Hi,

I will be installing some headers in the near future and was wondering if anyone knows of any extra precauitions i can take to protect my fuel lines since i have a Vortech s/c and am running much higer fuel press. A leak due to heat would be catastrophic and i will take any and all necessary precautions.

I have read about header wraps but most of what i have read about them says that they dramatically reduce service life of the headers.

Any suggestions?
Thanks

 

jet-hot coating you can try

or you can buy headers that come with a coating from factory

such as DC ceramic coated headers

 

Maybe you can heat-shield the fuel line(s) instead of the headers? They sell that heat shielding stuff, it's shiny silver colored on the outside. I just bought some from a local performance shop to redo my clutch line (the stock heat shield was falling apart). It comes with a strip a few feet long and you just cut it to size.

Side note: I ran crawford headers for a while on my N/A 350z. I also track my car. After a while, I got an EVAP engine code. It turns out the headers had melted through an EVAP line on the right side of the engine. Since it was an EVAP line it wasn't a big deal; if it had been a fuel line, fuel + hot headers = engine fire. I went back to stock manifolds with their (very effective) aluminum heat shields. I couldn't get any more power out of the headers anyway. It could have been a tuning fault, I don't blame the headers necessarily, but I just decided it wasn't worth it.

 

wrap the fuel line with thermal wrap (silver foil stuff)... on my G sedan the bracket that holds the fuel line away from headers had to be fabricated (the OEM one stuck out too far and had the fuel line touching the headers).

BTW, even jet hot coating doesn’t keep them cool enough not to take precaution... my Crawfords heat like mad!

 

Yeah, i was about to do buy that but they are made from mild steel which turned me off of them. I already bought the borlas. The jet hot is an idea i commented about that below.

Thanks

Man, that is a scary thought about the fuel lines. I will look into covering the evap line too. I do like the idea of covering the line too i would like to find that product that you guys are talking about.

I thought about jet-hot too i will have to look into that when i get back to the states because i cant connect to that site from here for some reason.

Thanks for all the input so far. I really appreciate it.

 

Why would you not want mild steel headers? Mild steel ones will probable flow better than stainless due to a lot higher heat retention. Stainless stuff does not hold heat as well.

You're right. If you wrap stainless headers, they may crack. I've wrapped stainless downpipes before and never had an issue but if it does happen, you won't be able to claim any warranty on them. Sounds like wrapping fuel lines is a better option.

 

I have heard the mild steel is more prone to rust or crack. As for better flow, i am not going for the absolute best flow. If i were i would be getteing HFC. I would go with testpipes.

I have contacted Borla about the warranty thing and hope to hear back from them soon. I will definitely look for that thermal wrap that was cited on here or another site that i am asking this question on.

Another avenue i might consider is a new hood. One with strategically placed vents......oh crap, ive got the bug. I only buy things that have a functionality to them, which is why my car is mostly stock on the exterior....i cant believe i am actually thinking of getting a hood now for functionality. I guess since i blew my goal of being a sleeper when i installed the Vortech(no pun intended) i might as well go all out...Amanda, i hope your not reading this.


Well, thanks for the input