Another successful testing session showing the facts! Good stuff and thank you for all your hard work over the years. It definitely gives guys a opportunity to make a informed decision without having to only listen to the guys selling the products, which would be the better choice for each individual based on what their needs or wants are!
I'd like to see the back pressure with one of the wastegates blocked off on the tubular system tested as well. The change in back pressure and HP in the Hooker system I think is due to the increased back pressure and the wastegate unable to blow off enough exhaust to bring it down. I also expected the cast iron manifolds to retain more heat energy and drive the turbo harder, and I thought we'd see a better boost number lower in the RPM range, and that didn't seem to happen. I'm going to have to watch this one again taking note of back pressure reading line location. Awesome info as always, thanks Richard for your dedication to excellence in automotive performance testing 👍
Higher back pressure results in less exhaust gases leaving the cylinder, which, in turn, results in less intake air and fuel entering the cylinder, and less power output. On a turbo setup, you need exhaust pressure at the turbo to spin it fast enough to create the boost you're looking for, but any other exhaust pressure increase results in loss of power.
Great test Mr. Holdener. The back pressure surely could be preventing the turbine from spinning as fast as it could. It could also be diluting the cylinder mixture and acting as a buffer.
Myself and many others running the hooker setup would really like to see these things pushed further to see data and their limits. I’m making around 960whp with them and I’ve seem to basically hit a wall for power when everything else is good for 1300+. Thanks for the videos.
If you've got an extra input it's not too hard to add a sensor for it. I'd be really curious to see that measured at various parts of the manifold, like at the turbo, before the crossover, etc.
If you've got an extra input it's not too hard to add a sensor for it. I'd be really curious to see that measured at various parts of the manifold, like at the turbo, before the crossover, etc.
Would adding an additional wastegate help, like the tubular system, or alternatively, adding a second turbo and wastegate with it, I'd think you might be pushing the bottom end to it's limits at 1500 HP 😀
I think the real interesting thing to look at would be HP/PSI on each engine across the dyno graph since the boost levels weren't even. That would probably somewhat normalize the results, although not completely. Just jam it into a spread sheet and calculate it out, if the dyno software doesn't.
@@3800TURBO Yes, less backpressure obviously wins up top. That's not the only thing that matters. The boost curve on the manifold setup is screwed up. There's no way it should take 6000rpm to reach peak boost and be down 2-4psi until then.
Makes sense - back pressure is bad because during valve overlap you'll have dirty air flowing back into the cylinder and intake. Less clean air = less power. Would be interesting to see this test with factory cam with 0 overlap.
My theory: More back pressure means you're having to drive the turbo harder to make the same boost, which means the engine's ingesting the air with more difficulty because of residual pressure from the exhaust stroke where it couldn't escape as easily due to the flow restriction (or lack of scavenging without header primary tubes) a.k.a. back pressure... I talked in a circle.
And higher peak cylinder pressures(theoretically) although as someone else said, there may be a little more residual exhaust diluting cylinder air composition.
For sure the back pressure made a difference. You reduced the pumping loss on the exhaust stroke for the same air flow on the intake. The question is why was the back pressure less. If you measured exhaust temperature and exhaust pressure at the inlet of the turbine that may help figure out why. A guess would be the headers are radiating more heat than the manifolds and lowering the specific volume of the exhaust gas which will equal less pressure for the same mass flow. Probably more to it, could turn into a science experiment real quick.
I'm wondering if the cast manifolds have a cork somewhere. May be one spot where it's just not large enough. Seen this difference even between different factory manifolds on turbo setups.
@@3800TURBO Thinking out loud - Definitely the contributing factor would be the flow capability of the manifolds vs the headers, but the turbo/wastegate are the governing flow devices, so trying to figure out how the pieces fit together. I did not see where the exhaust pressure was measured, but if it is just before the turbo, then up stream flow restrictions would not directly cause the pressure to be higher in front of the turbo. Since between 6000 and 6500 rpm boost conditions are the same, that would mean that compressor power required is the same and turbo shaft speed is the same. That would also imply that the turbine volumetric flow is the same since turbine speed is the same for both cases. To get the intake conditions to equal in the two cases, the higher pressure and likely higher temperature case would require less turbine mass flow to drive the compressor than the lower pressure/temperature conditions. For the turbine side it is an energy balance, in both cases turbo shaft power would be equal, but the higher pressure and likely hotter air will allow more energy extraction and require less mass flow to get the same shaft power. Long winded way of saying I agree that it is the flow restriction of the manifolds, just trying to figure out the impact to the devices that will most directly impact the back pressure at these levels of pressure and flow.
