Header and Overpipe...

[dj petey]

Exhaust velocity and scavenging are affected by heat retention of the headers. Coating or wrapping will help improve this affect. Factory headers come with heat shields to protect surrounding components. This is the other purpose for coating or wrapping headers. The only draw back to wrapping is it may trap moisture as the headers cool and condense. Lower quality stainless components/welds/flanges/bolts are subject to oxidation and rust given enough moisture, time, and the right temps.

[FR-S Matt]

Wow, actually learned quite a bit from this thread. Thanks guys!

[husker741]

Bump. I'm gonna be NA, but get headers in the future. I would probably heat wrap those, but for now I have a Perrin overpipe. How important is it that I heat wrap that? Am I wasting my time? Anyone have any experience with having a pipe like that get too hot? Thanks!

[FR-S Matt]

Originally Posted by husker741

Bump. I'm gonna be NA, but get headers in the future. I would probably heat wrap those, but for now I have a Perrin overpipe. How important is it that I heat wrap that? Am I wasting my time? Anyone have any experience with having a pipe like that get too hot? Thanks!

I would just ceramic coat the header. Jet Hot is very popular in the LS1 community for keeping temps down and rust prevention. I have a pair of Hooker Longtubes (uncoated) and I see the rust buildup around the flanges. Granted the headers are about 8 years old, they'd still probably look new today had they have been coated from the start.

I plan on getting a Nameless header (or Revworks if I go UEL) ceramic coated for sure. It's the proper way to do it to make the part last the absolute longest and most importantly, it does affect the temperatures.