Jasson that is one of the things I was wondering about now what do you think you gained in perfomance for the $90+or- you spent for the tape? and whats this I'm hearing about burn through is it really aproblem with a wel;l tuned engine with no smog pump? Bruce Johnson

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78b4ramSnortbed/6

As far as the burn through is concerned, I'm really not sure what you are asking, and as far as the performance advantage is concerned, I wasn't even concerned about that. However I will tell you exactly what I like about the header wrap products. The fact that I could sit in traffic for hours on end, in the middle of the summer, get to where I was going, pop the hood, and physically grab the header for about three seconds straight, with the car still running was an absolute gold mine to me. I don't know how many cars you have owned with headers, but the heat, to me is unbearable. I will never have another set again without them being wrapped. That's just what I value in my car, and everybody is different in their own values, but my suggestion is to go ahead and spend the money, It's worth it.
Jason Kobos.
68 dart. (LT1/LS1 eatin /6)

What I meant was some people have told me that exsessive heat can occure by insulateing the steel header tube from the cooling effect of the outside air and actualy melting the tube . I have seen a cast iron manifold on a toyota sr5 glow Bright cherry red because of a extreme rich mixture problem first thing I did was take off the smog pump belt (pumps fresh air into the exhast ports) This cooled things down immediatly , by eliminating the blow torch effect. this got my gal back on the road but I'm certain her truck would have caught fire had I not done that. What I'm trying to say is that I know under certain conditions an exaust header could melt but I think there is some confusion as to when and why and thats primarly why I begain this thread to hear from people who have had long term experiance with header wrap tape because I was seriously considering using it for the first time. As for ceramic coating I agree its a good Idea for apperance and preserving expensive headers but $200+ wow! my mopar performance headers only cost me $158 new and the Hookers I just took off were on the truck for over a hundred thousand miles. they look like hell but still work. I guess its still a balancing act, but I thought it worth discusing. Thanks for every bodys input Bruce Johnson

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78b4ramSnortbed/6

As far as the header melting or reaching excessive temps. That is one thing that I have not experienced either. I have had the headers wrapped for three+ years, and I have had my head off and on about six times while experimenting with different head work and the headers have kept their same shape. I don't know if that is because they are Cliffords or what, but I have no reason to change brands.

I've had the same set of Clifford "Street Rod" (shorty) 3 into 1 headers on my Slant 6 engines since 1994 and well over 150,000 miles, and aside from surface rust, I've never had a leak or anything go wrong with them. After changing exhaust systems and using a pair of those Mr. Gasket cardboard type "gaskets" they blew out almost immediately. So I've had NO gaskets at the header / collector joint for years, and they still don't leak.
No discoloring either, but it's probably hard to tell because of the rust.

Header coatings if done properly are probably better than wrap. Wrap does work. One thing you must be aware of is temperature plays a big part in your engine tuning. I do not know how much header manufactures pay attention to this. Temperature affects the speed of the exhaust gasses. There are probably too many variables in the normal auto the take a lot of this into account. Plus drag cars do not run for that long compared to road going and road race and stock cars. It does make a huge difference in the tuning of a two stroke. What little work I have done with turbos, I am finding it makes a different there also. Very limited experience with turbos.

If anyone needs any help with engine coatings. internal or external, please contact me via e-mail. I live in southwestern Ohio. I would love to here from a /6er in this area. especially one that races.

It may be tough to draw any conclusions here. There are too many variables. Surface prep, humidity, vehicle usage, vehicle storage, etc all conspire to muddy the water on this.

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'66 Cuda 225/4spd
'66 Dart GT convertible 225/auto
'64 Dart GT 340/4spd