Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Header/Exhaust Wrap Problems

The header wraps on my M3W are starting to disintegrate, and I only have 385 miles on the odometer! With this factory option costing me a few hundred dollars, I am surprised and disappointed that this is happening so prematurely. The wraps turned white after the first 75 miles and over the last 250 miles they started becoming loose. I purchased some pipe clamps that are way better than the cheap tiny ones that the factory uses, and I secured the wraps as best as I could until I get a new set that I requested through my dealer.

Has anyone else had this problem? I know that Kirk (aka Draggin) has the wraps on his 2016 and they turned white almost immediately, but have your wraps become so dry and brittle that they are falling apart? I didn't realize how much they were disintegrating until I unwrapped them partially to re-secure them. The photo below shows how they are falling apart!

BTW, make sure you wear gloves before handling the factory wraps! The tiny glass material in the Kevlar (I assume it's kevlar) will get under your skin very easily!

I have requested a replacement set of wraps from the factory, but I have no confidence that they will hold up over time. Do any of you have any other suggestions for wrapping the headers? I'm just looking for a bit of protection from the heat, as I have young children that always seem to get too close to the motor after a spirited run!

polar993,

In all do respect I think your burn out wraps are telling us something. There is just way too much heat coming off the big Twin-V, that's one reason many are changing out the exhaust for a better cooler flow. I have posted this before here I just don't understand anyone wanting wraps right off the engine on a M3W or better yet the factory even offering exhaust manifold wraps. The sooner you can get the heat away from the this engine the better.

We wrapped our 32 Fords after the exhaust manifold and under the interior for obvious reasons. One is nine years old now and the black wrap looks like new. Scrap them and enjoy a cooler engine! And the pipes may last longer too.

Love your M3W!!

The Honorable Mayor of Buzzardville

High Noon Speed Shop

Blog: https://ontheroadtonowhereville.wordpress.com/

I will inspect mine

Hey High Noon,

Thanks for your feedback. I agree with you that the headers are too hot for the Kevlar wrap. As I mentioned in my original post, even with a new set of wraps, I am not confident in their sustainability.

So you think it's best to keep our pipes unwrapped? I do worry about someone accidentally touching them and getting injured....mainly children who wouldn't know any better.

If I do decide to leave them unwrapped, can anyone recommend a really good metal polish? The pipes, with only 385 miles, are already deeply corroded and i would like to try to keep them looking as good as possible.

It's always better to keep pipes unwrapped. Wrap is o.k. for race cars where they're replacing headers every few races and absolutely need the heat mitigation that wrapping provides.

About anywhere else it's for looks, and if it needs wrapped to keep something from melting or burning up, it's a design issue.

That there though just looks like standard fiberglass wrap, not kevlar. DEI does make some "Titanium" exhaust wrap that withstands some high temps, if you're absolutely needing to wrap. But the Titanium aspect of it is the color. So it's darker stuff.

As far as polishing goes, you're going to be doing it quite often. Autosol is pretty decent stuff. If you're wanting to keep em shiny you might consider getting em coated, but like High Noon said, the heat isn't getting out. Check some threads on drilling those baffles, or possibly look at getting another exhaust.

That said even a freeer flowing exhaust will still discolor from the heat so you might check into coating, at least to the muffler. While it may seem like blasphemy on the M3W I've had some nice results from Jet Hot on car exhausts, and will likely be having them do the pipes on the three wheeler when I get mine.

Either way, keep the updates coming, I've never seen a wrap go that bad before.

On, and if you've not already, I'd definitely be hitting up the dealer at the very least about some reimbursement for the wrap, instead of replacement, especially at that price gouge. That's about $25 in wrap there, if that.

Mine are definitely dry feeling and getting loose maybe I can try spiraling them a little bit tighter and tightening up the stainless clamp at the top, also they had already started losing their color even before I took delivery of the car, now they are pure white all the way down to the first 90 degree Bend.

And if you're worried about people getting burnt, you're going to have to wrap them to the very tips! When I go to a gathering, I simply stay with the car until they're safe. Parents know to keep kids away from motorcycles but don't seem to notice our 12'of scorchers.

The pipe will always keep oxidizing. I asked a header builder what to use, he said a polish called "Bartenders Friend" is the best. I don't know anything about it.
Regarding safety from hot pipes, my Victory has chrome shields on the first 18 or so inches on the pipes, But the mufflers can still melt shoe soles.. Seems like someone on TM posted a similar shield product that would fit our cars.

I have seen people reference these http://www.drcproducts.com/exhaust/d31-01-110/index.html
Though it seems like the ones I've seen people mention are the two stroke version. Though perhaps a different product all together, but I recall they looked similar.
http://www.drcproducts.com/exhaust/d31-01-130/index.html

skullmog has some black skulls for his heat shielding.

Also interesting to see that the factory wraps front to back. Back to front prevents the wind "opening" the wrap.

I seem to be the only one to wrap the ends of the exhausts, but that end was where all the burning incidents happened. Quite painless since... *s*