Heat shielding for headers

[Hawk]

I am going to be installing Belanger headers and was looking for a fuse box heat shield. I checked with Doug Shelby however he does not have any in stock and does not know when he will get more. Does anyone know of another one from anyone else? Also are there any other heat shields that I should install with the header installation. I have checked out a few other threads with the areas to wrap with the heat shielding tape. If anyone has recommendations for heat protection send it along. Would removing the insulation from under the hood make any difference or will it cause problems with the paint and or clear bra on the hood?
Any help is appreciated
Thanks
Dennis

[darbgnik]

I think Mod Mafia and Calvo both supply the heat shield:

https://modmafia.com/products/viper-...box-heatshield

Can't comment on pricing....

[Black Pearl]

I have heat covers on 1 of my Vipers headers.

ATP Advanced Thermal Products Irvine, CA
https://atpwrap.com/

Viper Gallery
https://atpwrap.com/alloy-racing-cov...viper-gallery/
https://atpwrap.com/alloy-racing-cov...rt-10-gallery/

[Pappy]

Easy to build yourself. I built this one out of carbon fiber, but would have just as easy to build out of aluminum. I first covered it with gold reflective covering, but when I checked the temps there was very little difference between the outside (header) side and the fuse box side. I added DEI floor and tunnel shield to the outside of the lower half of the shield, and that took care of the problem. On another car, I built an aluminum shield between the headers and the dry sump oil lines and filters. I added DEI "form-a-shield" to the header side - good to 1400 degrees of direct contact.

Viper Heat Shield 1.jpg

Heat Shield 2.jpg

[Arizona Vipers]

Are you going to track this or just street? Wrap your O2 sensors too, that's much more important.

[Hawk]

I use the car mostly on the track. Will removing the insulation under the hood help or just cause other problems with the paint and or clear bra?

[Arizona Vipers]

I use the car mostly on the track. Will removing the insulation under the hood help or just cause other problems with the paint and or clear bra?

Do yourself a favor and just wrap the headers and be done with it. If this is a hard track use car you will melt everything eventually, wrapped or not. Just wrap the headers, get the heat out the exhaust pipes instead of having 1000* headers cooking everything and raising your engine oil and coolant temps. Wrapping my headers what the single best track mod I ever did.
I removed my insulation and it hasn't discolored my hood yet. That insulation is there to help put out engine fires as well btw. The plastic that holds it on melts during an engine fire and it becomes a blanket.

[Aevus]

Do yourself a favor and just wrap the headers and be done with it. If this is a hard track use car you will melt everything eventually, wrapped or not. Just wrap the headers, get the heat out the exhaust pipes instead of having 1000* headers cooking everything and raising your engine oil and coolant temps. Wrapping my headers what the single best track mod I ever did.
I removed my insulation and it hasn't discolored my hood yet. That insulation is there to help put out engine fires as well btw. The plastic that holds it on melts during an engine fire and it becomes a blanket.

Arizona, is there any cons wrapping the headers? Heard it has to be rewrapped every 2 years or so

[J TNT]

I've heard some use Swain coatings with good success , I haven't tried them yet .
I wrapped headers with DEI when it first came out and crystalized and ruined my headers in just 6 months , DEI offered me new wrap and I had to buy new headers on my dime .
They have since rewritten their install procedure .

https://swaintech.com/race-coatings/

[SilveRT8]

When installing Belanger headers on my Gen5, the Mechanic suggested to add some Gen3 manifold heat shields and he modified them to fit over the headers. I also have Spark plugs heat socks.
He is a former Mechanic for a Viper racing team.

[Arizona Vipers]

Arizona, is there any cons wrapping the headers? Heard it has to be rewrapped every 2 years or so

Everyone will say they will corrode faster, but mine have been wrapped for 5 years hard use, no issues yet.
Before this I had them coated and the coating burned off in a few track sessions. It didn't do much anyway. You can literally touch a wrapped header, it'll be 100*, touch a coated header and your fingers will stock to it with 3rd degree burns lol

[Aevus]

Everyone will say they will corrode faster, but mine have been wrapped for 5 years hard use, no issues yet.
Before this I had them coated and the coating burned off in a few track sessions. It didn't do much anyway. You can literally touch a wrapped header, it'll be 100*, touch a coated header and your fingers will stock to it with 3rd degree burns lol

yeah I don't believe in coating efficiency... Thermal insulation requires a lot more that just 1mm or so of material, whatever it is.

