Removal of exhaust wrap

The other day I was driving to the hangar just like I routinely did for the last two years, but when I arrived, I realized I was almost at the end of my to do list (!)

I am waiting for a few small replacement parts that are not critical for first flight. I am also waiting for the availability of the local maintenance shop here in CSE4 to inspect my airplane. Strictly speaking, I could legally take-off, but having a second pair of eyes going through my work is not a luxury imho, especially since I have been closely into it for a long time.

While in waiting mode, I made a little research on the benefits of having fibreglass wrap around the exhaust. The wrap I have was installed when I bought the airplane, but it was getting very dirty and hairy.

I found this thread on the Vans Air Force forum which pointed to the Vetterman Exhaust website. Here is an extract of the website in question:

Can I wrap my exhaust with automotive type of wrap material and obtain more power? 

Any material on the exhaust will shorten it's life and failure will occur. We are using air cooled engines and one the best heat sinks on the engine is the exhaust system. The mass air flow comes in and is forced down and around the cooling fins and then is directed over the exhaust system and then exited out the bottom. If the exhaust is covered it cannot aid in the cooling process. Our tests show that any type of wrap on the exhaust makes both the cylinder head and exhaust temperature run higher. The stainless steel used (type 321) will degrade if the surface temperature is over 1250 degrees F. We also did not find a power increase of any kind by wrapping the exhaust.

More weight. Less cooling, no additional performance. Hmmm.

I also checked pictures of the Red Bull Air Race airplanes and confirmed that they don't use such exhaust wrap. I guess if it was creating any major power increase, these guys would use it!

The other reason a previous owner could have needed to use such wrap is perhaps to limit heat radiation in the bottom cowl. I never had any oil temp issues in this airplane...

I finally decided to remove the wrap, but keep a close eye at my oil temp during the first few hours of operation. 

It was a mess. At some point I had to put a mask to avoid breathing all the fiberglass dust flying around. Some guys say that exhaust wrap also traps moisture. What I found underneath tends to confirm this:

It was only surface corrosion that could easily get wiped off, but still... Here's what the whole thing looked like once removed from the airplane:

I was expecting to save about 1/2 lb, but with all the steel clamps, it was weighing close to 1.5 lb!

Finally I cleaned the exhaust using water with mild soap. This was enough to remove most of the old wrap traces. Looked nice and clean at the end.

What could I do next? Perhaps getting some dual time on a nice red S2C would be a good idea!