Headers You Pick = Performance You Get!

Short, medium, or long-tube headers? The PerTronix line of exhaust products makes it easy to choose a system

- Jim Smart

What is it about exhaust scavenging, headers, and systems that leave us in a perpetual fog? Shorty ... medium ... long-tube? Pipe size? What collector type? Which is the better choice for your application and driving style? Header selection depends upon what you want your vehicle to do most of the time. Do you know how much power your engine is going to make and at what rpm range? Cruising or racing ... perhaps both; a daily driver and/or weekend racer?

HEADER TYPES

Header selection also depends upon desired noise levels and heat radiation into the cabin. Short-tube headers—also known as “shorties”—run quieter and radiate less heat. A ceramic coating keeps heat where it belongs: inside the header tubes. Shorties are also an improvement over stock cast-iron exhaust manifolds because there isn’t the restriction experienced with iron castings. Shorty headers deliver better low-to mid-range torque. Medium and long tube headers allow an engine to make more horsepower at high rpm.

The 4-into-1 is the traditional long-tube header most of us are familiar with—four primary tubes carefully bent and channeled into one collector. The benefit of long-tube headers is the significant decrease in back pressure due to the separation of exhaust gases into their own individual pipes. Their length also prevents the cross flow of exhaust from one cylinder to another. Long tubes are also the most versatile header type since they can be tuned in different ways via primary diameter, length, secondary (collector) diameter, and shape to account for different horsepower and operating ranges.