Silica (Header) Wrap ?'s *added pic*

[JNR]

My Silica wrap came in today (like header wrap but this one is much more HD) and from what I was reading, you are supposed to soak it in water before applying, let dry and spray some silicone coating on it...I was wondering if that spray was something I could buy locally or do I need to buy online and if so, is there additional $ shipping?

Plan on wrapping my O2 housing and probably part of my DP (both 304 SS) and curious if one wrap around, overlapped of 1/16" thk is sufficient, or should I plan on going twice...this particular wrap is 96% silica and while I can't find what brand x is made from, this seems to be at the upper end of the spectrum, so not sure if that makes a difference here or not. I have 50' of it, but don't want to waste it and be nice to have some leftover, so trying to put the minimum on.

Does the ends need to be fastened down with say SS wire, or will it have enough 'holding power' once it dries on and with the silicone spray?

thanks...looking to put this on real soon so I 'wrap' up this car soon! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[citymunky]

DEI makes a hi-heat silicone coating, sure be in your local parts store.

 

[JNR]

Cool, thanks...I'll check at pep boys first, then maybe a hardware store that sells that sort of stuff...is the main purpose of that to keep the moisture off?

 

[curtis]

John I always safety wire the stuff with .020 stainless aircraft wire. Easier to work with than the .032 is the only reason. I pull off about 10 feet find center and wrap around twice and then twist 5 times then I wrap and cross to the backside and twist 5 times and back and forth down the lenght pulling it at about a 15 degree angle. Helps protect the stuff and keeps it tight all over.

 

[JNR]

Thanks and was starting to think about going the same route (rather than clamps), in using some SS wire that I have a spool of (that stuff works really well on all sorts of things and it's nice you can braid it if you want it even more heavy duty). The hardest part is ending it, but usually what I do is wrap it how ever many times, then do a 'braid' and the end and sort of bend that back; sounds crude, but if done right, doesn't look so bad and not to mention won't be seeing it anyway.

Well, received the wrap, but somehow my '0' didn't work on my keyboard and was in such a hurry to order all this stuff that I only ended up getting 5' instead of 50', lol. Luckily, had some time left to get another roll of 50, so now have 55'...only thing is even with a 66% discount, the stuff is still $1.50 a foot, yikes! But, it is some really good stuff and glad I went with it, vs. the cheapie header wrap. Can't wait to see how well it performs and as much as I wanted ceramic, I think this should work.

Doing the O2 housing and most of the downpipe and while I'm not worried about rust with 304 SS, I am a little concerned about the heat and affecting the welds or whatnot. I mean, it's some thick stuff (the flanges) and good welds, but was reading of some people doing their headers on other vehicles and they were having issues of cracking and stuff, but then again they had 409 tubes onto a 304 flange, so who knows what sort of welds were on there.

I think doing this along with a turbo blanket and making a nicer heat shield for the alt, I shouldn't have any issues with heat there. like to get some swaintech on the FP manifold too, but in the interest of time and $ right now, going to have to do with just paint on that for now and keep my fingers crossed.

 

[curtis]

Its called a pigtail. When your done keep twisting for about a half inch or so twist it around then stick the sharp points back into the wrap. I still have scars on my arms and hands from safety wires done wrong and me sticking my arms in around stuff to work on it and it biting me. Stuck a vein in my wrist once and it was really nasty and bleed forever. Also when wrapping the pipes with these long pieces make sure you wear some saftey glasses. if it pops out of your hand and flings around it can do some serious damage to your eye like a fish hook would do.

For example click me

 

[JNR]

Ouch! Can't believe I had to see that sp early in the morning, lol. But yes, safety glass are a good thing to be wearing whenever you do that sort of thing. When I grind, I like to wear a face shield, as stuff goes all over the place and depending on the material, I also wear a respirator (alum. dust for instance is bad stuff).

John (Toybreaker...thanks again) gave me some good advice about this silica stuff and how bad it can be; especially taking it off, so for others who use it, be safe around it. Seems if you keep it wet it's not so bad, but you don't want to breate it. He may chime in for more details on the stuff. can result in silicosis, which does not sound good. Glad he mentioned it, because the short section I've received didn't come with any MSDS or instruction, and this is something I wouldn't have thought about/known.

