I know most of the cheap headers don't pick up much if any power and I don't wanna drop a couple grand if I'm going to turbo in the future. Has anyone wraped or hghi-temp coated thier stock header for any gain? Or, is it even worth the effort?

 

No and no

 

why would you gain anything from heat wrapping your stock headers...

 

that's what I figured thanks

 

Thermo wrapping a header has its own ups and downs.
In theory, wrapping it would trap the heat inside thus making exhaust velocity faster. I also believe that it will lower engine bay temps and make the car drive consistently especially on trackdays. Downside is it will ruin your header in the long run.

 

this makes no sense. the stock header has a heatshield. no need to wrap it also.

 

not much of a heatshield imo meant to protect the battery and electronics more so than keeping the rest of the bay cool.

can you port match the oem header?

 

ok...then remove it.

 

This statement signifies we are in a recession

 

The stock heatshield simply shields the surrounding area (battery/wires/etc) from the heat of the header. Wrapping the OEM header (like any header) will trap the heat, and as the other poster mentioned, will overall increase the velocity of the gasses passing through.

I doubt the difference will be worth the effort, but it couldn't hurt it....at least in the short run. The life of the OEM header will shorten a little due to the high heat.