When was header wrap invented???

I think wrapping the headers and pipes increases also the 'scavenging effect' as velocity increases, which may help when tuning an engine for racing.

 

Might be BS, but I read somewhere that wrapped headers were more prone to developing cracks where the pipe meets the flange because the wrapped pipe cools at a different rate than the exposed parts of the header...

 

He's not just pulling that out of his ass. It's accepted & dyno proven knowledge in the racing community that wrapped pipes have better scavenging abilities. When your supermodified has t-bucket style hedders and an air cleaner poking thru the hood, you ain't doing much for underhood temps with wrap. It's all about scavenging.

Regarding tube failure....I have hedders that have been wrapped for 20 years and haven't rusted out. The worst stories I've heard have been from long haul towing guys. Big load on the truck and 4 hours on the throttle makes wrapped pipes get so hot they're ruined metallugically and die of heat induced corrosion. A family friend had a set of brand new (wrapped) headers turn into crumbly bits after pulling a camper trailer to the coast and back. You could tap em with a hammer real gentle and bust pieces out of the tube

 

Case in point - A customer from IL pulled in my shop on the way to a race in NJ to fix a header on his motorhome towing his trailer. 440 dodge motor, he wrapped one header tube where it passed the starter in an attempt to keep the starter cooler. That tube had cracked and disintegrated and pretty much disappeared where it was wrapped, the rest of that tube and the other tubes were all OK. The message for me was to not use wrap on engines subject to continuous load for long periods. Heavy wall tubing or cast manifolds might be OK, I've never seen the result of that with wrap under heavy continuous load.

 

The only place that I have seen it used fairly consistantly is on sprint cars and it is intended to work as someone else said, to keep the heat in the pipe to help scavange the exhaust at a faster rate.

 

This is really so simple it is overlooked. The faster something moves, the more of it can be moved through a restriction.
look at 1 mile of a traffic jam. they aren't bumper to bumper because of so many cars in that mile. it is because they are moving slow.
1 mile of interstate has more cars on it going 55 in 10 minutes than can fit on it bumper to bumper standing still

 

I know this is an old post but the correct answer is.....1987. The owner of Thermo-Tec Automotive actually holds the patent. www.thermotec.com

 

That’s for fiberglass.

The original question was when was header wrap originally invented.

I’d like to know. .

Matt

 

i read something about titanium exhaust i wasnt aware of , said if you use header wrap on it , it will over heat the metal and change it s strength making it brittle , yup im sure it probably would , i wonder if it has a similar effect on stainless steel ?

 

Clearly, it is a VERY OLD technology! The Egyptians used header wrap thousands of years ago when entombing their loved ones. Everything old is new again....