Well I FINALLY got around to upgrading my exhaust with an RB street header (O2 nipple) and a Bonez hi-flow cat. Popular wisdom says to go with the heat wrap to help keep temps down a bit under the hood but this is my first wrap job. Any tricks, techniques or traps to look out for?

(BTW, I'm an '86 GXL original owner and I don't ever remember anyone having to work on the exhaust manifold, but when I went to take it off the nuts were LESS THAN FINGER TIGHT!!! Heat expansion? Dunno but good thing I'm replacing that "reactive" exhaust manifold which lived down under a leaky pulsation dampener-now rock solid banjo bolt thankyou very much)

So what about the heat-wrap? I just bought a fifty foot roll of Thermo-Tec.

 

Get some metal lock ties, and some silicone heat wrap spray to keep the moisture out. They sell it next to the heat wrap in auto stores.

You should wrap it before you put it on the car...

Don't forget to use anti-seize on the bolts, as bolts in those kind of places they tend to rust up a lot...

And lots of penetrating lubricant... broken bolts aren't fun.

 

Too late on the seized bolts advice. The nuts on the cat were basically welded to the studs. Couldn't find the PB blaster so I applied heat with a torch. Them puppies still didn't budge. When I put "THE FORCE" on 'em they sheared right off, which is OK since I don't need them.

Thanks for the advice and yes I will do the wrap BEFORE I install the RB.

OH YEAH!!!! BTW, any torque specs on the RB header manifold bolts. The VERY last thing I want to do is bust those studs.

 

When all else fails, use the stock specs, which IIRC aren't *that* high or that low.

 

When you wrap your headers... buy the good stuff from summit or jegs... dont use the junk from autozone or pep-boys...

You are going to want to take four 2" hose clamps. When you start put the first hose clamp at the top closest to the flange and contine to wrap. The clamp allows you to pull the material tight...which is what you want. Before you wrap... you need to get a bowl or something that you can saturate the wrap in water. Cut pieces of wrap that are about an arms length. Once you put the first hose clamp at the top... you are going to want to use some chicken wire on down the line to keep it from moving. When you are done take another hose clamp at the end to finish it.

Sometimes I will use hose clamps instead of chicken wire- however it does not look as nice-- however on a racecar... who cares!

Finally- do the same on the other pipe! There is really no science to it...