I had heard you can warp your headers running a turbo setup. Is that the case or are there certain conditions to that theory?

 

No real theory to it, it's a proven fact that wrapping the hot side pipes keeps the heat in better and keeps them at operating temp more consistently.
Your not really trying to get your pipes hot running a turbo, just get them to operating temps quicker and keep them there so you exhaust gas velocity stays higher.
When your pipes and turbo housing hot side are cold you will notice quite a bit more performance loss than when they are at temp.
Heat wrap is used in non FI applications all the time to reduce under hood temps, sheild near by parts from extreme heat but more importantly increase the scavenging effect that real headers have over stock exhaust manifolds. Scavenging means your exhaust pulse/flow during valve overlap actually helps to pull more intake air and fuel into the combustion chamber, sort of a very primitive FI effect.

The stock cast iron manifold are usually seen by a lot of people here as the better choice for a turbo set up because they hold the heat better and also keep that section of your exhaust at temps better than a thin walled tubular header will.
The thicker cast iron used in stock headers is what's better.
I would think a properly wrapped header would almost be just as good but still may not hold heat as well as the stockers or a wrapped stock manifold. (Never did a test.)

The only problem I have seen with wrapping is the pipes under it will be subjected to moisture when the wrap gets wet or it has been sittng for long periods and they are damp. My STS pipes rusted very quickly when wrapped even though they were coated with ceramic or whatever STS uses.

Hope you enjoyed the short story.

 

very interesting, does the amount of boost affect anything you were just saying? I'm meaning low boost.

 

Well I gues the more boost your running the hotter your exhaust temps could be. You cannot run more air and fuel through an engine without expecting to get more comming out your exhaust. Meth and an intercooler would keep this under control.
What kind of boost levels are you planning and what will your entire set up be like??? No sense in hashing out all this theoretical stuff if you have specific goals.

 

I was thinking around 7psi. I'm wanting to do all the plumbing myself and just buy the turbo. Any suggestions on a turbo? It would be for a 02 1500HD 6.0L.

 

I'm running 7lbs on my setup, which is a 5.3 with stock internals. I have a FMIC as well as meth and I have the stock manifolds/y pipe on there without cats or a muffler. I wrapped from the y-pipe back and I did notice a faster spool time then when I had longtubes to a 3" ORY. I'm running meth, but my IAT's were already so low I honestly didnt need to fill the resevoir up at all. Sometime in the near future Ill probably wrap the manifolds as well.