It's probably more to do with the volume of the manifold compared to the headers. Obviously here is more volume in when each cylinder has a pipe then a manifold that merges everything together quickly. Same amount of exhaust being created in a large volume equals lower pressure.
SUGGESTION: measure the BSFC of an engine during runs at various throttle settings. Use a Hellion sytem on a Hemi, which uses full-length headers before each turbo. Find which uses the least BSFC, has the lowest EGT and backpressure, etc. Then use cast log manifolds with the exact same turbos.
NA test is needed with the cast iron manifolds and the turbo headers with Y pipe. I think you'll see a significant difference there and thus one of the reasons for the boosted difference.
@@jmullis78ify You don’t even have to take the turbo off, just disconnect the intake and have the engine breathe atmospheric pressure air. That way the NA combo still has a bit of the back pressure, just not as much as it would under load
Bernoulli's principal. A decrease in pressure = increase in flow. I would guess the decrease in back pressure allowed more efficient spool which allowed the compressor to do I its thing more efficiently. Basically the entire turbo is working more efficiently as the back pressure drops.
If you’ve watch any of these videos before it was pretty obvious which would win. Richard should run both hot sides N/A without a turbo on them. I think it’s obvious the headers would flow more and make more power than hooker set up N/A but it would be kinda interesting seeing what the difference would be. Anyway as always with all his dyno runs the more power N/A the more power under boost.
Yeah Richard! you read my mind 👍this will be interesting! Of course my vote and preference is good fabricated long tube but bolt on cast stuff can be great for an easy street set up
Nicely done, I think it comes down to packaging and fabrication skill. I would also like to see a test done using stock manifolds as a budget builder would.
@Richard Holdener I have a question. I have a silverado with a cammed lq4 that I want to turbo. Eventually I want to go 408 with a big cam. I'm only planning to run 15psi on both setups. The question, is there any benefit to running a vsr80mm or bigger vs 7875 at that boost level?
drive pressure being lower or closer to 1:1 with boost pressure is just more efficient on the top end. I'd be interested to see cams with high overlap vs none on high backpressure setups.
Shit, "common" knowledge in some circles was that the turbo was the biggest restriction and the pre turbo exhaust didnt matter much... Seems there might be some error to that. Very awesome test. I built my turbo setup with that info in mind... Im thinking i may have made that in error now.
Full-Race did a test on one of their 300HP Honda's, and going from Log to Tubular Manifold they picked up 40HP on a little 4 banger. It convinced me to change the header design on my turbo kit.
The turbine is a restriction but I think what is overlooked is restrictions can add up. It will take more hp to pump exhaust through 5 restrictions then is will just one.
The back pressure is measured at the turbo flange so the manifolds will not change the back pressure readings. The dual waste gates are the factor. Way back in the eighties we put an extra waste gate in the system to relieve excess back pressure. The exhaust manifold/headers will contribute some HP but the lower back pressure will contribute equally.
I think back pressure accounts for about half of the 6% difference in power between the cast and tubular manifolds. The other half would come from increased airflow and the extra fuel that comes with it.
It would need to be done on something other than a v8 where the two inlets can isolate all of the negative cylinder to cylinder interference during each's valve overlap. Having two divided turbos would work on a v8, but only if the runners crossed banks to properly pair them, which is why it's only really done on "hot v" setups with the exhaust in the valley where the intake manifold typically sits. 2 rotor, 4cyl and 6cyl can utilize a (single turbo) divided turbo setup but you won't find any tangible benefit with 8 cylinders since they can't all be meaningfully separated
I'm thinking about that time you did manifolds vs headers with a supercharger and saw more boost. That was a weird one. -- Here's my only hypothesis: Because the exhaust gas is under pressure which makes it more dense, the tune frequency for the header is still valid. You still have that good factory intake. The cylinder gases are still getting discharged to a primary tube that likely holds more volume than the cylinder, so the system is still able to resonate and function properly.