Wrapping makes a lot more sense BUT it could be ''too much'' efficient and cause problems to the headers themselves, that's what i'm worried about. On the other hand it's very tempting for both lowered temp under the hood AND scavenging effect.

Arizona, did you notice any gain in HP (butt dyno or measured) before/after wrapping the headers?

[Hawk]

What did you use to wrap the headers that held up well? I certainty like the idea, even if I need to replace the headers in a few years, it’s a lot easier than all the damage that you could end up fixing from the heat
Thanks
Dennis

[ViperGeorge]

I rarely post on this site any longer as there have been too many rude postings about members, including me. Every so often though I see a person asking a question that maybe I can offer some input on. This is one of those cases. What I will say below may not be believed by everyone and that's ok, just please keep any rude replies in check.

Wrapping your headers will certainly reduce under hood temperatures and cause the heat to mostly exit the exhaust as AZ states. However, there may be another option you should consider. A friend of mine and I, both with Gen Vs with 9 liter-extreme upgrades and headers, had the headers Swain coated prior to installation. Swain coating is used by NASCAR and is not like the other ceramic coatings people have applied to headers. It is much thicker.

I have been absolutely amazed at the temps of my Swain coated headers after coming off the track. Primary tubes are typically between 140 and 160 degrees measured using my laser pyrometer. This is true on my car and my friends. High Plains is our home track and we run mid 1:5x lap times which for High Plains is considered pretty quick. As comparison my brake rotors are typically around 400 to 500 degrees using the same pyrometer. While I have not been brave enough to actually touch the headers I can put my hand pretty darn close to them with out feeling excessive heat.

Now I know there have been postings on this site about the proper way to measure temperatures using thermal sensors and imaging but even if my pyrometer is not as 100% accurate I don't believe it could be many hundreds of degrees off. To me temps in the mid 100s seem pretty good and appear consistent with the feel of the parts. I can't even get near my rotors coming off track but I can put my hand within inches of the primaries on my headers.

My engine temps on my ACR never get above 220 even on a very hot day. Usually the temp is around 210. On my old TA2 with headers and no 9 liter upgrade, temps would regularly hit 245 on track and stuff would melt. While I think that Swain coating is something you should research, regardless of whether you decide to wrap your headers or coat them I would still insulate things under hood especially the fuse box and wire harnesses. This is an extra level of safety.

[Hawk]

George
I really like the idea of the Swain coating. I did order the headers with a factory applied ceramic coating inside and out, should I try and cancel the coating from Belanger or can they coat over it? If you don’t mind me asking what was the ballpark cost? Did you also do the down pipe between the headers and cats?
Thanks for the help
Dennis

[Arizona Vipers]

yeah I don't believe in coating efficiency... Thermal insulation requires a lot more that just 1mm or so of material, whatever it is.

Wrapping makes a lot more sense BUT it could be ''too much'' efficient and cause problems to the headers themselves, that's what i'm worried about. On the other hand it's very tempting for both lowered temp under the hood AND scavenging effect.

Arizona, did you notice any gain in HP (butt dyno or measured) before/after wrapping the headers?

Well just by having lower temps underhood that's a lot more horsepower. These cars pull timing at 201* coolant!

[Arizona Vipers]

What did you use to wrap the headers that held up well? I certainty like the idea, even if I need to replace the headers in a few years, it’s a lot easier than all the damage that you could end up fixing from the heat
Thanks
Dennis

Just DEI stuff- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002R4U72I/
It's held up very well. We have had it off a few times and the headers showed no corrosion, but like you said if I had to replace the headers every 5 years due to this it's worth it obviously.

[Arizona Vipers]

I rarely post on this site any longer as there have been too many rude postings about members, including me. Every so often though I see a person asking a question that maybe I can offer some input on. This is one of those cases. What I will say below may not be believed by everyone and that's ok, just please keep any rude replies in check.

Wrapping your headers will certainly reduce under hood temperatures and cause the heat to mostly exit the exhaust as AZ states. However, there may be another option you should consider. A friend of mine and I, both with Gen Vs with 9 liter-extreme upgrades and headers, had the headers Swain coated prior to installation. Swain coating is used by NASCAR and is not like the other ceramic coatings people have applied to headers. It is much thicker.

