Cooler Water Temps!!

[CobraMarty]

As part of the Sprintex S/C install I put on Ceramic coated Gibson headers, wrapped them for the first 4-6 inches or so and then stuck 'gold' heat barrier on the underside of the supercharger manifold. What I did notice was about 5-10 degree cooler water temps. Before it was just over 210* and now it is under 210*. I will look closer and check it with the OBD scan gauge. The S/C manifold is shorter runner and not as big and heavy, maybe less heat soak. I will also check some IAT readings.

 

[O-Gauge Steamer]

I hope you realize that you have just created 6 hot spots on the header.

From the Heat Shield Web Site:

Exhaust wrap tips and tricks.

• Where should you begin? Start your wrap closest to the cylinder head, work your way down the system
• If you are using an exhaust wrap, avoid using a pressure washer once it has been installed. High power water can remove the coating on the wrap and cause damage to the wrap
• If you wrap only a section of the exhaust system, you actually end up super heating that section of the system. The points right before and after the wrap, will actually be hotter than if you didn’t wrap that small section at all. If you can only wrap a section, be sure to continue your insulation upstream and downstream for an extra 6"-8"
• By using a 1/4 inch overlap for automotive applications, and a 50% overlap for motorcycle/powersport applications, you are ensuring just enough heat to escape without over insulating the system

The italics are my edit but, just be aware...

Also, from Heat Shield:

Heatshield Armor specific tricks:

• When using Heatshield Armor, leave a 1 or 3/4 inch gap on forced induction applications at the bottom of the pipe to allow enough heat to escape system. On naturally aspirated applications, it is safe to wrap the entire pipe
• In cases where you are not able to encapsulate your entire exhaust system, but you need to stop heat from radiating and protect components, use the Heatshield Armor to cover the top ½ to ¾ of the exhaust pipe. This stops heat from radiating up from the pipe, but also allows enough heat to escape so you don’t end up super heating the small section of pipe

 

[CobraMarty]

I had lots of self debate on this one. I finally decided to try it. The SS headers are ceramic coated and I wraped them touching or within 1/4" of the flange and wrapped out about 6". I read good and bad reviews. It was mostly a coin toss. We'll see how long it all lasts. I did scare me on the first start up when smoke came bellowing off the engine. A quick 'google it' and the wrap will smoke for the first 5 minutes. Yep that's true. I will try to shoot the header with the IR temp gun later.

 

[Redsnake]

Very interesting! I'll be reading along to see how this one progresses. I've always wanted to SC my '01XJ... but now you got me thinking.

 

[jeeperjohn]

So would it help emissions to wrap the header all the way to the cat? More heat in the cat = less emissions right?

 

[O-Gauge Steamer]

Yes, and sadly no... The Cat is designed to work in a range of temperatures and I, for one, would be concerned of "over heating" it leading to early failure.