The pressure in the exhaust between the exhaust valve and the turbo is created by the piston pushing the waste gases out on the up stroke. This requires energy from the closed system, more pressure requires more energy meaning less is available for the output. It's a simple conservation of energy equation.
I think what everyone is neglecting is the dual wastegates. The majority of the power gain is after the vehicle hits 11 psi of boost and the wastegates open. This is because there is significantly more flow, which is reducing back pressure and increasing hp. Sure the headers flow more, and I'm sure there would be some power increase, but it wouldn't be this large with the same number of wastegates. The only way to accurately perform this test would be with the same number of wastegates on each setup.
Very interesting vid for sure, keep them coming Richard. Would really like to read the real reason , since I’m also working on a turbo (gen 3 stroker hemi) build ….😉 Kinda new to all this stuff but I think it has something to do with exhaust pulses and wave tuning…. Probably would see the same affect NA then … .
Thanks for redoing this video. So headers do work with boost just like cams. I would like to know if the NA engine sees a similar power difference with the headers vs the Holly cast manifolds.
I feel like back pressure is a large part of it, but with those pressure ratios of the tubular manifolds the turbo is going to be spinning much faster. I think that the tubular manifolds put the turbo more into its sweet spot and that made half the power gain. It could easily have shown LITTLE GAIN or even NO GAIN if a smaller turbo was used that has a different "sweet spot".
Help me understand, I thought that, like for like, compressor wheel RPM had a direct relationship with boost pressure. It seems like this is a cylinder filling/ pressure reversion issue.
@@Orange_pickles compressor wheel speed is same as turbine wheel speed. The veloctiy (air flow) of the exhaust as it goes from manifolds to downpipe is what determines wheel speed. Backpressure is like boost, it is a measure of pressure and not necessarily airflow. You can have lots of boost and little air flow, and also you can have lots of backpressure and little air flow.
I see what you're saying about the turbo being in the sweet spot, but 11psi is 11psi, and the motor picked up 45hp. 40-50HP is actually a really common gain from what I've noticed, Full Race did a test back in the day comparing a log-style manifold to an equal length 4-1 manifold and their honda picked up 40HP. Gentle curves with merge collectors w/exhaust pulses is always going to be better than having the gases make sharp 90* turns. ua-cam.com/video/TkOFB2R2sqc/v-deo.html
I could go pull out my chemical engineering fluid dynamics book, but....not sure what I could really calculate without more data. Regardless, yes, I could see the pressure difference making up part or most of the power difference. Think about a pressure washer, put a big nozzle on it and it moves the same quantity of water as a small nozzle would, but the engine has to work harder to do it. It isn't a perfect analogy because water isn't compressible like a gas is, but you get the idea. Back pressure indicates restriction to flow, which means more energy required to move the same quantity of fluid.
I'd be interested in seeing a comparison of those two exhaust setups NA and see how that compares. I'd love to see longtubes (whether fancy turbo headers for a race car or typical LTs) thrown in too, all 3 both NA and turbo.
I would guess the increased back pressure makes the scavenging effect less efficient and leaving more inert gas in the combustion chamber for the next power cycle.
Backpressure definitely makes a difference, but not all that HP is gained just from that. I think probably 50% of the HP gains is from scavenging increase front the longer tubes and smoother air flow.
In my mind its the same concept if it were a N/A combo. And you've proven it in other tests where you ran extremely long exhaust tubing. Exhaust restriction robs power whether its attributed to manifold, muffler, or undersized tube dia. they're all causing additional back pressure.
well a engine is nothing but an air pump in the end of the day, if you need to push harder to get that exhaust out you use momentum and get a backpreasure that prevents the engine from running as free, so i think it is fair to say that it can be contributed to the backpreasure as it directly work against the engine, a turbo like a supercharger does steal hp, although it is more effective than a supercharger. i think a interesting thing to have tried would be to get a air compressor and run the engine at the same 11psi without a turbo or charger, but an external air source to see what 11psi and no restrictions of spinning up the turbo would be.
Hey Richard, have you ever tested a turbo manifold vs a regular manifold (or headers), on a naturally aspirated engine? I think it would be interesting to see how much power the turbo manifold gives up, just so you can install a turbo.