I have been absolutely amazed at the temps of my Swain coated headers after coming off the track. Primary tubes are typically between 140 and 160 degrees measured using my laser pyrometer. This is true on my car and my friends. High Plains is our home track and we run mid 1:5x lap times which for High Plains is considered pretty quick. As comparison my brake rotors are typically around 400 to 500 degrees using the same pyrometer. While I have not been brave enough to actually touch the headers I can put my hand pretty darn close to them with out feeling excessive heat.

Now I know there have been postings on this site about the proper way to measure temperatures using thermal sensors and imaging but even if my pyrometer is not as 100% accurate I don't believe it could be many hundreds of degrees off. To me temps in the mid 100s seem pretty good and appear consistent with the feel of the parts. I can't even get near my rotors coming off track but I can put my hand within inches of the primaries on my headers.

My engine temps on my ACR never get above 220 even on a very hot day. Usually the temp is around 210. On my old TA2 with headers and no 9 liter upgrade, temps would regularly hit 245 on track and stuff would melt. While I think that Swain coating is something you should research, regardless of whether you decide to wrap your headers or coat them I would still insulate things under hood especially the fuse box and wire harnesses. This is an extra level of safety.

Swain is indeed probably the best coating out there!

[Steve M]

George
I really like the idea of the Swain coating. I did order the headers with a factory applied ceramic coating inside and out, should I try and cancel the coating from Belanger or can they coat over it? If you don’t mind me asking what was the ballpark cost? Did you also do the down pipe between the headers and cats?
Thanks for the help
Dennis

I've seen the Swain coatings before and wasn't really interested, but decided to look at it again for grins. Looks like a Belanger exhaust right at the top of their page about their exhaust coating:

https://swaintech.com/race-coatings/...aust-coatings/

If you read on that page, it looks like media blasting is required to get a good bond. If it were me, I'd ask Belanger to NOT coat their headers before shipping if that's what you intend to do. Good luck getting him to agree to that though.

The one thing that has always turned me off to their coating is that it is white, and to me, that is not a good look. To be blunt, it would keep me from trying their product.

But then I decided to pull my head out of my own ass and actually read their page, specifically this part:

Because White Lightning™ really is a ceramic, it is not possible to offer color choices like you can get with paint based coatings. However, the white textured finish of White Lightning™ makes it an ideal base for a good high temperature paint if you want to change the color of the coating. The high temperature paints bond well to the natural textured finish of White Lightning and the paint will not impact the effectiveness or durability of the White Lightning™ coating.

To me, it would be worth a shot to try their coating system. If it were me, I'd be painting it black (or maybe silver) before installing.

I've only had first hand experience with Jet-Hot coatings on one of my previous vehicles, and it didn't do shit for keeping the temps down.

[Arizona Vipers]

On my turbo build, we are getting everything shielded in inconel with these guys- https://turbosource.com/pages/incone...-ordering-form
Scroll to bottom to see their shielded headers.
Also, I know Nth makes full inconel headers if you can afford them hehe

[ViperGeorge]

George
I really like the idea of the Swain coating. I did order the headers with a factory applied ceramic coating inside and out, should I try and cancel the coating from Belanger or can they coat over it? If you don’t mind me asking what was the ballpark cost? Did you also do the down pipe between the headers and cats?
Thanks for the help
Dennis

Not sure I remember the cost but I think it was around $600 plus shipping. I would not have the factory apply a coating. Get the headers un-coated and then send to Swain. We had ARH drop ship our headers directly to Swain. I did the primaries and collector but not the cats or mufflers. I was told that doing the cats might cause them to get too hot inside. I don't know if that is true or not though. Swain may say something about that on their website.

[Jack B]

A little input on measuring the header temps with an infrared camera. Most shinny surfaces have a low emissivity, therefore, they read low. To get a true temp, put a dab of black grill paint on the spot you want to measure.

[ViperGeorge]

A little input on measuring the header temps with an infrared camera. Most shinny surfaces have a low emissivity, therefore, they read low. To get a true temp, put a dab of black grill paint on the spot you want to measure.

Thanks Jack. The Swain coating is not shinny though. It is a very dull (flat actually) whitish/gray. Would this make much difference?

[Jack B]

Thanks Jack. The Swain coating is not shinny though. It is a very dull (flat actually) whitish/gray. Would this make much difference?

That would probably show a true temp.

[ViperTony]

Just DEI stuff- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002R4U72I/
It's held up very well. We have had it off a few times and the headers showed no corrosion, but like you said if I had to replace the headers every 5 years due to this it's worth it obviously.

AZ did you use their HT Silicone Spray on the wrap?