As for the wire, yeah I always try to take precautions for things that stick out like that, cause it sucks getting scraped or poked! Another good suggestion he mentioned was after doing the braid/twist, put some shrinktube over it.

Anyhow, can't wait to get this on so I can finally bolt up the turbo and everything (it's on, but can't finish until this is done)...who knows, may even get to start this car next month after 6 1/2 years!

 

[toybreaker]

skip to the bottom for cliffs


Poor ole JNR had to hear the whole lecture, well *almost* the whole thing, ... got cut off mid diatribe ...



Actually, the risk from this product in service are minimal.

In it's when it's in it's raw form that there are some potential risks.

... and the removal can really be significantly hazardous to your long term well being.


... it's too late for Curtis, (/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/fawkd.gif) but John and some others reading this thread may still have a few good years left.



Most of the *potential* hazard can be dealt with just plain ole common sense.




Do NOT open the package in your living space.




Open the package outside the shop and have a dip container ready to go so it can go right from the package and into the bath.

Keep it wet while working with it!



If you ever want to remove it after it's cured, exercise great care to create the absolute minimum dust.

It's best to remove the wrapped component and work on it outside.



When done, clean the work area immediately!

Sweep the area well, and use a brush/dustpan to pick up the pile and place it into a bag and seal it up well.

[curtis]place it in your neighbors trash can[/curtis]

Rinse the area well with a garden hose held down low to flood the area.



It's worth noting that using just a bit of common sense will minimise the risk.



I once saw a kid at a muffler shop blowing compressed air onto the wrap to dry it, as they were waiting on other parts to complete the customers system. That was a bad idea!


Working on cars can potentially expose you to many chemical/carcinogenic hazards, as can many aspects of life in the modern world.



While asbestos has been outlawed, anything pm 10 or smaller can create issues. There are many areas of a vehicle that you will find these particles.

Brake dust and the kitty hair from a burned clutch is another area of *potential* risk of exposure to particles that can do you serious harm, (much of which wont show up untill much later in life.)

Being aware of these things means you can shuffle off this mortal coil from natural causes

... like liver failure after a life of strong drink. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif



/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cliffs.gif

Just read the MSDS, follow the directions to the letter, use some common sense, and you'll be fine.



Remember folks, safety third!

 

[JNR]

OK, put the wrap on and it came out alright; since it's such a small area and I have a lot of SS wire, I went ahead and wound it over the wrap so there won't be any issues of it coming off, lol...Couple things I don't like about wrap on something like this is you get 1 to 1-1/2 layers on the outside of a radius, but on the inside, you get multiple layers; seems to me it would be more beneficial to have the thicker parts out on the longer radius, but nothing you can do there...It's hard to believe one wraparound is going to do much, but it must have some good properties.

I went to the hardware store and no luck finding the silicone spray; going to try auto parts next...wondering how critical is that stuff anyway?

Anyhow, here's a quick pic:

 

One can tell it's your first time doing it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif but those of us that have used it have all been there before. The best is to do it wet by dunking it in the bucket of water. This way it keep the fiber dust to a minimum and the material is easy to work with and is kind of stretchable.

Wear rubber glove and maybe even a long sleeve shirt cause if those fibers get in your skin they stay for a few days, it's very uncomfortable.

The spray is just more of a heat barrier and to help keep the wrap lasting longer.

You can also use a ic hose clamp to keep the wrap in place. If you've overlapped and wrapped tight enough, there is no need for safety wire or clamps at any other point than the end. I find the hose clamp to be the easiest to get on there and hold the wrap in place when with one hand I'm trying to hold the wet wrap and keep it as tight as possible before I slip and it unravels.

 

[JNR]

Yeah, only reason I put so much wire on was because it was such a short run and figured it wouldn't hurt...doesn't look too bad in person and won't really be seen anyway...It should be tight enough on its own to just do the ends with wire (not much room for clamps there), but this was an awkward piece with its tight bend and short run. Most important thing to me is that is holds the heat in better than being exposed...if I had the extra $$ and time, I'd prefer to ceramic coat it, but this should work.

