Which is the best, EXTRACTORS or HEADERS

Eric,
Sorry Eric I beg to differ slightly. Header and extractor are both the same just different names, prob depends on what state you grew up or how many american mags you read as a kid!

Both are exhaust manifolds that use the runners to help expediate the flow of gasses out of the engine. They do so by having runners that are timed to correspond with the firing order to use the momentum of the previous cylinders exhaust gas to help move the new one along! Called savenging!
The two types of extractor (or header) is tuned length or interferance fit. Int fit first...this is an off the shelf header that a manufacturer has made up on an example of the engine eg Holden 202, 6 pipes into 3 into 2 into 1! You can buy it off the shelf and bolt on and hey presto a decent gain!

Then Tuned length, where you have YOUR engine on a dyno and the builder will make up a set of headers that typically has all of the runners exactly the same length and the small adjustments are made to increase power for your engine! ie Holden V8, the extractors on one side all dump into one pipe 4 into 1, the front runner 1, is pretty straight pipe, but number 7 is doing loops to keep the length the same into the collector!

I think this is the same as 'Blower or supercharger' debate, just depends on who taught you as to what you believe is the correct term!!

My 2 cents!

Matt.

Hi Matt , its been 20 years since i finished my Enginners in HP engines ,and back then , that was the definishion between both off the shelf items . If you had a custom set made as you stated , you have to call them headers . As to making a set up on a dyno for optimum performans , we did this and i remember it takin 8 weeks lol . In the end , I still dont think we got it right . It was a eye opener to see what diffrent HP reading uo igotwith 10 mm of extra pipe lol . A little like when we use to make ram tubes to capture the fuel splash back off the valves .

Regards EC

If terms have changed since then, ill stand corrected lol .

Ps , I did my time in oz and not America also lol

Matt , just add something extra , my personal beliefe these days , is that MOST and I do say most , exaust manifolds today will run just as eficiant as a set of ordinary extractors/headers. To see a real performance diffrence , I would say that you would have to spend some serious dollars on a custom set. The years I spent on dyno's we spent many a day freaking people out on how little diffrence the new $1000 exaust reaL made , or how sometimes it went back wards lol . But then we will always have the people who increase HP from turning there air filter lids upside down and gain 300 hp lol

Have a great day mate , and thanks for your view

regards EC

Hi there Eric, yes and no in regards to wether they run better or not, I had a VL commodore turbo 88 model changed over the original manifold as it was cracked and put on a set of extractors 2 n half in system as the cost of a new manifold was a lot dearer car ran like a pig, had more power with the original exhaust so I paid the dollars and put all new original back on again, went like a dream nice n quit smooth, my 89 hilux 2.8 diesel craked my manifold 4wding (being a dic@head) and had a piece of timber come up under neath and just missed the oil filter and hit the manifold cracking it knowing the price of toyota parts put a set of genie extractors on and a 2 n a half inch system on it noticed a huge improvement in pulling up hills over the original system top speed no better just pulls better and believe me with a 2.8 diesel you need every little power gain you can get. I agree with you that most would not notice any power difference on most modern day vehicles, and with all the electronic stuff they use eg oxygen sensors etc you have to be careful not to upset the computer. Have a good day Take Care Vitara

Eric I will agree with both your follow ups!! I do believe that most modern cars now have an exhaust manifold that has tuned runners, unlike the old stuff that just dumped 4 or 6 into one outlet in a cast manifold!
I slotted a Swift import 1600 16 valve into my sierra and what a dream, but unfortunately I couldnt keep the cast manifold which was a tuned header due to it conflicting with the engine mount...had to throw on Vitara extractors off an EFI!
I think there will always be differences in what people are taught as far as terms or terminology goes.....no harm in that!
I certainly would love to catch up with you and hear some of oyur experiences...I only get to work on standard diesels and nothing real flash at that!!!
Matt.

Well don't read it then!

I suspect by inference in Erics comprehensive Simpson Desert trip report that he is of Greek extraction, & most probably has a much better command of the English language, than you have of his.
As far as spellcheck goes, this site does not have that facility, & it would be cumbersome to have to type out posts in another program in order to take advantage of spellcheck. I must admit, that I do find it annoying with posts being punctuated with "lol".

I, also take exception to mispelt words, but only by professional wordsmiths, such as advertising agencies & journalists.

My suggestion in the case of forum posts, is to 'live & let live' or just simply 'get over it'!

hmmm I think it's more important for people to contribute to the site then ......hmmmm....no, than... than people who criticise others!

Leroy