More back pressure reduces air flow through engine due to less favourable pressure ratios and also causes higher pumping losses as piston works harder to push the exhaust out
I wonder if exhaust overlap has an effect. Would the air charge be more diluted at a given back pressure figure if theres more cam overlap? Im going to have to watch the turbo comparison video again. Not as apples to apples as it adds the compressor variable.
Great vid showing how back pressure is not a good thing 👍. I knew it cost power and can hurt boost curves but I didn't know even that little bit of Bp could rob that much power. More air in=more air out=more air efficiently in = more air efficiently out = mo powa!
I have gone to a bigger sized AR and gained similar power with everything else being the same so I would say sure the power comes from the reduction in back pressure.
Yes backpressure will affect power. Higher backpressure the lower the power due to it not moving the exhaust as it should, if it gets high enough you can lose power from it polluting the next combustion cycle because it can't scavage enough exhaust fast enough.
Only thing OTHER than back pressure (and lower VE because less of the gas is able to leave) I can think of is if there was some more heat transfer from turbine to compressor on the cast setup? That seems like a stretch though. Maybe faster turbine speed due to faster boost response also led to a higher efficiency/cooler charge and better VE too? That’s still a knock on back pressure effect though.
Higher back pressure big changes in scavenging is why the headers do a better job making hp. The runners for each cylinder is even length or close to it so scavenging is same.
I think it's a reasonable assumption to conclude that the change in horsepower difference is attributable to back pressure change. To me, it raises the question of does the back pressure make it harder for the piston push against the pressure, or does the pressure make it harder for the turbocharger to push the boost into the combustion chamber, or both?
When you run log style you have less manifold volume Wich works like a smaller turbine housing. That’s y tubular headers make these changes back to back. You can stay log and run a much larger turbine housing and will spool faster make more power and torque below the curve and also the same or more total hp
I Did No Expect That Much Change In Back Pressure! Then I Thought Maybe The Greater Back Pressure Would Mean Greater Spool For The Hooker But It Clearly Did Not. And You Would Think 2 Wastages Would Bleed Off A Little Bit Of Pressure During Spool Up. This Makes Me Think It's Directly Related To The Wastage Amount / Sizing Change. You Figure At Full Song The Configuration With 2 Wastages Wide Open Is Allowing More Exhasut Flow Out The Engine Then Forcing It Though 1 Gate And The Turbo. I Know Diesel Guys Say Adding A Wastage In Some Instances Adds Power Becasue It Allows Some Exhasut To Flow Out While Turbo Still Makes The Same Amount Of Boost. Like It Becomes A Higher Ratio Turbine Housing WOT Full Boost When Gate Opens Allowing Greater Exhasut Flow.
If power is relative to flow and restriction is contrary to flow. It stands to reason that any restrictions to flow will restrict power. The tubular system just plain flows better.
I think the answer is pretty clear, back pressure absolutely kills power (given the same boost). If it does it NA, it does it under boost! Another thing to consider, if this engine was on pump gas, more back pressure will make the engine more sensitive to knock, leading to the tuneup requiring less timing and of course killing power potential. I'd be curious to see pressures at the port/runner vs pressure at the turbine as well as pressure in one bank vs the other. Now the real question is, if you put long tubes on an engine with collector extensions, and put the turbos there? Does it gain power? My logic says yes, although it would be ridiculously impractical to package.
@@BLKMGK4 Well yeah, there's lots of rear mount setups. I'd be more interested to see a test that's more back to back like you could do on a dyno, really isolate variables.
You had double the outlet for the wastegate. Thus less backpressure. Need to plug the second wastegate and see if the results are still less backpressure and more power. Less backpressure means more scavenging, which equals more air and fuel in the cylinder. That equals more power.
I'm with you, but honestly, I can run a high amount AC with that hooker, and I'm not in a point race in NHRA, can't afford to or need to be the fastest guy in the whole world, and last but not least a thousand horsepower turbo is going to make ...a thousand horsepower, my friends would laugh if they heard me say don't overthink it. I haven't missed one of Richard's videos, some of them I watch ... a few times. Damn those hooker manifolds are overpriced though.
