Need opinions on header wraps

[Allison#51]

It seems that most guys advise not to run header wraps the main reason being that it changes the way the pipe performs.. Well my question is if your jetted correctly for a wrapped pipe and your main concern is to contain the heat from the pipe to keep it off the other parts like the airbox, plastic, fuel tank, radiator, and your leg (All things that we know perform better when cool) is the pipe wrap a good way to go? Will it hurt the performance enough to not make it worth it? Or just not even be effective at reducing the heat coming off the pipe?

[jcs003]

it will change the pipes tune.

john

[C-Leigh Racing]

Yes, it would help to wrap it to keep it from messing up something, but do understand what is taking place if you do wrap it.

Pipe wrapping, is a thing some tester will do, like if they think a section of the pipe may be to long so the wave travel is taking to long in that section, so they wrap it so it will hold the heat & kinda make the wave travel faster at that spot. Kind of a type of testing tuning the pipe & if a difference is noted, pipe removed & a very small piece removed from that section.
You could wrap the whole pipe, & once heat is in the pipe, it would kinda change the build of that pipe, hold heat & make the pipe think its shorter, some but not a great amount.
Neil

[Jerry Hall]

It seems that most guys advise not to run header wraps the main reason being that it changes the way the pipe performs.. Well my question is if your jetted correctly for a wrapped pipe and your main concern is to contain the heat from the pipe to keep it off the other parts like the airbox, plastic, fuel tank, radiator, and your leg (All things that we know perform better when cool) is the pipe wrap a good way to go? Will it hurt the performance enough to not make it worth it? Or just not even be effective at reducing the heat coming off the pipe?

It depends on how well your pipe works for your application. If you pipe is a stump puller and does not rev very well, wrapping the pipe will move the power curve to slightly higher RPM like Neil said.  

If your pipe is really weak on the low end for your type of riding, wrapping it will make the low end even weaker.  If your head pipe is straight for the first 12" or so I would not wrap the first 12" because it may cause the engine to be more prone to have detonation problems.

[C-Leigh Racing]

Yep, I can see that in my mind, ol drag banshee with pipes wrapped & it lay down & woller on every gear shift.

Speaking of that, when is a banshee, not a banshee.
Is one still a banshee, when only thing there is the transmission gears, hood, radiator cover & gas tank cover, if that is all left from a banshee, is it still a banshee.
Neil

[wilkin250r]

Number-wise, the general equation for speed of sound/pressure waves is 331+0.6T  (where T is in degrees Celsius, and final units are in meters per second).

Neil, gimme some average port timings (exhaust only) for stock, mid-range, and hi-rev.  Is 180, 190, and 200 degrees a fairly decent estimate?  I'll use it to work up some theoretical numbers for to relate exhaust temp change and port timing changes.

[rsss396]

I think Allison maybe using this pipe for ice racing and in that case IMO it's a good idea to run the pipe wrap, the pipe has a constant ice/water spray from the front tire along with the cold, we wrap the pipe (ESR5) on our bike but leave the whole front section unwrapped to keep from overheating the piston. We also cover the wrap with aluminum tape to help keep it dry.
otherwise for normal riding I would not wrap a pipe IMO

[Jerry Hall]

I think Allison maybe using this pipe for ice racing and in that case IMO it's a good idea to run the pipe wrap, the pipe has a constant ice/water spray from the front tire along with the cold, we wrap the pipe (ESR5) on our bike but leave the whole front section unwrapped to keep from overheating the piston. We also cover the wrap with aluminum tape to help keep it dry.
otherwise for normal riding I would not wrap a pipe IMO

In this case wrapping makes a lot of sense.  I am sure that the company that developed it was not blowing freezing air and spraying ice over the pipe when they were dyno testing.

[Jerry Hall]

Speaking of that, when is a banshee, not a banshee.
Is one still a banshee, when only thing there is the transmission gears, hood, radiator cover & gas tank cover, if that is all left from a banshee, is it still a banshee.
Neil

I not really sure when it is not a Banshee when you have:

 Matoon billet cases, billet 20mm stroker crank, 3 speed billet overide transmission, custom cast cylinders and head, programmable ignition, lockout clutch.

Maybe if Matoon changed the engine mounts on their cases so that they would no longer bolt into a oem Banshee frame we could not call it a Banshee.

[Allison#51]

This is all really good info guys thanks! Any time I read about it before it was just the same answer that it changed the way the pipe performed but now I actually understand why and I'll be able to do some testing without having to worry about hurting the motor. I do plan on using it mostly for ice racing and depending on how that goes I might try it on my mx quad too.