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I would pay extra to have them wrapped from the manufacturer. It’s a tedious process that I haven’t developed the patience for, yet. I thought I had them wrapped pretty tightly until I went to install the headers. We’ll see how well they hold up. I also used heat wrap on nearby hoses and components that looked important lol
Knock sensors don't pick up heat.In laymans terms they pick up the pinging in the header tubes from the exhaust gas pulses hitting the inside of the primaries.Stick your ear down by the primaries the next time you have a wheel well liner out,and listen closely when it's idling. Any decent tuner will reconmend header wrap if you ask them about it.
Proof or it didn't happen
Never seem a manufacturer offer wrapped headers. Is there someone out there that does?
I've never found anybody offering a wrapped header.I'd hate to pay a maufacture'r to wrap them,as the labour costs would probably almost double the cost of a set of already high priced set of long tubes.They aren't hard to wrap,but it is a time consuming job to do them neatly.There's lots of video's on youtube ,even DEI has a video showing how to wrap them.
I watched a couple videos, DEI’s being one. Just don’t have the knack for it, yet. I’m certain I’ll be doing this job on my fathers 1500 in the future so hopefully I hone my skills some. Did y’all use the recommended high temp silicone spray?
Me neither. Would be a cool option though if priced right.
If you have it,use the high temp silicone spray.
I usually throw the headers into a solidly mounted vice,so they stay stable when you're trying to get a tight wrap on them,and i always soak the wrap in water,even the titanium stuff,it's easier to work with,and lays nicer when wet in my opinion.
You could do the old stacked 02 sensor trick. You drill out the bottom one so the 02 fits through it,and then stuff it full of 000 or 0000 steel wool.Usually that'll fool the back 02 into thinking it's seeing a differance in oxygen levels from the front sensor. You can find them at pretty well any auto parts store aka Napa / Bumper to Bumper etc..
My experiences with header coatings,is they're semi-okay if you live where it never gets below 50F,but if you live where it can get to -20 or colder,the coating doesn't last worth crap. I think the bigger temp swings when you start an engine at -20 or colder,thermal shocks the coatings to much for it survive the huge almost instant temp changes the headers see. Guys in Florida will have coated headers last for years,while guys in Canada or the Northern States it doesn't last as well.Just my observations
I live in St. Louis, so no -20 here. Rarely below 0. I heard bad things about the Titanium coating so I went ceramic. It was twice the price to have the ARH headers cerakoted, but I wish I went that route. I wasn't planning to keep the truck indefinitely at the time like I am now. I got the smaller primaries for JBA, maybe one of these days I'll upgrade to the ARH. I'm not mad at the JBAs though for the price.
I've yet to see any coated header last including ARH's.I've had better luck with header wrap then i've ever had with a coated header.Plus wrap keeps more heat in the primaries and keeps your knock sensors happier,by reducing header pinging.Persoanlly i'd rather replace a set of headers every 10 or 12 years,then fight with replacing wiring/hoses etc,that heat de-grade from header heat.My JBA's are 9 years old,and have been double wrapped from day one,and they're still in pretty decent shape,considering they're on a nitrous fed truck,and nitrous creates a pile of exhaust heat.
The trucks are a piece of cake to install long tubes on,you gotta put a set on a Challenger/Charger or even worse a new Mustang,then you'll realise how easy it is to install long tubes on a truck,lol
