Technical Really Long Headers

I've seem some pictures with cars ,mostly race cars, with really long headers. Any idea as too why they did that? I can't imagen they would fit in todays enclosed trailers or some of the weird looks you'd get pulling some of there cars around on an open trailer.

 

Posted by @40ragtopdown in the images that need no explanation thread.

 

Maybe taken off and pushed up in the trailer, or used an open trailer? Seems the last races I watched all the Top Fuel cars used short pipes, I assume to have them for high RPMs?

Maybe the older ones were for looks as much as function.

 

one more

 

Long tubes build torque or , if a little was good , more had to be better

 

looking for better atmospheric conditions, and keep exhaust away from driver - open trailers were the common way to travel

 

"Pay for the first foot of pipe...... The second foot is free".......??

 

That sounds reasonable. Also, maybe over estimating the need for back pressure and pure INTIMIDATION!

 

Photo by Eric Rickman.

 

I always get the same thought when I see this photo..........Mad Max.

 

When you own a muffler shop, why not advertise!

 

That's what I was thinking....

 

Fad. Back in the older days not much was known about exhausts. If you saw a car that ran good with huge pipes and it ran decent, whether it had anything to do with the length of the pipes or not, you built a set longer. Plus they sounded soooo good. And You know where I'm going with this.

 

Over compensating for something that was to short?

 

Why not ?

 

Even megaphones too! I can't even imagine the sound.

Lynn

 

Ramchargers

 

The older engines didn't turn the rpm's the newer ones do so they did benefit from the longer pipes. More torque, cause that's what they had, torque. Till they got too long. Then as the newer engines emerged, things changed. I remember when at least on doorslammer cars the four into one headers came into use we would paint the collectors with white VHT paint, then run it a couple passes and look for the heat line on the collector and cut it off right there. We assumed that was the optimum collector length. And usually it was. Lippy

 

A buddy of mine ran dirt cars for awhile and we would put about a 3’ stick of pipe on each header and painted them white and he would run a race or 2 with them and we would crawl under the car and cut them off at the heat line just like you said. It always seemed to work out pretty good!!! He always swore by it.


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Chrome eagle syndrome, common among racers.

 

[QUOTE="lippy, post: 14031268, member: 20399" I remember when at least on doorslammer cars the four into one headers came into use we would paint the collectors with white VHT paint, then run it a couple passes and look for the heat line on the collector and cut it off right there. We assumed that was the optimum collector length. And usually it was. Lippy[/QUOTE]
I remember when I was a lot younger and absorbed every tech article in Hot Rod Car Craft and Popular Hot Rodding they were telling about guys doing that with a crayon lumber marker and then cutting them off at the end of where they melted.

 

jaracer....Chrome Eagle Syndrome. Is that the same thing I heard referred to as the "Green Dot Syndrome" in circle track racing? That syndrome was that if a racer won on a Saturday night and had a green dot on one of their quarter panels, there was a good probability that other racers would show up with a green dot on their car's quarter panel the following week? Having sold circle track parts for a number of years, I can tell that is a very real syndrome.

Lynn

 

So painting headers white had a propose. I did not know that. I Learned something new.

 

Many (including me) painted their headers white because everyone else did.

Lynn

 

Board track racing motorcycles had white painted frames and I was told industrial stuff was painted white to easily spot cracks or leaks. The header paint is a new one for me, but makes perfect sense.

 

Headers were painted white because that was the only color available at the time.

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I just assumed this was the reason; reduce the noise and the fumes hitting the guy behind the wheel.