My headers blew apart

Clubbs

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Location
Blounts Creek
Developed a loud exhaust leak, tightened everything still the same. Suspected a weld at the header but they're wrapped so couldn't tell. Engine was cold fired it up and romped on the throttle while standing next to the engine looking for fluttering exhaust wrap. #2 blew out right when I was watching, suspect there are other holes too but this one would swallow a golf ball.

Should I not have wrapped these? They've been on for two years. These shorty hedmans are the only ones that fit the 440 in a CJ situation, but I'm trying to keep temps down under the hood.

Did the wrap kill these things?
 
Clubbs said:
Developed a loud exhaust leak, tightened everything still the same. Suspected a weld at the header but they're wrapped so couldn't tell. Engine was cold fired it up and romped on the throttle while standing next to the engine looking for fluttering exhaust wrap. #2 blew out right when I was watching, suspect there are other holes too but this one would swallow a golf ball.

Should I not have wrapped these? They've been on for two years. These shorty hedmans are the only ones that fit the 440 in a CJ situation, but I'm trying to keep temps down under the hood.

Did the wrap kill these things?
Click to expand...
Are they rusty? And also wrap makes heat cycling way more intensive. Maybe they got really brittle and intensive cold to hot fairly quick causes cracking?

What alloy is the metal?
 
They're rusty but no more than all my other un-cetamic coated headers. I suspect these are Chinese steel being Hedman street headers.

I've ordered another set, guess I won't wrap those but it's going to be real hot under the hood
 
That...or spend a few bucks to have them JetHot coated. They do inside and outside.

Wrap does have a tendency to trap moisture, of course it cooks off when it gets hot, but it's not running more often than it is. That's when the moisture gets in there and gets them rusty. Ground moisture and humidity are big causes of rust that people never think about, especially around here.

That said, I've had a couple of sets of long tubes that I painted with the 2200 degree Rustoleum before wrapping them and they lasted much, much longer. I'm sure someone probably has coatings for the header wrap too.
 
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