So for some reason with the hooker manifolds it required 21 psi of back pressure to make the same boost as the tubular headers made with 15 psi of back pressure. Doesn’t that just mean that the cast manifolds just don’t flow as well?
@@richardholdener1727 could have ran the tubulars with one gate, just to compare points on the graph that happen to be the same boost pressure and see what happens
Thanks Richard! I am curious whether the higher B/P was a function of the Hooker casting restrictions or waste gate (WG) size? Could a "Y" pipe & flange replace the single WG, then 2 WG's be installed on the branches of the "Y" to see if B/P would significantly drop with the increase in "window" of 2 WG's. Any thoughts Mr. R. H.? How smooth are the internal castings of the Hooker manifolds? Has anyone tried porting or Extrude Honing? Thanks, Paul from S. Central Tx.
Headers were more efficient at flow. Like you say boost is relative. Air in and air out equals efficiency and power. Take your cake and eat it too. Fun test. Wish the hookers flowed better they're a slick setup. Curious how long tubes would compare to the short tube headers. Also curious if scavenging is still a thing with turbo or if it's mainly flow restriction. And if a collector extension pre turbo would make any change as well. I supose the y pipe counts as a collector extension tho. 😂 As always thanks for your efforts and keep up the good work!
I think the higher backpressure creates lower HP levels through charge dilution. The less backpressure, the more spent gasses you can get out of the cylinder, letting more of a fresh charge in. I also think the Hooker system is a great system for a street bound Turbo LS set up. It's much easier to package in a street car. Now if you're running at the track, and looking for all the horse powers, then you would want the tubular, but in a race car you're less worried about how it looks, cutting the car up to fit it, etc. One thing I wonder though, if you plumbed both into a full street exhaust system, how much would that of leveled the playing field for this test?
Strsight from schoolbook: if you are for some reason limited to some certain turbo (class rules etc.) that is not perfect for your combination, then use pulsetuned exhaust. If you can use a turbo that gets lower backpressure than boost then use as compact manifold as possible to get all the exhaust energy to turbine. This guy always has bad turbo match that makes more backpressure than boost. 76/75 never works well, compressor too big for turbine. And 76mm compressor is +1100 hp turbo so lots of wastegating that drops turbine efficiency and makes boost/backpressure ratio worse.
It is obvious that the tube headers are a more efficient design. You mentioned that the tube headers had two wastegates and the manifolds had one. If the manifolds had a second wastegate installed in the cross-over pipe, would this reduce back pressure some and bring the HP closer to that of the headers? There are two advantages that I think the manifolds should have, one is reliability, two the exhaust should retain more heat for better turbocharger function. But I realize that these two advantages may not overcome the flow advantages of the headers.
Did the log manifold need less fuel per boost pressure than the tubular? Is there a direct correlation between fueling and back pressure? Also with less back pressure, can you run more or less timing?
I have those hooker manifolds and I can tell you that I’ve gone through 2 passenger side gaskets at only 17pounds of boost. Still wouldn’t say they are bad the car made good power and was a blast to drive just don’t expect high boost out of them.
It will largely depend on the total exhaust system's volume, and a bit on how much heat is lost. You can size the x-over on the Hooker much smaller than you typically see (2-2.25") and quite possibly have better transient response. The headers also have much more surface area to lose heat, which Richard has shown will slow turbo response.
Richard, you're using a Holley EFI for the tests right? Why not grab a couple of MAC valves to get turbo control? Once you got the PID figured out you could probably use one of these to really get some some consistent boost levels when testing so long as the wastegates had enough authority. Couold even use shop air to better control it by adding pressure on the gate. Keeping the boost level even would really help on tests like this I think. Wish there was an easy way to measure the CFM into the intke too.
Great video and comparison. I'm curious what the heat differential was between the two exhausts closest to the turbine wheel. Possibly the cast iron sapping more heat versus the header transporting more heat to the turbine? Temp probe would be great to debunk that being that heat and pressure are relative.
I'd also be curious to see the EGT differential between each setup, given that PV=nRT with more back pressure EGT should also rise I would think as long as timing, a/f, etc. stays consistent. Great video Richard!
