Pontiac Solstice Forum - View Single Post - Clear Image Automotive Headers

Think of a header as a musical instrument, because it flat out is. Exhaust velocity is controlled by pipe length, volume and diameter along with how transitions merge and tubes collect.
Bla bla bla 4-1 headers are this and bla bla bla Tri-Y headers are that.

When a header is designed AND built right it will always produce more performance than a stock manifold will. When a header is just slapped together then it will usually still make power, but nothing worth the performance for the effort.
Everyone likes to cite a cliché for what design does what best, but the fact of the matter is engine bay limitations and exhaust location dictates more about the design than any other factor.
A 4-1 shorty header works great for a daily driver/drag racer, but I have seen a properly designed collector make more horsepower in itself than an already good overall designed header. I have seen headers that look almost identical have as much as double performance gains from just primary length and collector detail. And I have seen what looks like a waste of time, joke of a TriY/4-1 design, 47 chromosomes having ugly header produce 20 HP over stock on a 4 cylinder N/A engine with no loss below stock at any rpm.
A long 4-1 works great for road race applications and when built well doesn’t really take anything away from the bottom end.
A Tri-Y has the advantage of actually reaching the maximum performance and boosting up low end power too. It’s just difficult to get it right in the first place and for the most part you don’t see major changes or differences between one company’s product and another.

I think that the devil is in the details, but the details are dictated by the confines of the platform. That SR20DE header that makes 20 HP has been validated by Nissan themselves and literally tuned to cc’s in tube volumes and validated with both real world flow-bench and CFD software. A lot of the details of that header could be carried over to the LE5 (2.4L ECOTEC), but knowing what details are important and what ones are not turn out to be a difficult-if not impossible task. As more products come to market hopefully the competition in business produces better and better performance for what’s available. It’s just not going to happen overnight.

__________________
-Adam Chant
SCdyne Performance Engineering
"Tune it or lose it!

TEAM SCSKYSC 2008
I don't know..?

	scdyne Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: so-cali - Between Willow and LACR	Think of a header as a musical instrument, because it flat out is. Exhaust velocity is controlled by pipe length, volume and diameter along with how transitions merge and tubes collect. Bla bla bla 4-1 headers are this and bla bla bla Tri-Y headers are that. When a header is designed AND built right it will always produce more performance than a stock manifold will. When a header is just slapped together then it will usually still make power, but nothing worth the performance for the effort. Everyone likes to cite a cliché for what design does what best, but the fact of the matter is engine bay limitations and exhaust location dictates more about the design than any other factor. A 4-1 shorty header works great for a daily driver/drag racer, but I have seen a properly designed collector make more horsepower in itself than an already good overall designed header. I have seen headers that look almost identical have as much as double performance gains from just primary length and collector detail. And I have seen what looks like a waste of time, joke of a TriY/4-1 design, 47 chromosomes having ugly header produce 20 HP over stock on a 4 cylinder N/A engine with no loss below stock at any rpm. A long 4-1 works great for road race applications and when built well doesn’t really take anything away from the bottom end. A Tri-Y has the advantage of actually reaching the maximum performance and boosting up low end power too. It’s just difficult to get it right in the first place and for the most part you don’t see major changes or differences between one company’s product and another. I think that the devil is in the details, but the details are dictated by the confines of the platform. That SR20DE header that makes 20 HP has been validated by Nissan themselves and literally tuned to cc’s in tube volumes and validated with both real world flow-bench and CFD software. A lot of the details of that header could be carried over to the LE5 (2.4L ECOTEC), but knowing what details are important and what ones are not turn out to be a difficult-if not impossible task. As more products come to market hopefully the competition in business produces better and better performance for what’s available. It’s just not going to happen overnight. __________________ -Adam Chant SCdyne Performance Engineering "Tune it or lose it! TEAM SCSKYSC 2008 I don't know..?