I've got the Dundon Street Header system on the 718 GT4.

Noticed companies like Kline and JCR are offering heat shielding on these link pipes / over axle pipes. I want to reduce the heat in this area as a few components have worn out prematurely and maybe the heat is to blame?

I have heard wrapping cats may be a bad idea for the life of the cat?

I was going to just remove the over axle pipes and wrap them in the DEI titanium heat wrap. I understand the piping may get discolored underneath the wrap, but it already has since its been well broken in now. Not too concerned with the appearance, just dont want to blow through cats as that would get costly. Wrap the majority of the pipe, but leave the cat alone? Or just wrap the whole thing.

Would love some feedback!

 

I did exactly that on my tracked car. Wrapped my OAPs with the DEI Ti, did not wrap the cat portion. Seems to work great, will post up some pics when I get around to locating them. Call Dundon as I don't want to speak for them, but IIRC, I was informed it's fine to wrap the pipe portion, bad to wrap the cat portion. Dundon has been extremely helpful over the horn. I imagine the biggest issue would be the additional temp gradient, and thus stress,strain in the metal, where you go from wrapped to not wrapped. So far, so good for mine, 10k miles and a ton of track days in.

Note: my car sees very little rain, and zero salt. If you're in rain, and especially salt, that'd affect finish.

 

Thank you, should be easy enough then to just wrap the pipes and skip the cats.

 

I suppose heat could be an issue for routine tracking purposes . . . but that is nothing new and not unique to Dundon

As for spirited daily driving, I have had zero issues related to the Dundon headers/OAPs in the Florida heat . . . no wrapping of anything

Anyone ever confirm Dundon headers/OAPs - or any aftermarket setup - get any hotter than the stock setup???

Avera

 

JCR already stated that they get too hot and only sell shielded OAP's. Akra, Flat6 also only shielded. Kline offers either.

 

Never seen good data on this. As with brake temps, you need to consider the whole picture and get the transients vs time. Shooting them on the side of the track with an infrared thermometer isn't sufficient. But getting the useful telemetry is more than I think most will be willing to undertake.

 

If you just look at how closely the pipes pass suspension, bushings etc. its very clear hear shielding will be beneficial for a car that see's any type of track work where you are WOT for 20-25 minutes at a time. Heat kills everything, and it will also affect damper performance as they overheat. If you look at SS OAP's that aren't shielded they are turning blueish by the cat connection, so they are hitting 500f at a minimum. If your just putting around on the street it probably doesn't matter though.

 

The stock OAPs are heat shielded, so that says something.

 

There was a video on Dundon's site where they were dyno-ing their street headers with the downstream cats.... and the OAP area glowed RED-HOT... significantly. It was something they gave me concern when I saw it.

See:
And, no, I do not have the Dundon headers... still on stock. So, no first-hand experience... only an observation.

 

They must have been pushing the sh*t out of that car on the dyno . . . track simulation

As for daily spirited driving, I have NEVER seen my cats ever glow

Avera

 

Were also shielded on the 981 without GPF filters

 

7,000 miles and multiple track days without any wrap/protection on my Soul OAPs. No issue for me but YMMV. With the OPF gone you would think the exhaust gasses are not impeded, so less potential for a heat trap. Maybe that's why the original had shielding? This is just my theory, no testing or calculations done on my end. No downside to wrapping other than cost I guess.

 

Got this handled today. Skipped the cats. Used the 1'x50' titanium wrap per side. Used 2/3 of each roll. The stainless zip ties sort of a pain but finally got it figured out. Definitely needed a helper to get it situated nice and tight.

Both rear struts were just replaced under waranty due to an internal failure that caused a loud rattle/clunk. Starting making me question if heat was to blame. I feel much better about this area of the car.

 

Nice job 👍🏼

 

I’ve installed Dundon headers on my 2015 GT3, 2 2018 GT3’s, 981 GT4 and 718 GT4. I’ve never had an issue. Automotive paints will start to degrade at about 300F. Never saw any signs of degradation in the paint.