Did the dunking in water and that helped, although probably could've done it tighter (still, it won't go anywhere)...when it's wet, seems to hold in the fibers pretty good, but now that it's dry, not going to mess with it. Guess the advantage to the coating too is keeping the fibers intact better.

If I were to do a header(s) and when I do my downpipe section, I'm only going to clamp them at the ends and be sure it's extra tight.

Anyway, just hope this stuff works...performance-wise, I know it's better than typical header wrap (the cheap stuff that uses fiberglass too), but still seems weird such a thin wrap would do such good. Just a little concerned about the stainless getting stressed, but the welds are real good and it's stout.

Now, time for the downpipe...stuff goes quick (length) though and is awfully $!

 

Few more pointers....

Now that it's dry, if you brush against it fibers will come off so if the car is on a lift and you are below looking up while bolting dp to o2, be careful to not get the stuff in your eyes.

I thought the wrap worked well but depending on how many miles driven is what determines the lifespan. Obviously it will last longer if you use the spray with it. If you drive in rain or machine car washes that too will decrease lifespan. I've heard rumors of wrap rotting mild steel but cannot confirm this with my own eyes.

Don't wrap over bolts if you have just installed new parts, heat cycles will loosen bolts and then you have no way to tighten them other than by forcing a wrench on which in one case broke some fibers.

 

[JNR]

Thanks for the pointers and they make sense...You can see some of the fibers 'sticking up' now, so can imagine how they'd come off here and there and doesn't sound like fun. Plan on spraying it with the coating, but need to find some locally...be nice if they made brush on kind (maybe the do).

I believe you are correct about carbon steel rusting (from the inside out), but from what I understand, it does so more from the condensate being trapped inside and the heat, although could imagine it doing it from the outside also if moisture gets trapped. Don't need to worry about that here since it's 304 SS and so is my downpipe, but still...the more I think about it, not even sure I am going to, or need to, do the downpipe at this point, although now is the time to do it. Just don't know what I'm going to do with all this wrap now though, lol.

 

[bazeng]

Maybe you could simply purchase some high temp exhaust paint (clear) and give it a coat or two.
This should stop the fibres from breaking up when touched.

I plan to do this on mine once mine are wrapped.

My past experience is that the heatwrap does cause the surface of the steel to break up. Not sure if it is related to moisture or extreme heat. This only related to uncoated steel.

I've always since ceramic coated my parts before wrapping.
This also causes the colour to change but not flake like an unwrapped part.

Also, a bit late now but for parts with alot of bends and tight spaces, go for the 1" wrap.
Also, for parts like o2 weld in bungs etc, to wrap that nicely you simply cut 2 short strips, lay it next to the bung and wrap over it.



Paint brush example:

Basically what you are looking at is an exhaust pipe with an o2 sensor weld in fitting.
The short strips (dark grey) represent heat wrap that have been cut to length and are not part of the main winding of the majority of the wrap. These strips are placed underneath the main wrap and are held in place by the main wrap. This allows you to maintain your exhaust wrap flow / spacing by letting you bypass need to wiggle/chanegdirection / flow of your exhaust wrap to cover the area near the o2 sensor.

It allows everything to stay tight and looks very tidy!

Applicable to bolts / etc.

 

[JNR]

^^^That makes sense and probably a better way to go about things and use less wire. I mean, it worked out OK this time, but in the future, will probably go for a cleaner look. If I do my DP (it has a bung for WB O2), I may use that advice about the short pieces then wrapping, since I don't plan on using wire other than the ends (or maybe clamps in that case, since there is a lot of room there vs. the O2 housing).

btw - yeah, this is 1" wide wrap, although for the DP I kind of wish it were 2 or 3" wide, but work with what I have (if I even use it for that).

Good idea on the clear coat and was thinking about whether high temp (1200 F) paint would work or not (have a bunch of it)...saw the silicone spray at Pep Boys for $12.99, yikes. Unless there is some temp. benefit (although high heat paint I have has ceramic in it), I may just do the clear coat.

 

[boostin4door]

Looks Good!

(Iv'e had my dp wrapped for 8 years[fiber glass based], only had to replace it twice. It lasted & worked really good. No real rust issues at all on the DP. Now, I don't drive the car in the winter or alot in the rain, but it did last.
I now have the DEI titanium on there and so far so good.)