Ive just painted mine black but ive read that water/moist can settle behind it thus rusty/cracking? could be a load ob bull im just getting some info on it as i like wrapped zoorsts. Now to look for a site that sells it cheap. ima wrap my sportex backbox.
If you're going to wrap the exhaust system, it's not worth doing it on the backbox alone. The idea is to stop the heat from disapating as it travels through the exhaust system, thus giving you a bit more power, normally a few extra bhp. It's much better to start off with the manifold, as by the time the heat gets to the backbox, a lot of the power has already been lost early on. Whereas if you wrap the manifold, the heat isn't lost so early on. Wrap the entire system, and pretty much no heat will be lost at all. The best way to wrap it is to do it when it's off the car, of course (Y). A few tips as well:
1. Most important really - make sure the system is cool before you wrap it!
2. Wrap a couple of times extra at each end where you secure it with jubilee clips. Just ensures a nice tight fit.
3. Make sure the wrap is wet when you apply it. Wrap it as tightly as possible, squeezing the excess water out as you go along, making sure each wrap is nice and tight.
4. 50% overlap or more, as this ensures the wrap is working to the best potential. Ideally, 75% works best (this is what I've done on mine, needed about 3 rolls to finish it!).
5. Lay a cover over the area where you're wrapping it, and wear scruffy clothes, gloves, goggles, and maybe a mask of some sort - the water you squeeze off comes out a horrible black and filled with fibres, which can be really hard to eradicate, and the dry fibre flakes are pretty nasty as well.
6. When you've finished wrapping and the exhaust is back on the car, take it for a longish drive. As the exhaust system heats up, it allows the wrap to cure, shrinking it slightly as well as the water dries up, thus ensuring an even tighter fit. Just make sure you have the windows open, as when the wrap cures on the manifold, the fumes will be coming straight into the car. Again, not pleasant. If you want, you can just run the car up to temperature while it's standing still, if you don't mind wasting fuel.
You will see noticable power gains if the entire system is wrapped. Just make sure you have enough wrap to complete the whole thing, and use proper jubilee clips instead of the rubbish metal cable ties the wraps are normally supplied with. Never really had any problems with the exhaust rusting or cracking (the system on my old BMW was wrapped, and that was mild steel - didn't rust at all in the 14 months I had the car, and upped the bhp from 100 to 105). Someone else on here might have had experience of this happening though, so I could be wrong. Just worth asking around, and trying to find the best deal for the wrap. I'll try see if I can find the site I bought mine from, only cost me £10 per roll, and it can withstand temperatures of up to 800C :grinning:
Hope this helps (Y)
