GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

so in my hunt for more cheap mods for a 1zz engine base vibe continues i found this"One cheap way to get extra power and fuel economy is to wrap your exhaust manifold/header with heat resistant exhaust wrap/tape."When exhaust gases are pushed out of your cylinders to your exhaust manifold, the air surrounding the manifold begin to cool the gases. This cooling process reduces the velocity of the escaping gases and the engine must 'work' to push the gases through your exhaust system."Wrapping the exhaust headers with exhaust wrap maintains hotter exhaust gases that exit the system faster through decreased density. Increased exhaust scavenging is produced, along with lower underhood and intake temperatures. I would also venture to guess that my catalytic converter operates more efficiently since hotter gases would elevate burning of pollutants."I purchased the exhaust wrap by a company called Thermo Tec from a JC Whitney catalog for around $30. I installed the wrap on the header and a portion of the exhaust pipe leading from the catalytic converter to the muffler."This mild enhancement resulted in a 5 - 7 HP gain ... the power surge starts at around 3,000 rpm. I haven't had the chance to monitor the fuel economy gains."Now how do you people feel about this?

I thought they were a rock band.

I have thought about doing this, just wasn't sure if it would make much of a difference. Interesting results, I may purchase some and try it out. hmm.....

Quote, originally posted by scherry2 »I thought they were a rock band. Saw them in the late 80's, Great concert LOUDEST one I have ever been to. Ears rang for 4 days after that one

How did you measure the hp gain? Do you have pics?

To keep underhood temps down in Corvettes, some wrap their headers which keeps temps down, but shortens the life of the headers drastically due to built up moisture and excessive heat. Ceramic coated headers do a good job of keeping underhood temps down also, but are quite a bit more expensive.I would be amazed if it would amount to any hp gain. (except possibly on an exhaust running to a turbocharger) Maybe if the wrap comes with stickers though.....

yes, some of the subie guys have been wrapping their uppipes and downpipes as well. interesting since i had no clue why they were doing it. so of course, had to ask and get flamed! you know, every forum has SEARCH NAZIS. lol

Quote, originally posted by iinan »Saw them in the late 80's, Great concert LOUDEST one I have ever been to. Ears rang for 4 days after that one one of the greatest party bands out there!!My son will be singing the lyrics to Surrender one of these days.LOL" Then I woke up, Mom and DadAre rolling on the couchRolling numbers, rock and rollingGot my Kiss records out"

Quote, originally posted by BOZACK »How did you measure the hp gain? Do you have pics?this wasnt me who did it, i found it online while searching, he had some G-thing. i think its one of those little computer handheld things you have in your car and it ties to emulate the HP, torq, 0-60 etc.well i wouldnt mind doing this as its sorta cheap, but why cant we have aftermarket headers!!! the celica's have to be mod'd, i want to just get some that are direct replacement so when i get my magnaflow i can redo the whole exhaust. someone should go test this for genvibe

hey guys! yeah actually theres Design Engineer Inc. http://www.designengineering.com/products.asp they have lots of awesome products that coool your engine with wraps, or other sweeet mods. one uses O2 to coool it, they have heat shields, sppeed tape, and lots of others......check their site out for actual testings and other releases....when i get the money, im going on a shopping spreee of their sweeet stuff

There is simply no way to gain 5 hp on the vibe with a mod like this. Mabey a 1/4 of hp increase if anything.

Errr, yea im not sure about a 5hp gain or paying 120+ for the kit, when the guy from that quote thing said he did it for 30. if i can do it for 30, id do this.

I'm sorry if I came off a bit brash, I just meant that the gains would be small. Don't let that stop you if you want every bit you can get. I did not mean to harp on your topic bro.

hey flip-side you were not brash, i took physics this summer and still cant figure out how this wrap can make the engine gain 5hp :/ i was thinking the same thing. i do see is this wrap keeping the heat from exhausting to the engine bay and heating up other parts of the engine....but once that car is running for a while i still cant calculate how its going to gain u 5ph, but like i said 30 bucks maybe wortha shot if i skipped my alcohol purchase for the weekend to pick it up, but 120$ hell no.