Motorsport header value and benefit

[82GTforME]

I found these for sale the other day. I have a lightly used pair of unequal length but these are new equal length and I'm contemplating getting them.

Does anyone have more info on these? Will they bolt up to all 302 including 79? What do you think they are worth? Do you think they are worth the cool factor?

Thanks!

[BMW Rider]

They would not have gone to the effort of bending up that tangle of pipe for no benefit.

[stangPlus2Birds]

Iirc, they are worth a few HP over the FRPP shorties.
Also, iir, they have a tendency to burn the ******** out of spark plug wires. Iirc, you need heat shielding/wrap over a number of wires.

Also, they will generate even more heat inside the engine bay. That may or may not be a concern.
Before *I* put equal length headers in my car, *I* would get the headers coated. You loose even more heat from uncoated equal length headers. Keeping heat means keeping up the exhaust speeds, which aids in better cylinder emptying and pulling in more fresh fuel/air.

My guess is that a coated unequal header would have similar or better HP gains to an uncoated equal-length header.



Fwiw, "back in the old days", "equal length headers/paths" were all the rage and thought to be one of the best methods to get the most power/etc from an exhaust system.

But, for the "unlimited" money pro racing teams, they knew better.

It's really all about timing the exhaust pulses so that when they combine, they produce the best "X" (power, or economy, or less sound, or whatever).

_Today_, they use very advanced software and do many simulations while tweaking many parameters. Then, they test the best simulations with prototypes. They see how simulation varies from reality, adjust their models, and repeat.
Eventually (based on time, money, schedule), they come up with a design.

Note: For real life products that go into real life cars, there are many factors that going to the design/production of any part.
For typical cars/vehicles, saving $50 on a part for an engine that sells 100,000 units a year is 5 million dollars!


So, although an equal length header seems like the best choice, it is possible that a shorty could be as good or better.

[brianj]

They look cool. On a street car with mufflers, they will gain you 0,to single digit hp gains. Unmuffled, on a dyno, they gain power in the specific rpm range they are tuned for, but actually loose torque in the lower rpm ranges, also in the single digit range. They aren't that bad to run plug wires around, or change plugs, but you do have to be more careful with routing wires and use a few more extensions, etc to pull plugs.They do put more heat in the engine bay, just due to having more surface area to radiate from. If you are chasing power, use long tubes. Normal driving street car, unequal shortys. Cool unusual factor, equal length shortys.