Thread: Header Wraps

x2 good chart

Good chart Danja.

I wish I had a dyno available to see the differences... but I guess I'll just have to see if the butt dyno feels anything hehe

Wow... nice chart idea for sure...

When I actually get a bigger DP I'm going to wrap my header... My engine bay get really hot.

So I've been thinking about this non stop lately...

Oh btw I did get my header wrap in already, Thank you Serban for freaking fast shipping!

So back to the idea... In October is when I installed the header and regrounded my MAF. Well shortly after I had to take a 270 mile trip, 135 one way on one day, then the rest the next day.

Well then I got my all time lowest highway MPG, even though 30 miles was bumper to bumper traffic, I got about 27 MPG.

When I was at the location, I regrounded my MAF to a better location, Intake Mani, to get 29ish MPG coming back, same deal 30 miles traffic, rest highway 70mph. Now I used to get 33mpg highway in the past...

So, I've been thinking it has been the header since day one, because that was the bigger mod. My friend said that the car probably running too rich. People here on the forum said that, that was a silly idea...
But now thinking back on it... I think it is probably the case.

So the O2 sensor is pretty low on the header gives out a lot of heat before it hits the O2 sensor... Thus the O2 sensor sends a message to the ECU, the ECU thinks that the car is running too lean. Thus adds more gas.

How plausible is that? I think one real way to find out is by installing the header wrap



So I'm going to hold a more of a controlled experiment here. I will drive my car until the gas goes to empty and the light comes up for about 30+ miles, to get rid of any crappy gas that I might have in there.

Then I will fuel up with 93 Shell V-Power gas, which contains up to 10% ethanol. I will then reset the ECU, drive for couple days, then fuel up full and drive about 50 miles and see what I get.
Then I will try to wrap the header, reset ecu, drive couple days, fuel up, drive 50 miles and see what MPG I got.

After that I will test the performance gains from the header wrap, by using the legendary butt dyno

Are you thinking of the EGT (exhaust gas temp sensor)? Some cars have it for emissions.. I thought it was a cali thing. The 02 sensor's reading won't be changed by the temperature of the gas since all it reads is oxygen content. More likely cause for reduced mileage is just the fact that you have installed the header at all. The increased flow due to their larger diameter from OEM just means you are going to need a little extra fuel to compensate for it.

Good point Danja. I think this is were a wideband + ecu tunning would come into play

well first thing before putting header wrap is to spray your header with high tense temp spray so it will prevent the wrap from cracking. maybe the wrap might help mpg just a bit due that its removing heat out. i mean alot of heat in the engine bay creates bad mpg in a way. correct me if im wrong

What kind of spray would that be? Like paint?

Well if the warm air goes into the intake then the MAF would throw less fuel in. I've read about an experiment which would route the intake through some hot areas to warm up the air. The results were very small but still were there...

its called high tense temp spra. its not colored, just clear

Don't wrap it, coat it and don't paint it, thermal coat it! Coatings are that expensive anymore!

brent