I've heard from several different sources that when building an engine that has a lot of horsepower you need to use long tube headers. my question is where is the stopping point for short tubes and the beggining of long tubes. My plans for my engine are somewhere around 500 hp any insight on this topic?
Horsepower Q?
- Thread starter MylittlePWNY351
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There's really no such thing as a stop point. You will virtually ALWAYS make more power with a correctly sized set of long tubes.
It's not as much a matter of ability to flow as it is the ability of the exhaust system to extract (scavenge) spent/lazy gasses from the exhaust ports of your heads (and cylinders beyond that).
There's a bit more to exhaust than just that but that is the BIG advantage of long tube headers. Those gasses gain velocity down the tubes and the venturi creates a vacuum that pulls other spent gasses with it.
Like anything, long tubes can be incorrectly sized for an engine combo just like shorties. The trick is to find a complete exhaust system that appropriately sized for your application.
It's not as much a matter of ability to flow as it is the ability of the exhaust system to extract (scavenge) spent/lazy gasses from the exhaust ports of your heads (and cylinders beyond that).
There's a bit more to exhaust than just that but that is the BIG advantage of long tube headers. Those gasses gain velocity down the tubes and the venturi creates a vacuum that pulls other spent gasses with it.
Like anything, long tubes can be incorrectly sized for an engine combo just like shorties. The trick is to find a complete exhaust system that appropriately sized for your application.
