Header wrap

[Huffa 2]

I see that wrap on bikes here and there and just wondering what exactly that does besides lowering the header temp? Is it worth the money? How much is it, what's it made out of?

I would never put it on because I think it makes the bike look really shabby up there but never the less I am curious to what performance gains you get from it or is it just to help the motor live longer by way of cooler temperatures?

Would a air cooled engine benifit more from it over a H20 job?

[Thunderbug]

It makes an exhaust pipe look like something out of the engine room of a ship.

[4Takt]

I did it to the Moriwaki header on my XRR because it kept burning holes in my pants.

Worked like a charm, but I didn't notice any difference in performance at all.

[roadcam]

I have read stories that indicate header wrapping causes the pipe itself to rot out after time ... I have no personal experience with it ...

[MTFYR]

I have it on my XR650R, the reduction in heat was very

significant. I didn't notice any big change in performance

either way. Yeah its not the prettiest looking mod, but the

heat reduction was well worth it. Never hear anything

negative about using it.

[Billahjack]

I wrapped mine with a black tinted wrap (1"wide header wrap tape) because I was overheating on the slow technical trails. The black eventually fades to gray. I live in the desert so I'm not worried about rotting out the header pipes. Maybe if I rode in mud, I would be more concerned.

It helps quite a bit with the heat by lowering the temperature around the radiators during low speed riding. At higher speeds, its no issue. I have a FMF powerbomb header. If I could do it again, I would get a higher quality header like the Pro Circuit, Morwaki, Akprovic, Barnums Pro, etc. I also checked out the XR's Only pipe/header and would still take the Pro Circuit unit. As for increase in power....its not noticeable.

Wrapping a header takes significant time to make it look good. I did it with the header on the bike. I had to loosen the radiators to pull them slightly out of the way. I also ended up wrapping it in 3 sections. If you wrap a header, make sure to wrap from the front towards the back and terminate around the carb area to keep your pant legs from frying. Also, I found that safety wire works best to tie it down. When you are wrapping it, use some twist ties to hold it in place before you start using the safety wire. Overlap each revolution by about 1/4" although it will bunch up in the corners. Pull it tight!! If you are clever enough, you will cover up terminations from multiple pieces and it will look like 1 continuous wrap.

[Billahjack]

Forgot to mention that it is woven fiberglass. Wear some gloves and a mask.

[rebelventurer]

The good header wrap is made of a nomex/ fiberglass blend. A lot of drag racers use it. Manufacturers claim that the performance aspect of wrapping headers, is all about the heat, basically the hotter the exhaust gasses, not the pipe, the faster they flow, the faster they flow the more air (gasses) the motor can move, the more air you move the more power you make. I personally have it on my youngest sons crf50 white bros. exhaust, you can actually grab the the pipe, (briefly) when its hot. We put it on because of fear of burning his leg.

Some installation notes;

1) calculate and cut to length

2) soak in warm water, makes it easier to get tight and installing around bends in pipe

3) use the stainless zip ties to secure

4) use the spray on silicone coating to seal everything (when totaly dry)

I like the black with the black coating, and if you have a quality stainless header, there is no way it will cause it to corrode (rot).

DEI seems to be of good quality, they have the wrap in 1 and 2 inch in two colors a natural tan color and black, they have the ties in a couple of different lengths, and they have the silicon coating in grey and black. They also make a pretty cool sparkplug wire boot cover, made of the same material that you just slip on the wire.

Oh, one more thing I believe thhat if you can keep the hot exhaust heat from around the cooling fins on an air cooled bike it will run cooler, especially an already hot running big bore thumper, the cooler it stays the less wear. Remember HEAT KILLS!!!

[Huffa 2]

Good info you guys Thanks !!!

[Barro]

The temp of the actual header is way higher. After applying the header wrap the exhaust is now so hot that the Baja Designs exhaust tip blued... a lot. Then again I really over-wrapped the exhaust.

The XR does a lot of slow tight single track in Ontario and downtown Toronto commuting so heat management (blah-blah-blah) in favor of the rads and my legs was the priority. On top of adding heat shields in key areas (blah-blah) I wrapped the exhaust pipes all the way to the silencer with 2" wrap and painted it with HT silicone paint.

NOW THIS IS DIFFERENT: to save the wrap from bushwhacking and high pressure wash damage I used stainless steel tape to wrap the... wrap.

www.mcmaster.com has adhesive 1" stainless tape. It wraps a little unshapely around bends but if you are the type to sacrifice a little form in favor of function it should not look too offensive. It also keeps a lot more heat inside of it (blah-blah). BTW, the wrap will smell and smoke a lot!!! for a while.

