[LordNikon]

IS something like this worthwhile or not worth the effort ???



Never used it personally, but anything that reduces underbonnet temps is good

[supercoopers]

Is that the DEI cooling solutions thermal wrap?

To answer your question, yes this wrapping does decrease under bonnet temperatures and I have had it on previous cars.

What you have to remember is threefold:

1) You have to remove the manifold from the car to install it properly; this may dissuade you
2) In certain tuning circles, some consumers have complained that this wrap has caused premature rusting of the manifold in certain cases. Whether this is due to the grade of steel used I am not sure, but one thing is for certain and that is that if moisture gets trapped between the wrap and the exposed steel, with the great temperatures involved and a lil bit of O2, I could see this as being a potential problem?
3) As with any product, such as the Phantom Grip LSD etc, there are always users that swear by the product and others that avoid it like the plague. I regard exhaust wraps as one of those products. Some have reported premature manifold wear issues, but I call BS on that if the manifold/exhaust was properly manufactured in the first place. One BIG thing to bear in mind is that practically no vendor will stand behind the warranty on their product if you heat wrap it because you are exposing the metals to temperatues that are outside of their intended tolerance range.

With all that is said and done, it does have it's benefits. I reckon that the weighting is 50/50 risk on this one. If you wrap the manifold not only will you see reduced under bonnet temperatures, but you will also benefit from an increase in performance since ideally one wants to retain as much heat in the exhaust system as possible to aid rapid outflow. It's a tried and tested method on other cars, but I'm not sure how significant the effects would be for the MINI.

It's your call man BTW, the wrap is only like 35 quid Inc VAT so it's not a huge outlay, but you may want to think it through a little further before using it.

Cheers,

Henry

[LordNikon]

Thanks for the info Henry. Was looking through the Rally Design site as I need some silicon hosing, and stumbled across this. Remember it being mentioned sometime ago but have never used it before personally.

By the sounds of it, its not going to be massively worth it on the MCS.

Thanks for the advice

[obehave]

Quote: Originally Posted by supercoopers

Is that the DEI cooling solutions thermal wrap?

To answer your question, yes this wrapping does decrease under bonnet temperatures and I have had it on previous cars.

What you have to remember is threefold:

1) You have to remove the manifold from the car to install it properly; this may dissuade you
2) In certain tuning circles, some consumers have complained that this wrap has caused premature rusting of the manifold in certain cases. Whether this is due to the grade of steel used I am not sure, but one thing is for certain and that is that if moisture gets trapped between the wrap and the exposed steel, with the great temperatures involved and a lil bit of O2, I could see this as being a potential problem?
3) As with any product, such as the Phantom Grip LSD etc, there are always users that swear by the product and others that avoid it like the plague. I regard exhaust wraps as one of those products. Some have reported premature manifold wear issues, but I call BS on that if the manifold/exhaust was properly manufactured in the first place. One BIG thing to bear in mind is that practically no vendor will stand behind the warranty on their product if you heat wrap it because you are exposing the metals to temperatues that are outside of their intended tolerance range.

With all that is said and done, it does have it's benefits. I reckon that the weighting is 50/50 risk on this one. If you wrap the manifold not only will you see reduced under bonnet temperatures, but you will also benefit from an increase in performance since ideally one wants to retain as much heat in the exhaust system as possible to aid rapid outflow. It's a tried and tested method on other cars, but I'm not sure how significant the effects would be for the MINI.

It's your call man BTW, the wrap is only like 35 quid Inc VAT so it's not a huge outlay, but you may want to think it through a little further before using it.

Cheers,

Henry

I'll second that.

The best option is high temp coatings but they're not cheap.
It does get a bit nappy over time so you'll end up doing it again. Much of course depends on driving conditions but I'd say about a year based on my past experiences.
That was back in the late '70s early '80s so materials could very well be better..

[pocketrocketowner]

Great insulator, forget about performance gains. Use is very successfully in my 1960 190 SL to reduce the heat ransfer on the pass side floor. Not good for a daily driver either, as I would imagine moisture would play hell with your manifold.

[vagt6]

Header heat wrap will cause the header to rust faster than heck if the header is made of mild steel or uncoated.

Really fast. The wrap traps moisture against the header every time the engine warms up and cools.

Found this out the hard way once . . .

[smallpackage]

Wrapped the milltek headers on my my 'S, it definitely keeps the under hood temps down. The thing to do to combat the possibility of the rusting is to use high temp thermal paint. It helps with the heat reduction, and will protect the metal from moisture. plus it look really cool in black. I put several coats down before the wrap and several more over them when the where done. the combo of less heat and high exhaust flow is worth it.

P.S. you will hear the exhaust will sound a little more "raw" then before.