Wow! You guys got me worrying now. I got a Spoon header, don't know if it's a "thin walled" like you guys mention. I've had it for about 10thousand miles, but it's not a daily diver now. It will be in Oct. when I retire. I still have the OEM heat shield on.

 

Most aftermarket headers are much lighter than stock ones. Part of this is due to thinner tubing. The stock heat shields are not like "header wraps". No need to worry.

 

But I do have the Spoon header wrapped. Now am worried it will crack. Am going to contact Spoon and see what they say.

 

I see. Perhaps a little "worry" is in order then.

 

Here is what Spoon US had to say about wraping their header with Thermo Tech wrap. I feel a little at ease now, but keeping my fingers crossed.


From: orders@spoonsports.us [mailtorders@spoonsports.us]
Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 1:47 PM
To: emmar@prtc.net
Subject: Re: Heat Wrap Header


As for the headers wrapped with Thermo Tech, we have not heard of anywone that
had a problem.

However, when you wrap the headers, you actually contain the heat for
accelerated push to the exhaust, which is good.

Keeping the headers wrapped also keep the engine compartment cooler than
usual, which is also good.

Other than that, if you feel your cars runs well with it, I'd say, its okay.

Opak


> I have one of your Spoon header on my S2000 and I wrapped it with Thermo
> Tech wrap to contain heat and keep my engine bay cooler.
>
> Will this affect the header in any way? If so, how?
>
> Thanks.

 

What about getting the header ceramic coated? I'm looking to do this if I get an aftermarket header 'cause there aren't too many other than Mugen (and maybe one other, I don't know) that use a heat shield mounted to the header itself.

 

I do not really know how efficient the ceramic coating will be at retaining heat, but the point is that a thin-walled header only has so many heat cycles before the welds and/or the pipe become brittle and break. If you are going to retain more heat in your headers and drive your car daily, I would suspect that you will see problems. The problems may not occur for several years, but eventually you will crack or completely break your header.

This is of course my .02 dollars.

 

But why didn't your Mugen header come with a heat shield?

 

I've spoken with JET HOT and their coating when applied to the inside and outside should help prolong the longevity of the header. The gentleman I spoke with stated that applying JET HOT should reduce the heat given off by 30% or more. With regards to retained heat breaking a header, I'm not sure this is something to really worry about. Hotter air flows faster out of the header thus the welds shouldn't be negatively affected anymore than without the coating. Also, while I'm not 100% on this, applying a coating to the inside might also protect the welds.

Any opposing input is welcome. We can all learn from the more knowledgable members.

 

The new J's Racing header comes wrapped as an option. I haven't seen one in person (YET) to see how thick the walls are. But, it seems to me that J's knows how to build parts. The thought that goes into the parts they design and build is more reliability based than most tuners for the S (think oil filter anti-backing out bracket thingie, and driveshaft spacers). I wouldn't think they'd design a new header and wrap it just to have the entire first run of their new product come back cracked.

What my rambling means is that I think wrapping a header should be ok.