I'm planning to wrap my JDM DC ceramic header. Did a search on the opinion but half says it's ok, half say it's gonna crack. Let's put it to rest and poll away.

I'm not planning to heat coating since i don't want to send it back and forth and also for financial reason.

 

Nuttin for nuttin but, isn't the point of having the Ceramic coating to do the same thing as the heat wrap tape? Or is it just for pretty looks? I like my Blue SS pipes personally.

A.

 

no no on the wrap yo.
promotes premature metal fatigue and rust.
the wrap provides a spot for mointure to accumulate in between wrap and the header.. bad news, even for a ceramic coated header...its MILD steel under there, that will rust out quick-like.
even some grades of SS will rust out when wrapped.

I hear you may want to wrap it for a race-only car, that wont see a lot of street use and may only have a specific header for one season... you may see gains in that sort of application, but not on any street use. thats my .02

 

Owen is correct also the Mild steel used in the DC ceramic cannot handle the excess heat buildup, it will crack the header, this is why wrapping your header causes your DC warranty to go by-by.

 

OT: but that is a damn nice avatar slowerthanu...
who is that?

 

If it is SS, wrap it.

Wrapping provides excellent insulation properties and provides you with the following benefits: 1) Under hood tempurature is greatly reduced. 2) exhaust gases stay very hot, therefore keeping their velocity up, and ultimately getting out and away from the engine more quickly; this is a very good thing. 3) if SS is present, the highest exhaust temps will not be high enough to fatigue the welds and crack them, period.

More benefits then drawbacks.

 

I personally don't think the ceramic coat well....maybe at least from DC headers work.

We put one on my friend's current gen Prelude and just after some normal city driving...we pull into a gas station and the heat emanating from the engine bay was enough to literally dry his contacts out!!

The OEM heatshield did a much better job. I notice the same with mine.... the SS header is ugly as sin now...so I might just wrap the sucka and keep it from heating up my rad.....!

 

After talking with my supplier he said even SS will fracture they have seen them on Mugen and Spoon headers..that raced N1. The best way to go is to heat coat it inside and out which does the samething as the wrap but will not develop heat fractures like wrappings do. Also you gain around 3-5% gain in Hp on the norm.