Header wrap

[Kfreak]

Anyone ever use header wrap on their pipes? Was it worth it?

[thetable]

My somewhat limited experience with it in cars. Reduces underhood temps, but seems to rot headers very quickly. Ceramic coating has the same if not better results of underhood temp drop without the downside of rotting the headers. Performance gain was negligible at best. We saw slightly, and I do mean slightly more power on the dyno, but it was so minimal it could be contributed to ambient temp changes.

Send the headers out to have them Jet Hot coated and you willl be much happier than you could ever be with wrap.

[Kfreak]

Well, I don't want to rot my pipes. Too expensive to replace.

[ctandc]

Use the exhaust wrap. Corrosion on the pipes is only an issue if the pipes already have corrosion starting, or they are really thin tubes.

Use the DEI wrap. Buy some 'silicone' spray from them as well.

I used this setup on a daily-driven 300+ HP project car. Ran it for 30K miles / 2 years before it was sold. Guy still drives it, no issues.

The headers were new, but painted. I blasted 'em to remove the paint. Used POR-20 high heat exhaust paint (brush on and it's not pricey) then wrapped / sprayed.

I could pull the plugs between runs at the track without frying my knuckles too...and I noticed it also kept the engine much cooler in between runs when I had the engine off and the cooling fans (electric) running...the mechanical Autometer gauge I used showed it cooled down a good bit faster (same outside temp etc) with the wrap installed.

Bad part about ceramic on bikes..road debris will get kicked up and ceramic WILL chip. Good luck getting them to warranty that.

HTH

Chris

[The CyberPoet]

Use the exhaust wrap. Corrosion on the pipes is only an issue if the pipes already have corrosion starting, or they are really thin tubes.

Corrosion under header-wrap can be a serious issue on the OEM header pipes on the Kats (and virtually all OEM motorcycle headers in general), because they are made of mild steel in thin-walled measurements. What applies to cars doesn't apply to bikes in this sense, because cars use much heavier header materials. Most aftermarket headers for the motorcycle market are made out of better (but not thicker) metals.
The rust problem under header wrap for OEM headers is particularly annoying in environments where there is either salt on the road left over from the winter (E.G. - the UK and many of the NE states), as well as places where the ambient humidity stays very high and thus the area under the wrap doesn't dry out well after rain exposure (E.G. - SE states over the summer).

The headers were new, but painted. I blasted 'em to remove the paint. Used POR-20 high heat exhaust paint (brush on and it's not pricey) then wrapped / sprayed.

I agree that the POR-20 header paint is a good solution, although as ctandc noted, the headers really need to be blasted to get all the paint, tiniest bits of rust & any oils off before application or it won't hold (same holds true in general of any header coating or header/exhaust paint).

Bad part about ceramic on bikes..road debris will get kicked up and ceramic WILL chip. Good luck getting them to warranty that.

My headers have been ceramic-coated for about 2-1/2 years now, and although there is some signs of rust-colored discoloration on the coating itself (places where iron dust & rust-colored southern clay-dust from the road embedded itself into the surface of the coating).
Because I went with silver-gray instead of black this discoloration is visible on the front side of the pipes (where they catch the wind), but the coating hasn't chipped nor have the pipes rusted at all.

Did it make any power difference? Nah.

So when would I consider wrapping the headers or ceramic-coating them? When you move to larger headers that will be right up against or press into the fairings, such as the Bandit 1200 headers if you move to the Bandit 1200 engine in the Kat (the headers press against the belly fairings -- have to dremel the fairing back and then do something to control the fairings' ABS from being exposed to too much heat).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Kfreak]

I do have rust and am pulling off the pipes to blast them. The bike sat outside too long and the weather got the best of it. But, I was able to salvage the beast. A little TLC and the bike looks great. When I traded for the bike my main concern was the motor. The owner prior to me did do a fantastic job on the paint. The rest was up to me. I wanted the header wrap to cut down on the heat under the fairings because of there being no cooling fan. Plus it looks cool.

[catfish]

i use the stuff on the rally car's exhaust. it stinks like hell for a few days after you apply it, so be prepared!