Awesome advice thanks guys! I'm going to have my dad help me, so we can trade off wrapping and holding.

How many feet would I need? Think 100ft roll is way to much?

 

You will certainly have left overs, but thats not entirely a bad thing

 

I use a 50' roll per header easy peasy.
Always buy 3 rolls per job and return the third roll of not needed or didnt wrap y pipe assembly.
10, 2.5" stainless hose clamps.
2 4" stainless clamps.
3 cans od 2k high temp ceramic paint.
1 can of dei silicon header wrap sealant.

There is a trick to starting and ending the wrap. Will post ot when have more time.

 

Ive used DEI, and the amazon stuff both with good luck. Amazon wrap is half the price of DEI.

 

I have wrapped a couple sets of turbo manifolds and downpipes alone with bare hands. if you use the dei lava titanium stuff, it isnt all fiberglassy, its like cloth. if you use the fiberglassy stuff, may god have mercy on your soul. I like the 2" wide stuff.
Just use a little piece of tape to hold the end for the first wrap around then overlap half width, and use safety wire at the end to hold it in place. Hose clamps work also, but safety wire is much cheaper. its pretty easy, especially if you have a bench vise to hold the header in.

 

Read this.

 

They don't talk about 304 stainless steel, which most stainless headers are made from. 304 has a higher nickel content. High nickel alloys are used in high heat applications. I'd imagine 304 would be far better at handling the heat than what they tested.

No I'm not a metallurgist, just my $0.02

 

I've run wrapped headers for years in the 4cyl world. Header and merge collector: yet to have an issue.

 

I wrapped some mild steel headers on a small block project and they rusted through in a couple of years. I always assumed it was from the wrap retaining moisture, maybe it wasn't just that.

 

Mild steel in a high heat environment will rust through in a few years regardless if they wrapped or not.

All of this don't wrap headers is complete bullshit.
Besides the fact mild steel headers cost less than 99% of the yearly cost of the beer guys on this site drink.

who cares if they rust through in 5 years...
Buy quality stainless, buy once, cry once, no rust.


I really dont understand the bs headers take when it comes to rusting through or wrapping. 40% of the guys on this site will swap out 2k$ a set of wheels multiple times a year, taking major $$ losses, but yet they cheap out on pos mild steel headers and then bitch when they rust in 5 years. makes no sense to me.