Header Insulation

[zachow3]

Anyone have any thoughts or experience with header insulation wrap? I ordered a set of Torque Monster Headers from Robert (havent arrived yet) and have a set of spark plug wire/boot insulators but at least from what i have read the plug wire/boot insulators wont cut it in the event they lay up against a header pipe. The header insulation (again from what I have read) will protect the wires if they come in contact and supposedly wrapping the headers will reduce engine heat build up and promote better exhaust gas scavenging. All input appreciated. Convince me it's a good idea i.e. actually works, an unecessary waste of money or possibly damaging. Thanks!

 

[rwenzing]

Most, if not all, header manufacturers will void their warranty if header wrap is used. The potential damage to the headers from heat and corrosion is not worth the performance benefit. Torque Monsters are ceramic coated which is a much better heat solution over the long term.

If you want to protect the wires, you can rework the factory wires stays to hold them away from the header tubes and then add the sleeves.

 

[gluvsave35]

yea it says on one of the first lines in the directions warranty will be void if header wrap is used!

and those boots work they make high temp material!

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Never, never use header wrap. Robert said they would void warranty as stated, but mainly, the heat held within deteriorates the metal and welds quickly. The headers life will be severely shortened. Sure race teams do it, but they have unlimited budget for those things. Trust the ceramic coating, it does a fine job.

 

[zachow3]

Thanks for the heads up. Good to know that it would void my warranty. Didnt really want to wrap these headers anyway, they are really a work of art. Careful routing of the wires is crucial and I realize that. Just thinking worse case scenario. My spark plug wires are custom fit and dont seem to have much elbow room on the stock exhaust manifolds. Wasnt sure if the headers would require more reach. I guess you learn as you go. Thanks again for the response.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Get yourself some generic plug wire separators, route your wires carefully, use the heat "socks" and you'll be fine. I did a wire up on my header install a while back- search "Torque Monster Header" and it'll be there.

 

[MakinJeepsWeep!]

Hey bumping this, I have torque monster headers 5.0 96 AWD, I have Davis unified ignition screaming demon coils with their wires that are susposed to be header proof, and they where indeed very nice wires wrapped heat shrunk etc etc very nice. However headers are still tearing them up. Even with zero direct contact they are getting burned up. Anything known a good fix to block this heat from the wires? I had decent luck with the covers/socks on the wires before just seeing if there is a new solution or better, socks are gonna be a pain on these big thick wires at 8.8s before wrap they come with.
Thank you all.

 

[410Fortune]

So I run Taylor 8.8 wires with my 5.0 and tmh
I like you have burned up a few wires the headers burn up the boots because they are just so close
Get your fiberglass heat socks wet and they melt themselves and then offer no more protection
So what I do on cyl 2 and 3 and 6 and 7 are run the tin metal protectors from the factory wire set. You carefully pry them apart you can fit them to the new wires. Then I put the heat socks over that assembly
No burned boots since then
I also carefully route the wires away from the engine, towards the fender skirts and use lots of zip ties to

I have a set of obx headers on my sport trac 5.0 and that engine man the tube is so close to the boot on cyl 2 it is hard to
Keep a good wire in there
So far with the factory metal tin and the heat sock is has been okay for 6 months now

 

[97Sandbox]

+1 for reusing OE shields and heat socks too.

Cyl 2 is my only heat sock showing signs of deteriation after several months. And I wasn't running inner fenders for a while, so it was likely due to moisture getting in like 410 mentioned.

 

[MakinJeepsWeep!]

Hmmm I also do not have inner fenders I wonder if that's some issue with recent flooding and sudden faster rot, didn't even think about it.

 

[MakinJeepsWeep!]

I'm gonna double down on wrap and protectors as yall have and give it a go.

 

[410Fortune]

I don’t have inner fenders on my bronco… never lost a wire on that truck
It has a v8 and tmh and Taylor wires
I did replace the wires once two years ago so that’s two sets of Taylor’s since 2005

The obx headers on my sport trac are really bad the tube from cyl 2 alsmot touches the heat sock
Without the tin piece the wire wouldn’t last weeks
Still happy to have headers lol

 

[MakinJeepsWeep!]

Yea it's only 2 cylinders giving issue. So I'm gonna use tin and sock and I might go back to the Taylor cables I took off, that was what was on there before the Davis unified stuff.

 

[410Fortune]

Both good wires the tin creates one more heat barrier and a good one at that
Ford also had those “soft metal socks”higher up on the wire, they can help create a safe space where wires pass the manifold too