For everything header related
10-28-2013, 03:14 PM
#1
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For everything header related
Theres too many of the same questions popping up every week. Whats better for my car LT or shorty, how many gains will I see if I do this, etc etc. This is going to be the end all be all. Everything header question related will go here from now on. Kthanxbye
10-28-2013, 06:07 PM
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I'm not saying that ZZP makes a bad product. I think they make a fantastic product, but I don't see why people are willing to pay so much more for an item that can be had for much less and does the same thing.
There is a thread proving how well the Bad-mab reacts on the dyno.
BM shorty with a 3" ZZP Dp is a great affordable combo.
11-01-2013, 11:50 AM
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well, good thing i found this. looking to do header, downpipe, exhaust over the winter. was looking at vibrant but seems a little pricey for the gains. been looking around on the forum for reviews and have not found much... while we are at it. what are the benefits/disadvantages of exhaust size (2.5, 2.75, 3.0 in). thanks everyone!
11-01-2013, 11:58 AM
#10
Just because ZZP welds a ZZP logo onto a piece of pipe doesn't make it better than another. The only reason why the Bad-mab shorty headers have bad rep is because of how they are mass produced. My shorty header is holding up great and it gained a noticeable amount of power over the stock manifold.
I'm not saying that ZZP makes a bad product. I think they make a fantastic product, but I don't see why people are willing to pay so much more for an item that can be had for much less and does the same thing.
There is a thread proving how well the Bad-mab reacts on the dyno.
BM shorty with a 3" ZZP Dp is a great affordable combo.
I'm not saying that ZZP makes a bad product. I think they make a fantastic product, but I don't see why people are willing to pay so much more for an item that can be had for much less and does the same thing.
There is a thread proving how well the Bad-mab reacts on the dyno.
BM shorty with a 3" ZZP Dp is a great affordable combo.
11-03-2013, 10:28 PM
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I looked at the ZZP shorty and the runners are 1 5/8" whereas the Badmab has 1.71" runners. There are tons of articles online about what size exhaust to use for a car. Typically for the supercharged Cobalt, you don't need more than 2.5". You want some back pressure and the smaller pipe will help you with torque and lag as well. Read up on it, they will explain it better than I ever could.
11-03-2013, 11:07 PM
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ZZPs are on sale on Ebay for a few more hours $166.49 shipped
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ZZPerformance-Stainless-Ecotec-2-0L-2-2L-2-4L-Cobalt-SS-Supercharged-Header-/111186064244?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19e334b374&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ZZPerformance-Stainless-Ecotec-2-0L-2-2L-2-4L-Cobalt-SS-Supercharged-Header-/111186064244?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19e334b374&vxp=mtr
11-05-2013, 07:32 AM
#14
I looked at the ZZP shorty and the runners are 1 5/8" whereas the Badmab has 1.71" runners. There are tons of articles online about what size exhaust to use for a car. Typically for the supercharged Cobalt, you don't need more than 2.5". You want some back pressure and the smaller pipe will help you with torque and lag as well. Read up on it, they will explain it better than I ever could.
11-08-2013, 01:36 PM
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gonna be selling my vibrant lt headers soon here fyi, probably within a week or so. But exhaust really depends on what you have. On a nearly stock car, you will notice almost nothing, realistically 5hp give or take is very minimal.
The power gains you will see by throwing an exhaust on a car is actually because it will lean out your a/f mixture. There is a much more complicated way of explaining this, but I would prefer not to go into that.
Without a tune all you are doing is leaning out the mixture, this will produce more hp.
The gains you will get are limited to the smallest point in the exhaust, if you pump water through a 2 inch pipe, and increase the pipe to 3in halfway through, it will still only flow at the 2in rate. So when you get a gmpp exhaust which is 2.25in (correct me if I'm wrong), having a 3 inch downpipe doesn't really do much.
Now, for the gains you will see with a larger exhaust compared to a smaller exhaust. There is a complicated way of putting this, I will try and simplify it. Certain diameters have an amount of air that can travel through them. There is a general hp number we give to justify certain sizes of exhausts. Say 250hp to 300hp you should have a 2.5in exhaust, and 300hp and up you should have a 3in exhaust. This is based on the amount of exhaust that is expelled from your car, and making sure your exhaust is actually able to push all of this air (exhaust) out. To kill a myth, if you go to big you do not actually lose backpressure, you actually lose """""VELOCITY.""""""
Looking at how the velocity of an exhaust works. Your exhaust comes out in spurts of exhaust from each cylinder, not actually a constant flow. If your exhaust is too big, this will not fill the exhaust and will amount to a low velocity. This think of a pipe with a water pump, you have a water pump pushing water through a pipe full of water, if you have 3 gallons going through a 2 inch pipe, it will move a lot faster than if you were pumping the same amount of water through a 3 inch pipe. Now, this will actually create a suction effect, to put it simply, and assist in pulling exhaust fumes out of the cylinder when it fires (simplest way I can think to put this). This is not backpressure, this is velocity helping the engine work (hopefully I explained this correctly).
Now if you have a higher hp car, and your exhaust is restrictive, it will slow the speed at which your car car push the burned air/fuel out, this is what you are trying to accomplish with upgrading your exhaust, but picking an exhaust that is too large, you can have nearly the same effect. Hopefully this was somewhat informative, and hopefully I didn't butcher any details lol, I'm bored at school between classes.
The power gains you will see by throwing an exhaust on a car is actually because it will lean out your a/f mixture. There is a much more complicated way of explaining this, but I would prefer not to go into that.
Without a tune all you are doing is leaning out the mixture, this will produce more hp.
The gains you will get are limited to the smallest point in the exhaust, if you pump water through a 2 inch pipe, and increase the pipe to 3in halfway through, it will still only flow at the 2in rate. So when you get a gmpp exhaust which is 2.25in (correct me if I'm wrong), having a 3 inch downpipe doesn't really do much.
Now, for the gains you will see with a larger exhaust compared to a smaller exhaust. There is a complicated way of putting this, I will try and simplify it. Certain diameters have an amount of air that can travel through them. There is a general hp number we give to justify certain sizes of exhausts. Say 250hp to 300hp you should have a 2.5in exhaust, and 300hp and up you should have a 3in exhaust. This is based on the amount of exhaust that is expelled from your car, and making sure your exhaust is actually able to push all of this air (exhaust) out. To kill a myth, if you go to big you do not actually lose backpressure, you actually lose """""VELOCITY.""""""
Looking at how the velocity of an exhaust works. Your exhaust comes out in spurts of exhaust from each cylinder, not actually a constant flow. If your exhaust is too big, this will not fill the exhaust and will amount to a low velocity. This think of a pipe with a water pump, you have a water pump pushing water through a pipe full of water, if you have 3 gallons going through a 2 inch pipe, it will move a lot faster than if you were pumping the same amount of water through a 3 inch pipe. Now, this will actually create a suction effect, to put it simply, and assist in pulling exhaust fumes out of the cylinder when it fires (simplest way I can think to put this). This is not backpressure, this is velocity helping the engine work (hopefully I explained this correctly).
Now if you have a higher hp car, and your exhaust is restrictive, it will slow the speed at which your car car push the burned air/fuel out, this is what you are trying to accomplish with upgrading your exhaust, but picking an exhaust that is too large, you can have nearly the same effect. Hopefully this was somewhat informative, and hopefully I didn't butcher any details lol, I'm bored at school between classes.
11-08-2013, 01:38 PM
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:edit: As for our sc cars, the dropping of boost with an exhaust upgrade is just because you removed the exhaust restriction, your car is now able to push air through faster, pressure being built is being used faster, resulting in less boost.