Articles » Basic Mods Part 1

Exhaust headers, sometimes referred to as simply ‘headers’, capture and direct the exhaust gases to the catalytic converter right as they leave the motor. As with the intakes, when you take off the stock one and bolt on an aftermarket one, it frees up airflow. They provide larger diameter piping than stock and are shaped better to create less restriction and resistance on the exhaust as it quickly leaves the motor, especially in the high RPMs.

As with the intake, there is more than one type of exhaust header. First off, there’s a 4-1 header. The way this one is designed is that all 4 pipes that come off each cylinder converge at one point into a single pipe that leads to the catalytic converter. This type is better for racing because it gives more top end power than low end.

The next type is a 4-2-1. As you can probably figure out, its design comprises of the left 2 pipes converging into one and the right 2 pipes converging into one. Then, these two pipes converge a little farther along into a singe pipe that makes its way to the cat. This style provides more low-end power than high-end and is ideal for daily driving rather than racing. There aren’t really any major negative effects of exhaust headers as with the intakes, but they do perform differently, as previously mentioned.

A third type of exhaust header would be a turbo manifold. We’ll discuss turbochargers in a later article, but just to give you an idea, a turbo manifold is a very short and small exhaust header that converges all 4 pipes very quickly into a single exit hole, which is where the turbo attaches. This kind should only be considered if you are going to be turbo charging your car as that is the only time it can be used.

Well, that pretty much summarizes up exhaust headers. In the next section we will discuss exhaust systems.