good advice on the not wrapping them.
( and that was all baloney , especially the part about it getting hot and
'loosing compression.' )

what I get super fine results out of .............for preserving the exhaust
pipes at almost no cost.......
I clean them, like hit them with a power wire brush.........like a hand held
disc grinder, but with a wire brush on it........
or even a small hand held wire brush to get in the small areas..
- Then I just paint them with silver high temp exhaust paint in a spray can.
They stay 'light gray' and not rusty for quite a long time that way.
the brand I use, Dupli-Color claims to have ceramic something in it, and be
good for up to 1,.200 degrees F.
Sure works plenty good for not a lot of effort or expense for me !  ( comes
in red too, but silver is what looks right - it turns to light gray  once
cured )
Scott
turbovans

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 7:10 AM
Subject: Re: Wrap exhaust pipes with fiberglass?

> Bad Idea! Wrapping exhaust.
>
> The aft end of the Vanagon was designed and engineered to deal with the
> heat of combustion and to get rid of it. The exhaust pipes hanging in
> the breeze act as radiate heaters and transfer the heat to the passing
> air when moving. At idle, there is not that much heat produced. We - men
> - and Vanagons are much alike. Things hang out for cooling purposes.
> It's a good system and it works. Tape it all up tight and you will get
> heat damage of a different sort. Instead of excess heat radiating, the
> contained heat will cook things from the inside out. Believe me, your
> don't want your tubes cooked - on your Vanagon or otherwise.Rot sets in,
> and repair is difficult at best and in some cases the only thing that
> can be done is to remove them.
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
> Chelsea, AL
>
> Mark Hersh wrote:
>> I was in Harbor Freight buying X-treme Tape (on sale for 3.99 USD till
>> 8/25, BTW, save $1) and I mentioned to a guy in that aisle that it got
>> high marks from folks on the Vanagon list serv.
>>
>> He said he used to own a Vanagon and said I can reduce heat in the
>> engine compartment by 70% if I:
>>
>> Wrap the exhaust pipes (engine block to the cat) with fiberglass
>> (using some kind of high-temp fiberglass stuff), securing with
>> stainless steel wire, which in time will bond the whole shebang
>> together.  That helps to send the heat out the exhaust and, as the
>> exhaust pipes will no longer act as radiators into the engine
>> compartment, reduce engine overheating, heat stress on electrical
>> components.
>>
>> I guess I can see the reduction of waste heat part in a general sense,
>> but I am puzzled about the engine overheating part.  I'd think that a
>> properly running Vanagon's cooling system will keep the block and
>> heads cool enough that the hot exhaust pipes won't add that much to
>> their heat load...
>>
>> He made a particular point about engine overheating, saying, after a
>> long trip, you slow down, engine overheats, you lose compression,
>> etc...  and that this will fix all that.
>>
>> My guess is that if that fixed or improved something for him, then he
>> had something else wrong with his van.   But I smiled and thanked him,
>> as I wanted to beat the traffic home.
>>
>> Thoughts from the collective brain power of the list?
>>
>> Mark, "one week till road trip!"
>>
>> --
>> 86 Campmobile Six-Seater "Monty"
>>
>> Black dogs are euthanized at a greater rate than other-colored dogs,
>> regardless of temperament. Learn about Black Dog Syndrome at
>> http://www.blackpearldogs.com/
>>
>>
>>