John,

I did more research and your concern is very valid.

Due to the possibility of overheating the exhaust pipes, stressing welds,
and affecting bolted-on components like heads, I decided against wrapping
the exhaust system.  I will instead insulate the components I want to
protect from the heat, like the fuel lines and possibly intake distributor.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Chris S.

On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 10:35 PM, John Rodgers <inua@charter.net> wrote:

> A caution.
>
> Often, exhaust systems are designed to utilize the free air to help keep
> them cool. It does pretty well as long as the vehicle is moving right along,
> but get slow or stop and the heat is not carried away but collects in the
> engine space, making it mighty hot. It is all a trade off. If you wrap the
> exhaust with any kind of insulating material you are going to really cook
> the devil out of those pipes when running at power - which is the time you
> really want them to be cooling in the breeze and getting all that heat
> carried away. The exhaust system will burn out much, much sooner than if
> simply let exposed to the ambient air.
>
> So be careful in your choices on your Vanagon.
>
> Regards,
>
> John Rodgers.
>
>
> Chris S wrote:
>
>> Is anyone here using fiberglass exhaust wrap?  Any comments and/or
>> experiences?
>>
>> I'm thinking of wrapping the entire exhaust up to the catalytic converter.
>> Also I'd like to insulate the intake runners and place some insulating mat
>> between the fuel lines and the engine.
>>
>> Chris S.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>