To wrap or not

[antijam]

My car is fitted with headers and I need to overhaul my '71 starter motor. It won't come out with the header in place so I've removed it. It was very untidily wrapped in white glassfibre tape....



...which I removed with the intention of replacing it more neatly with titanium tape. However, removing the wrap revealed a lot of surface rust and a fair sized hole burnt through one of the pipes.....



The surrounding metal was very thin but my local exhaust guru made a good job of welding a repair 'scab'.....



Given the poor condition of the metalwork I'm wondering if wrapping is a good idea. My starter problem is not associated with heat soak, although the collector passes very close so maybe just wrap that part and give the rest a coat of VHT?

What's your opinion - wrap or not wrap?

 

[Derek Nicol]

I would guess that most of the rusting occurs from the inside, unless you drive in heavy surface water causing road spray which the tape could trap i doubt the tape makes that much difference... note the words 'guess' & 'doubt' though.

 

[Roscobbc]

And there lies the real problem with 'wrapping' exhaust pipes and headers. The wrap retains any moisture/condensation that has been absorbed by the tape during periods when the engine isn't running. The better answer is ceramic coated headers - if coated inside and out they give-off far less heat than uncoated, much of this of reflected back in to the exhaust. Never wrap ceramic coated headers - it'll simply create corrosion problems that wouldn't otherwise occur.

 

[Oneball]

Wrapping manifolds can actually lead to an increase in cylinder head temp too. I’m not a fan