I recently found some great heat insulation wrap in a street rodder mag. I ordered it however my concern is where do I find a clamp big enough to keep the insulation on the muffler. has anyone done this before? where would I find a clamp that will wrap around a muffler?
Is it a good idea to seal in the heat? Have heard of wrapped headers failing from having cooked to much.
I'd think that that wrapping would collect moisture and cause anything that was wrapped to rust out a lot faster. If I had a heat issue from the muffler I'd build a heat shield with a slight air space behind it and leave that ugly stuff at the store where it belongs.
Header manufacturers will not honor their warranty if you use header wrap on their products. I had the experience a few years ago to wrap part of the exhaust system with header wrap, and when I put the infrared thermometer to it I found that the wraps were actually hotter than the bare pipe. I contacted the wrap manufacturer and was told that I needed to wrap everything to bring the temp down. I stripped all the wrap off and sold it as 'slightly used.'
Big hose clamps can be had and doubled up if you need to. Any hardware store can fix you up. Just to ad to what uncledaddy said; I would not do it unless I had a stainless exhaust system, especially underneath where it is going to get wet. The wrap retains moisture and will rust your exhaust out.
I did mine like that about ten years ago because the muffler was close enough to the floor that things melted on top...Not good. I used a formed top only insulated shield that I bought from a company in Boston that advertised through Street Rodder and Good Guy's Gazette. I went the stainless zip tie route to fasten it and it has worked great. I use an unusually large Flowmaster muffler under my Plymouth in a two in to single 4" system and have probably upwards of 150,000 miles on the system with no damage to the muffler that I can see.
I used the wrap on a section of pipe when it was routed too close to an airline. Within two years that section of pipe completely rotted through. Maybe on a muffler with a thicker case it would last a little longer so long as it was away from any road splash etc...
If you really want to put on a wrap, use some metal shipping straps that come on crates. I bend the ends over double and drill a hole for a small bolt.......works really well, but I'd be more inclined to make a simple heat shield, something like this: It is 18Ga. bent to shape with those dog legs on the ends rivetted on. Keeps the converter from smoking the floor and carpet above it. Best picture I have at the moment, without going out and crawling under it, for a better.
I never understood the reason to make a perfectly good exhaust system look like a POS. wrapped in rags. If you are worried about the radiant heat from the exhaust, a simple thin aluminum heat shield works well and looks so much better.
I like lilred's heat shield,...I've seen that same idea on factory stock customer cars,...it works; Which is all it has to do,....... 4TTRUK
Has anyone installed heat shields / insulation on brake or fuel lines, instead of on exh. parts ? How did that work ? 4TTRUK
I have a heat shield under my brake master cylinder and another one on the passenger side frame rail that protects the gas line, tranny cooler lines and some electrical lines from header heat. They both do their intended job.
I used to have an OT 11 second door slammer that the heasders was a bunch of snakes. I had to wrap a couple of plug wires, I tried hot boots but they didn't reach far enougn so I used asbestos wrap that I made from a piece of an old welding blanket, it worked like a champ. heat shields are a good dies, they don't have to be real fancy or they can be. If you are old enough to remember thin k anout the shields on the eshaust of an old Honda Scrambler or any number of stock '60s bikes with high pipes. It was nothing more than a stand out and a piece of metal (usually perforated).
I would go with a nice heat shield metal/aluminum, keep it at least and inch from the floor board for an air cushion. You can make it as long as you want to block the radiant heat from the whole system. Godspeed MrC.
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