Ok. Correct me off I’m not dissecting this test properly. The reason the tubular headers produce more hp is because of the exhaust tubes are not in conflict with the exhaust flow except at the end of the manifold but they are directed freely through a pipe. The hooker headers are in flow conflict right at the beginning and creating flow problems. Stock manifolds would be better than the hooker headers?? Something to wonder. !! Thanks Richard!!
Fun video. I’m a bit confused about the back-pressure. Was it measured nearer to the head or nearer to the turbo? Ideally we would measure it at both places to evaluate the exhaust manifolds. Higher back-pressure should result in higher cylinder pressure when the intake valve opens. This is going to resist flow and reduce the total mass of air going in, or lower volumetric efficiency. The dyno doesn’t lie, there is less torque, so less air and fuel, assuming something else is not stealing power.
Why weren't you using your electronic boost controller? I still loved the test. Restriction/inefficiency is seen by the back pressure developed. I really like the design of the Hooker setup. Hopefully they will create a larger higher flowing version.
That’s a lot higher back pressure than I expected! maybe they aren’t as pretty on the inside lol but my guess the gate is probably the biggest problem and log manifold design’s in general can see some nasty high pressure points. how smooth is the flow to the single gate? I can’t imagine it’s dead consistent
it would be interesting to see what it would be if you stuck a extra gate on the cross over of the hooker set up . but no back pressure results in bad turbo lag so the right size header and cross over is important.
Hey I was thinking it would be interesting to see a comparison between a self tuning/learning system with just basic input like you can do in your garage vs a Dyno tune
I can only think this is directly related to pumping losses and the ability to effectively evacuate the combustion chamber. I wonder if less exhaust lobe timing would be better on the hooker setup
Of course the back pressure is going to affect horsepower. Back pressure is going to apply downward pressure on the piston as it moves through the exhaust stroke. While some back pressure is desirable for street vehicles to suppress backfires and will produce more mid range torque, on the track both of these benefits are less attractive in relation to overall horsepower.
Seems to me they both controlled boost fine but the headers got up to pressure much faster and with much less restriction. More of the kinetic energy got to the turbo to spin it harder instead of turning into heat and pressure
Great info! Great content, thank you! Any guess of how much more a natural aspirated aluminum headed BB Chevy would weight vs a single turbo inter cooled cast block LS package??
Boost pressure is the same, only differences are the manifolds. Then higher HP manifold has greater efficiency, as the Turbo exhaust housing should be the most restriction in the exhaust path. And back pressure was measured at turbo flange. Therefore the Hooker headers have a design fault somewhere, my guess would where the 2 banks merge into one.
Would the back pressure on the manifolds come down if you were to make a bypass pipe parallel to the passenger side manifold. So the merge on the passenger manifold would not be a factor anymore
30hp hot air pump/compressor can't help the VE of a motor. the extra 3ft of exhaust path and bends would surely change the resonance and flow of each bank and therefore distribution. humble testing ideas -either a big and small gate on the same system in the same place (or 2 in the same place, 1 locked out, then both) does it make an efficiency difference in the zone before boost creep becomes an issue. -does having the gates closer to the ports let the merge pipe cool slowing spool.
It takes power to compress the gasses, so it makes sense to me that you lost power. The backpressure was evidence of wasted energy expenditure. I am curious if a hot side turbine change could help reduce that at all? In other words how much tuning can we find in the hot side without killing response to compensate for less than ideal mechanical limits like exhaust routing.
I think the lost hp could have been caused by the pumping loss of the piston pushing the exhaust out of the engine due to higher back pressure. But that is a pretty obvious reason so maybe I'm wrong.
Sooooo. We have always said "just get all the exhaust to the turbo". S log manifold does that. I've Lay's said that if headers make sense N/a, they make sense boosted. So maybe improved scanning is resulting in less backpressure. Help me here
This COMPLETELY makes me NOT regret selling my manifold turbo setup. On to better things now!! Thanks for the results!
Another successful testing session showing the facts! Good stuff and thank you for all your hard work over the years. It definitely gives guys a opportunity to make a informed decision without having to only listen to the guys selling the products, which would be the better choice for each individual based on what their needs or wants are!
I'd like to see the back pressure with one of the wastegates blocked off on the tubular system tested as well.
