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In the "why haven't I seen this before" department, you can now buy those pesky up-pipe to exhaust manifold gaskets in a more than 2X thicker variety.

I think I'll be testing one of these puppies out in the spring!

lol, if you'd like to see them first hand, come help me install my headers (soon). I have the eng->hedr and up->trb gaskets I also had their 8mm Phenolic Thermal Manifold Spacer installed when the new heads went on.

ooh, interesting!

Yeah, I like these...also the TiC Ti front brembo brake shims which I just found out about last week. Very cool...Me <3 Ti.

complacent wrote:In the "why haven't I seen this before" department, you can now buy those pesky up-pipe to exhaust manifold gaskets in a more than 2X thicker variety.

I think I'll be testing one of these puppies out in the spring!

yet another "duh, why didn't i think of that?" scheme that got away.

Ooh perfect. I'll be needing some in the next few months (A lovely lady surprised me with a set of headers and UP for Christmas )

HappyIdiot wrote:Ooh perfect. I'll be needing some of these in the next few month

w00t!

HappyIdiot wrote:Ooh perfect. I'll be needing some in the next few months (A lovely lady surprised me with a set of headers and UP for Christmas )

Congrats! I would also highly recommend wrapping them if you want get the most out of them. I'll post up about two different kinds of wrap shortly

I used the VHT spray coating, then wrapped, then used the spray-on wrap sealer. I spent more time/money on coating than on the header.
I love wrapping exhaust pipes. it's a Zen experience, not sure why.

Mr Kleen wrote:I used the VHT spray coating, then wrapped, then used the spray-on wrap sealer. I spent more time/money on coating than on the header.
I love wrapping exhaust pipes. it's a Zen experience, not sure why.

B/c you have to take your time, breathing slowly and concentrating hard to get it just right the first time. Good meditation

Mr Kleen wrote:I used the VHT spray coating, then wrapped, then used the spray-on wrap sealer. I spent more time/money on coating than on the header.
I love wrapping exhaust pipes. it's a Zen experience, not sure why.

Haha nice. I'm planning on doing the same process. Did you wrap the header pipes individually, or did you do each side as a pair?

Newb question alert:

I know wrapping the pipes will cause metal fatigue much faster because of the excess heat, etc. Does anyone know the average life expectancy? How do you know when it has cracked?

Thank you for the post about the wraps Julian

No problem Adam!

Wrapped, my headers lasted 2.5 years. Trust me, you'll start hearing it when your headers crack, you'll also loose spool.

The headers that were wrapped (by Thermobox) were wrapped in pairs... I'm not sure if I could see an adv/disadv from individual or group wrapping them. It might get a little tight near the collector if you wrap them individually.

Awesome! Thank you.

The thick gaskets are genius! The sort of thing I wholeheartedly endorse!

I wrapped my headers almost 5 years ago and they are still holding up.
Wrapping the pipes in pairs is the easiest way. I'm not certain there is any other way w/o making it very difficult.

I wrapped the pipes as a pair. to do otherwise would take a LOT of wrap, be a lot more complicated with no real benefit and I think the weight would start to add up. I think headers crack more often from UPs with no flex section than from being wrapped.

Mr Kleen wrote:I think headers crack more often from UPs with no flex section than from being wrapped.

Agreed! The problem is, flex sections always seem to develop leaks (with exception of course) The braided mesh really needs to be replaced on all headers with a accordion metal like is on the stock UP.

But the mesh braided UP would still be preferred over the solid UP?

As long as it doesn't leak Just be careful that you don't twist it much or anything. Having the mesh in the UP is MUCH better than having it on the headers (like I had