Exhausting all your options is easy. Finding car parts may seem like a tall task, but it’s easier than you think.
You don’t have to be an automotive junkie to know what parts to choose. Although you may not think it, a car’s exhaust is highly essential. Find out how to pick the right exhaust for your ride by reading on.
Finding Car Parts Is Easy
Stock exhausts are restrictive, heavy, and quiet. Real car junkies want the world to hear their vehicles roar.
Exhausts start with headers. Most stock manifolds are cast iron, with casting remnants in the exhaust pathway.
A better header design is tubular, allowing maximal flow without interruptions. Headers can be short, long, or center dump style.
Next, you should decide on the diameter of the pipe. For every horsepower, 1″ of pipe diameter is necessary. For instance, a 500 horsepower engine requires a 2.5″ dual exhaust.
Use an online calculator to input horsepower amounts and the number of exhaust pipes. Then hit “Calculate” and the calculator will tell you the minimum pipe diameter recommended for your exhaust.
Very related to exhausts are mufflers. These are about both sound and performance. With one of these, your engine can make a low growl or be startlingly loud.
Breaking Exhausts Down
Exhaust systems are organized in different ways.
The header-back system replaces the whole exhaust system, from the tailpipes to the header collector. A total system replacement enables enlargement of the system’s diameter so that a bigger volume of exhaust gas can flow. Such systems can be costly and hard to install because they’re a total replacement.
A cat-back system consists of components from the catalytic converter backward. They usually have a tailpipe and muffler. Sometimes they also include an H-pipe, X-pipe, Y-pipe, or mid-pipe.
Then there’s the axle-back exhaust system. It has all the parts from the rear axle to the tip of the exhaust. This kind of system gives more power gains than the stock exhaust.
The axle-back systems are simple to install and provide high-performing performance exhaust sound.
Exhausts come in different configurations, too. There’s the single exhaust, dual exhaust, dual crossover, and dual exit.
As far as materials go, exhausts can be made of aluminized or mild steel. These are simple to use, lightweight, and cheaper than stainless steel.
Mild steel systems are the cheapest but corrode and rust easier than stainless steel. Stainless steel exhausts are the most rust-resistant on the market. They’re also the priciest and hard to weld and bend.
Check out the Borla Exhaust.
It’s Not Exhausting
Finding car parts can be daunting to the average motorist. Choosing an exhaust can seem even more difficult since it’s a more obscure part.
But as you can tell, the right exhaust can surprisingly make quite the difference for your vehicle. Every part matters, including the exhaust.
Discover other automotive advice in the site’s Auto section.
