Uses for 3M 5151 teflon/high temp tape???

[RoadWarrior]

Hi folks,

I can get hold of some 3M 5151 teflon low friction, high temperature tape for cheap. I looked online and this stuff sells for $70 a roll It's meant to be a bit like duct tape, but it's got a low friction, highly abrasion resistant surface, and it copes with temperatures up to 205*C

Soooooo I was thinking there must be some interesting uses I could put it to...

What I've come up with so far is...

Protecting the bottom edge of airdams and ground effects (don't have any on yet)

Sealing HHO equipment.

Strapping insulation to the motor.

Making an O2 sensor heat shroud (as long as I don't get it too near the exhaust heat)

Kinda wondering about sealing forebody seams and gaps with it, in high pressure areas, but don't think that will do measurably better than any old duct tape, and the benefit of that would be marginal at best.

Probably just going to get some to keep in the armoury, but wondered if anyone could think of a "killer app" for it.

It might be possible to wrap manifolds and down pipes in a double or triple or thicker layer of standard glass fibre tape then mummify them with this over the top. I think we're looking at about 500C exhaust temps... don't know how much of a barrier to that 1/8 of an inch of fibreglass and the air locked into it would be, to allow the top coat of this stuff to survive would be. The potential advantage would be that you seal the whole thing from splashes and moisture intrusion, so you needn't worry about the exhaust rotting out.

Road Warrior

[ZugyNA]

I've used something similar in an assembly situation...it was used as a sliding surface for low friction. Sort of a heavy coated fabric?

Use it for drawer slides?

[almightybmw]

I would not use this in areas of high temperature. I don't think I'd trust it to wrap the exhaust. If I was worried about exhaust rot (I don't thanks to Pontiac using all SS) I'd coat it with JetHot ceramic coatings. Expensive, but it does 3 things: keeps the moisture off, keeps the heat in (better scavenging) and keeps the heat off (cooler to the touch outside).

Non exhaust purposes, I'm interested. Would this be a better product than UHMWPE plastics? It has slightly lower friction than MWPE, and nearly the same abrasion. As a tape this would work well in coating parts of the car that may tend to bump or scrape against things. I don't think it would have the same longevity though as a solid chunk of plastic with similar properties (referring to a airdam lip or skirts). I could be wrong.

Curious how large the roll is, length, width, thickness. I'd like to know if it could be more cost effective the MWPE.

Fun stuff isn't it? A shame more parts of cars aren't made with this hightech cool stuff. I'd bet there's some good gains to be had, in protection and aero.