you go for? There are quite a few different types...

http://www.camcoat.com/main/thermal-barriers-2

[coullstar 0]

Theres arguments for and against but the main one for me is limiting the heat in the engine bay on the other components in and around the manifold.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah all good points raised. Stainless manifolds lose heat quicker than iron and hot gases move faster than cooler ones, so there is scientific reasoning behind lagging. As said already, the woven glass fibre stuff is bad for steaming when it gets wet and trapping moisture underneath.

 

Ceramic coating is expensive and doesn't solve radiant heat problems, so you still need heatshielding to protect the surrounding parts as Coullstar says.

It is good at keeping heat in though, and looks a damn site prettier than beige wool!

[Yandards 0]

Thermal plasma coating is the stuff you want.

 

It is like a ceramic coating but better, the testing carried out shows drops of around 30% surface temperature on a Rover V8 manifold under test conditions. As others have mentioned the more you retain the exhaust heat the faster the gas flow, this in turn will lead to more power through increased effectiveness of cylinder scavenging on the exhaust stroke.

 

It's not cheap stuff but looks way better than a wrap and should last a lot longer:

 

Zircotec

 

I know Drew on here had his exhaust manifold coated by them about a year ago for around £200 for the coating in warm grey pics here, I don't know how much a complete stainless downpipe would be but I can't see if being a huge amount more.

 

This is on my list of 'fings to do' on both cars, although I would love to get the entire system from cat bypass back done in Diamond black with warm grey on the manifold and downpipe.

[MikeVR6 0]

E-mailed Zircotec for a quote for the 6-Branch. Metallic Black finish.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Thermal plasma coating is the stuff you want.

 

It is like a ceramic coating but better, the testing carried out shows drops of around 30% surface temperature on a Rover V8 manifold under test conditions. As others have mentioned the more you retain the exhaust heat the faster the gas flow, this in turn will lead to more power through increased effectiveness of cylinder scavenging on the exhaust stroke.

 

It's not cheap stuff but looks way better than a wrap and should last a lot longer:

 

Zircotec

 

I know Drew on here had his exhaust manifold coated by them about a year ago for around £200 for the coating in warm grey pics here, I don't know how much a complete stainless downpipe would be but I can't see if being a huge amount more.

 

This is on my list of 'fings to do' on both cars, although I would love to get the entire system from cat bypass back done in Diamond black with warm grey on the manifold and downpipe.

 

 

Interesting :norty:

 

I would need more than a 30% reduction in radiant heat though. My turbine housing hits 500 deg C after a good run and the Zircotec would only reduce it to 350 deg C, which is still hot enough to melt or severly weaken plastics and rubber in the surrounding areas. Need to get it down to 100 deg C to compete with cheap heatshielding really, but the trapped internal heat is very appealing though, and the tasty finishes available.

[coullstar 0]

E-mailed Zircotec for a quote for the 6-Branch. Metallic Black finish.

 

Let me know how much as Ive currently got the downpipe off.

[dragon green 4]

I have e-mailed the Camcoat agent here in Germany for a price to coat my 6-Branch.

How much did you pay Dragon Green?

Which coating did you go for? There are quite a few different types...

http://www.camcoat.com/main/thermal-barriers-2

 

I had this done on a pair of V8 tubular manifolds, about ten years ago !

[MikeVR6 0]

Let me know how much as Ive currently got the downpipe off.

 

Sitting down.....

 

£497 plus shipping & VAT! :eek: :eek:

And I sent them a photo of the Raceland Manifold directly from E-Bay. So they know exactly what I wanted.

[The_Dude 0]

Holy sheet. At that price you could get 3 manifolds and wrap them and to hell with the rotting!

[coullstar 0]

I'll clean up the wrap then and get it ready to go on again :lol: . Im guessing there motorsport exclusive then.

[Critical_Mass 10]

Ive done this and i agree with the "it getting wet" issue. BUT you can get silicone spray which you coat over the fabric to keep water from getting in and under the wrapping. Just do it thoroughly.

 

Oh and as for prices, I bought Thermotec wrap and spray. I forget how much the spray was exactly i think it was around £15. The wrap itself - 2" wide x 50ft was nearing £60 and one roll was enough to do a 6 branch manifold, which allowed for off cuts.

[MikeVR6 0]

What worries me more is the fact that the wrapping can combust or your manifold can crack if there's the slightest gap in the wrapping. All the heat concentrates at the exposed part and "whoosh" or "crack" big problem!

 

Maybe it's better just to leave the manifold exposed?

 

Still waiting for a price from Camcoat. Maybe they'll be more reasonable.

[coullstar 0]

Well Ive just ordered some more wrap and some Silicone spray. £65 against some of the prices Im seeing sounds good to me.

[Critical_Mass 10]

Another reason i wrapped my manifold was due to the horrible sucking noise i was getting, which never disappeared. I used the wrap to mask the noise.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

£497 plus shipping & VAT! :eek: :eek:

 

That's just taking the p1ss, it's not that good :roll:

 

The wrapping doesn't combust, it's glass fibre. I've never had any issues like that on my downpipe and it gets a lot hotter than a 6 branch ever will :D

What it can do though is absorb oil if there's any leaks down there, and that can ignite when hot enough and cause fires.

 

Leaving it exposed is fine, so long as you retain the factory heatshield.

[MikeVR6 0]

Leaving it exposed is fine, so long as you retain the factory heatshield.

 

Sure Kev? Even if I Turbocharge later?

[Yandards 0]

£497 plus shipping & VAT! :eek: :eek:

 

That's just taking the p1ss, it's not that good :roll:

 

The wrapping doesn't combust, it's glass fibre. I've never had any issues like that on my downpipe and it gets a lot hotter than a 6 branch ever will :D

What it can do though is absorb oil if there's any leaks down there, and that can ignite when hot enough and cause fires.

 

Leaving it exposed is fine, so long as you retain the factory heatshield.

 

That is damn expensive. Wierd that Drew paid £200ish inc VAT for a 4 cylinder exhaust manifold (factory) but this 6 branch comes back at nearly double that with the VAT.

 

How much cheaper is the slightly lower spec coating they offer in black? It gives about 25% reduction in temps but is aimed more at Civics and Golfs according to their website.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Leaving it exposed is fine, so long as you retain the factory heatshield.

 

Sure Kev? Even if I Turbocharge later?

 

If you turbocharge later on you'll need to lose the 6 branch anyway :D

 

But yeah, exposed is fine. Not sure if you noticed my comments earlier about my turbine temp being 500 deg C under the shield, and 100 deg C above it?. That is no hotter than a stock engine back there :D

You can now get some pretty decent aluminium shielding, which shifts absorbed heat a lot faster than steel.

 

http://www.thermalvelocity.co.uk/Heat-S ... p-113-414/

[coullstar 0]

Thats the stuff I just bought for a turbo sheild. Its fairly malleable as well.