Exhaust wrap and salt

[jhenegh]

One reason I've been hesitant to use exhaust/heat wrap on my crossover pipe is that it seems like it would hold in moisture/road salt and rust the pipe out in no time flat. Is this a warranted fear? I'd like to wrap mine to try and get a little more efficiency, but if it rusts the crossover out in a year or two it wouldn't be worth it.

 

[IDIoit]

in the midst of looking for a new cross over,
as im sure you seen the thread i posted this morning about it.
im not about to spend 200 on a cross over.
for 30 bucks a piece, you can get stainless steel 16 gauge mandrel J bends from summit racing

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-42426
should take 3 pieces to complete this.
(2" is just a reference, need to actually measure mine)

then wrap away, and have no fear of rust, ever.

 

[jhenegh]

in the midst of looking for a new cross over,
as im sure you seen the thread i posted this morning about it.
im not about to spend 200 on a cross over.
for 30 bucks a piece, you can get stainless steel 16 gauge mandrel J bends from summit racing

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-42426
should take 3 pieces to complete this.

then wrap away, and have no fear of rust, ever.

That thread is what reminded me to ask

Since I don't have stainless TIG capabilities, if you make a stainless one for yourself, just make 2 and I'll buy the other one I know you're don't have much road salt there, but seeing the little bit of rust throughout your threads, I'm guessing ocean salt must be in your air.

 

[IDIoit]

very very rare that i have rust issues.
but whenever i do exhaust work
which i have done tons of, now a days i wont do it unless its stainless.
easier to TIG, and lasts forever,
the longevity of the finish product outweighs the price.
i hate doing things twice.

let me make mine and see how it goes
ill be doing this on my engine run stand when im ready.
and yea, i have 2 of these kits so ill be making atleast 2 lol

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

exhaust last a good 10-15 years here,so running ss in Cali should be good for a couple hundred years.

i wrapped all my pipes on both my trucks.i figure the heat from the pipes pretty much burns off any moisture.besides id rather have 10 years without turbo lag than 20 with.

 

[jhenegh]

When my rear main was dripping it would't burn the oil off unless it was a real long drive. Obviously that's not water, but it didn't get as hot there as fast I thought it would. At least not down there in the wind, on the bottom

 

[Black dawg]

The first time I did mine I was worried about rust, so I painted it with high temp paint....and used LOTS of paint. That lasted a few years, with no rust. The last time I had it all apart (and put on different turbo kit) I just wrapped them with no paint...no signs of rust. But rust isnt a huge deal here though.

 

[junk]

Rust is the same reason I haven't serious thought about wrapping any pipes. I think I'd high temp paint and then wrap if I was going to wrap.

 

[Koch13351]

DEI recommends using their high temp silicone coating on their header wrap for this reason. I'd give it a shot without hesitation.

https://www.designengineering.com//...exhaust-wraps-accessories/ht-silicone-coating

Get a couple cans, spray crossover, apply wrap, spray wrap. I don't worry too much about corrosives since I'm in SoCal mountains and they don't salt the roads here. And also, driving in the mountains rather than on flat ground keeps the EGTs up, so any moisture is evaporated quickly. I checked this when it snowed here soon after I wrapped my crossover, because I was wondering if it in fact would stay dry. Got home and parked the truck, looked under at the wrapping I did and it was steaming slightly. Wasn't steaming after a few minutes and was still hot, telling me all the moisture was out.

But don't let that deter you from spending a little on stainless, as that is the best route to take and well worth the investment as IDIoit stated. I'm a welder myself and plan to eventually fabricate my own stainless crossover/up pipes for my 088 system in order to improve on ATS' design and to make them shorter. They didn't mandrel bend them, they aren't tucked very close to the trans, and there's a couple spots where the pipe is indented for clearance, such as by the front driveshaft, which I have seen to be unnecessary as there would still be plenty of clearance if it weren't indented.

 

[Koch13351]

Also, with fabricating your own crossover/up pipes, you can use thicker wall tubing rather than the thin 16G/.065" wall exhaust tubing to increase heat retention

 

[jhenegh]

Did you say you used right at 24' of 2" wrap when you did yours?

 

[Koch13351]

Did you say you used right at 24' of 2" wrap when you did yours?

Yes I believe it was about that. Definitely wasn't more. That's on my 088 system though, and I don't know how your crossover measures up to mine.

https://www.designengineering.com/files/pdfs/install/ins015-exhaustwrap.pdf

There's a formula at the bottom of that article for length needed. Bends require a lot more than straight pipe. I also cut mine a foot or so longer than calculated and I barely had enough to finish it out. That formula might be fine if your wrapping is perfect, but I did mine with the crossover in the truck, in two parts, starting at each collector and working down to the middle of the trans where my crossover has a joint. If it's not too difficult to remove, I'd do it outside of the truck.

 

[Koch13351]

Here's a pic of mine. I didn't wrap the slip joint because the exhaust clamp is a very tight fit on there and wouldn't fit over it if I wrapped it. Its basically double wall thickness with it being a slip joint, and only about 2" long, so i'm not worried about it.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[franklin2]

Most header manufacturers will not warranty their headers if they are wrapped. Not because of rust from moisture or road salt, but because of the concentrated heat from the wrap disintegrates the metal. Just like a old woodstove or grille rack will disintegrate to nothing after years of use, the exhaust pipes will also and the wrap accelerates this deterioration.

 

[jhenegh]

let me make mine and see how it goes
ill be doing this on my engine run stand when im ready.
and yea, i have 2 of these kits so ill be making atleast 2 lol

no big hurry