heat wrapping exhaust manifold / down pipe

[RVR97]

I've been doing a few reading on the net on heat wrapping the exhaust header and down pipe. There are some advantage/disadvantage and I'm still unsure should I go ahead wrapping them as my dump pipe is "less than 10mm" close touching to the alternator and oil filter. Is it true manifold/mild still pipe will starts to crack/rust due to the heat/water over the time?

I'm more of worry about heat cooking things up in the engine bay :lol: has anyone had their car running with the manifold and dump pipe without heat wrap, and no heat shield? Anyway I've got my hand on ceramic heat wrap, custom heatshield and an evo 9 vent/insulator ready. Will wait for everyone inputs n I'll decide from there on.........

Pics of my manifold/dump pipe...
http://compct.com.au/car/exmanifold.jpg
http://compct.com.au/car/downpipe.jpg

Custom heatshield that I made looks dodgy
http://compct.com.au/car/heatshield.jpg

Wae

 

[Gianni]

I'd probably just run a heat shield bro looks cleaner. And deflects the heat from anything that'll melt

 

[RVR97]

I was thinking just wrap the dump pipe all the way down before the flex pipe. The heatshied for the manifold that I made is not low enough to deflect the heat of the alternator >< and the wastegate is also close to the rad fan aswell.

 

[bazeng]

I always ceramic coat and then heat wrap if needed.

 

[shadow]

Used heatwrap on the exhaust manifold here. No issues, and the heatwrap still looks very clean. Under bonnet seems a bit cooler too.

 

[Gianni]

Maybe heat wrap is the way to go