Car Exhaust Systems

The main purpose of an exhaust system is undoubtedly to route the spent exhaust gas out of the car's engine. Along the way the exhaust gasses may be used to drive a turbocharger and now-a-days it will most definitely incorporate a catalyst converter to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But on a high performance car, such as a modified street car, or a modified race car, the exhaust system is much more important as it has a direct affect on engine performance and engine power. As a result, the exhaust system, and particularly the exhaust header design, plays an important part in both engine tuning and car tuning.

In general terms, an exhaust system consists of an exhaust manifold (which is sometimes called an exhaust header), a front pipe, a catalyst converter, a main muffler or silencer, and a tail pipe with an exhaust tip. In terms of tuning the exhaust system, the muffler is the easiest to deal with it's simply a matter of replacing the stock muffler with a free-flow or high performance muffler, such as a Flowmaster muffler. The result is a free flow exhaust system. However, the performance muffler must have an inlet and an outlet pipe that is the same size (diameter) as your front pipe and your tail pipe. Your front pipe and your tail pipe should also have the same diameter. The rest of the exhaust system is much more complicated as you need consider back pressure, your engine's power band, and your engine's maximum usable RPM.