After a season of tight woods, water crossings, urban riding and wide open highway the header and wrap seem to be in good shape. Well done leg-o-human and stop & go boiling are now a rarity.

Eduardo Masionis.

PS. enbritlement theories can be countered with annealing ones ;-)

[frankstr]

I use it on my bike...I also use a stainless wire with a 1 inch spread wrapped around the wrap on the tubes, Helps with it staying on better..

Use it on my other rigs also...Keeps heat transfer to a minimum..

Helps with exhaust velocity which helps get rid of the exhaust.. TMO

[Billahjack]

Good stuff Rebeladventurer! I just want to add that I bought some stainless steel zip ties off of Ebay. They have a ball-lock wedging mechanizm and do not work. The problem is that you cinch them tight and they release about 1/32" to set the ball lock. They never tighten and stay tight like a conventional plastic zip tie. The wire was the easiest way to secure it. Its cheap and easy to fix if you get it wrong. I think I saw a stainless version of the plastic zip ties....they might work better. Just an FYI.

1) calculate and cut to length

2) soak in warm water, makes it easier to get tight and installing around bends in pipe

3) use the stainless zip ties to secure

4) use the spray on silicone coating to seal everything (when totaly dry)

I like the black with the black coating, and if you have a quality stainless header, there is no way it will cause it to corrode (rot).

DEI seems to be of good quality, they have the wrap in 1 and 2 inch in two colors a natural tan color and black, they have the ties in a couple of different lengths, and they have the silicon coating in grey and black. They also make a pretty cool sparkplug wire boot cover, made of the same material that you just slip on the wire.

[rebelventurer]

Why thank you Billahjack, the stainless tie wraps made by DEI do not slip I was very impressed with them

Design engineering inc. www.designengineeringinc.com I think? ?

[drtrider145]

I used the wrap to keep the header heat away from my 7 gallon fuel tank that hangs low and is less than 1/16 of an inch from the tank with the header wrapped and over sized header , no noticeable perfromance gain, but rad and leg temps a lot lower , supposed to keep the hot expanding gasses from cooling and slowing down in the pipe, used saftey wire to secure the wrap

[kelleyseiler]

I was going to buy this wrap and ties. What do you think?

http://www.speedzone24-7.com//graphite-wrap.htm

[rebelventurer]

The price is right! The DEI wrap in a 1 inch by 50' roll was $50 and did not include the ties, but I think this wrap does not have the nomex its all fiberglass, also the DEI ties are better they hold their position, you could use a monel seizing wire to tie it though.

[Huffa 2]

The price is right! The DEI wrap in a 1 inch by 50' roll was $50 and did not include the ties, but I think this wrap does not have the nomex its all fiberglass, also the DEI ties are better they hold their position, you could use a monel seizing wire to tie it though.

How comes you didn't do you 650 in the garage pic, or did you say it is done now, I forget?

BTW..............Your cat looks to be a spitten image of mine!!

Mine lives outside year around cause it stank the house up so bad. I was about ready to wrap that thing in header wrap!

[rebelventurer]

Huffa your right its not wrapped in that picture, is now. Will take some new ones when I get it put back together. You have a grey manx cat too! Its one of the 22 cats we have, along with 45 chickens, 12 guineas, 1 horse, and three rug rats!

[xr650l bum]

I ran an experiment on the header wrap with my own xr 650l today. I just got it back from the shop yesterday, tune up, valves adjustment, new cdi . So I know the bike is running perfect. I installed oil temp dipstick ran the bike for the day and saw that my temp was maxed about 250 under street conditions with plenty of dragin it of the line. Wrapped it today with 2 inch basic heat wrap, overlapping 1 inch so to have a solid 2 layer wrap. Stainless steel zip ties. The bike under the same conditions was running maxed at 225. Plus the bike had better response, torq and was much cooler for my own comfort. LOVED IT!!! This mod is better for the air cooled engines. Water cooled engines are designed to use the water to cool. Lowering the air temp around an air cooled engine greatly increases it ability to cool it self down thus performing much better all around. Did not use the spray on the wrap, as that is for something under a hood designed not to get wet. Try this yourself, and you will never go back. GOOD LUCK!!

[atkxr600]

Summit Racing has the 2"X50' DEI roll for $40.88

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1∂=DEI%2D010108&N=700+400384+115&autoview=sku

And the 1'X50' DEI roll for $29.88.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1∂=DEI%2D010107&N=700+400384+300445+115&autoview=sku

I know I bought the 1"X50' roll from Jegs, for like $29.00, but I can't find it on their web site. I get thier cataloges at home and found it there.