Early C5 Interior heat

[WLS Ruby 93]

Because of the oppressive heat & humidity here in central VA that we have been having this summer, I did some searching through the threads concerning interior heat in the early C5's. One posting, (I'm sorry, but I can't remember who said it, but many thanks to whom ever), suggested wraping the exhaust pipes with header wrapping.

About two weeks ago I bought 50 feet of 2 inch wide Exhaust Wrap and wrapped the pipes that connect the exhaust manifolds to the cats. Then I wrapped the pipes from the end of the crossover
pipe to the tail pipe joints. (Rear shown below)



I over lapped the wrappings by about 1/2 inch and used worm clamps at the beginning and end to prevent unraveling. (Front shown below.)



It has been two weeks and the interior heat has been reduced by at least 80%. Wow, what a difference. Total cost $39.

Keep the heat out ad and ......

..... Keep 'em rollin' :W

Bill

 

[Toms007]

Wow...that's a cool idea (pun intended). I'll have to get some and wrap mine.

 

[XLR8]

Sorry for the dumb questions but I'm not familiar with the wrap... I take it this stuff is non-flammable? No danger of fire?

What effect, if any, would the heat have being trapped (this may not even sound right... sorry) within the pipes as opposed to being able to escape as radiant heat? Could it cause engine cooling problems?

BTW... if you think it's been hot and humid in VA, you should visit the MS Coast! The heat index has been 110+ degrees everyday for a few weeks now.

Thanks in advance for your patience guys.
Jane Ann

 

[ernestD]

Good question Jane.I would like to know too.Ruby did a nice job from the pics.My int. is not bad ,keep air on recir.console and shifter is SUPER hot.Come to sw. florida for some nice STEAMY heat!peace!

 

[Toms007]

JA, I believe that originally they called it "header wrap", and it was made out of asbestos (way back in the 60's) Today it's a non flammable material...Quote from Jegs catalog "Made from Vermiculite infused fiberglass...handles up to 2000° intermittently."

Claims to increase power:[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Quote from Heat Shield Products[/FONT] "[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Exhaust wraps help to retain heat in your exhaust system, which increases horsepower while reducing radiant heat damage. By wrapping the header and exhaust system it maintains hotter exhaust gases, decreases the density, and allows the exhaust gas to exit the system faster! Greater exhaust scavenging is produced and lowers intake temperatures: that equals more horsepower."

Does it cause problems? Quote from Heat Shield Products "[/FONT]Basically if wrapping headers and exhaust pipes caused them to fail, we wouldn’t be in business. In fact since 1985 we have NEVER had a complaint about our header wrap causing a blown header gasket, cracked or fatigued any header or exhaust system."[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]

 

[LLC5]

Unless you wrap up the cat's (don't do it), your biggest heat source is still radiating a whole lot of heat up towards the cabin.

 

[WLS Ruby 93]

Wrap

FYAI,

Yes, wrapping the cats is a Big NO.

The wrap is made out of a woven volanic rock fiber and can take the heat put out by headers so it's not going to melt at temperatures any where along the pipes.

I have a roll of heat shield material on order which is going in above the cats up against the wall of the transmission tunnel to reflect any of that heat away from the cabin. ad

Whenever I get to that phase I will post some pictures.

Keep 'em rollin' :W
Bill

 

[XLR8]

So heat retention of the exhaust gasses is s'posed to be a GOOD thing.
Learn something new everyday.
Thanks for the explanations guys. And thanks for the pix WLS.

Jane Ann

 

[YumaZ06]

I have headers and x-pipe and I put in an Elite Engineering insulated tunnel plate and it has made a world of difference compared to being stock. Now the console area by my feet is just slightly warm. I also have a partition in my Z06 so the a/c really does a good job. I know about heat being from Yuma, Az.