The change in back pressure and HP in the Hooker system I think is due to the increased back pressure and the wastegate unable to blow off enough exhaust to bring it down.
I also expected the cast iron manifolds to retain more heat energy and drive the turbo harder, and I thought we'd see a better boost number lower in the RPM range, and that didn't seem to happen.
I'm going to have to watch this one again taking note of back pressure reading line location.
Awesome info as always, thanks Richard for your dedication to excellence in automotive performance testing 👍
Higher back pressure results in less exhaust gases leaving the cylinder, which, in turn, results in less intake air and fuel entering the cylinder, and less power output. On a turbo setup, you need exhaust pressure at the turbo to spin it fast enough to create the boost you're looking for, but any other exhaust pressure increase results in loss of power.
CORRECT ✅
Great test Mr. Holdener. The back pressure surely could be preventing the turbine from spinning as fast as it could. It could also be diluting the cylinder mixture and acting as a buffer.
Hello like minded people
Wassup dude
When did hooker come out with these?
@@I_like_turtles_67 they have been out. Id like to see the summit racing manifold tested with it dual gates and stainless steel cast
@@Fackler91 I realized after clicking they've been around for a few years. Pretty good option for someone going LS turbo route.
Lol .
Myself and many others running the hooker setup would really like to see these things pushed further to see data and their limits. I’m making around 960whp with them and I’ve seem to basically hit a wall for power when everything else is good for 1300+. Thanks for the videos.
If you've got an extra input it's not too hard to add a sensor for it. I'd be really curious to see that measured at various parts of the manifold, like at the turbo, before the crossover, etc.
If you've got an extra input it's not too hard to add a sensor for it. I'd be really curious to see that measured at various parts of the manifold, like at the turbo, before the crossover, etc.
Steve Morris has a vid making 1200hp using them so they will make more just need the right setup or base hp to start
Would adding an additional wastegate help, like the tubular system, or alternatively, adding a second turbo and wastegate with it, I'd think you might be pushing the bottom end to it's limits at 1500 HP 😀
I think they got a cork in there some where. Maybe a spot in the casting design that's restricting flow.
I think the real interesting thing to look at would be HP/PSI on each engine across the dyno graph since the boost levels weren't even. That would probably somewhat normalize the results, although not completely. Just jam it into a spread sheet and calculate it out, if the dyno software doesn't.
They were both even at 11psi up top so no need to over think it. The free flowing bigger pipes won.
@@3800TURBO Yes, less backpressure obviously wins up top. That's not the only thing that matters. The boost curve on the manifold setup is screwed up. There's no way it should take 6000rpm to reach peak boost and be down 2-4psi until then.
No YT channels talk about back pressure except for Banks. Awesome data.
Great information thanks for sharing. I ran a big block turbo car for years with a manifold on one side and a header on the other
Mave my 6.0 ls set up the same way
Makes sense - back pressure is bad because during valve overlap you'll have dirty air flowing back into the cylinder and intake. Less clean air = less power.
Would be interesting to see this test with factory cam with 0 overlap.
Virtually all cams have some overlap, including factory cams. Engines don't function very well with 0 overlap.
My theory: More back pressure means you're having to drive the turbo harder to make the same boost, which means the engine's ingesting the air with more difficulty because of residual pressure from the exhaust stroke where it couldn't escape as easily due to the flow restriction (or lack of scavenging without header primary tubes) a.k.a. back pressure... I talked in a circle.
And higher peak cylinder pressures(theoretically) although as someone else said, there may be a little more residual exhaust diluting cylinder air composition.
Finally some more dyno videos! Keep em coming!!
For sure the back pressure made a difference. You reduced the pumping loss on the exhaust stroke for the same air flow on the intake. The question is why was the back pressure less. If you measured exhaust temperature and exhaust pressure at the inlet of the turbine that may help figure out why. A guess would be the headers are radiating more heat than the manifolds and lowering the specific volume of the exhaust gas which will equal less pressure for the same mass flow. Probably more to it, could turn into a science experiment real quick.
I'm wondering if the cast manifolds have a cork somewhere. May be one spot where it's just not large enough. Seen this difference even between different factory manifolds on turbo setups.
@@3800TURBO
Thinking out loud - Definitely the contributing factor would be the flow capability of the manifolds vs the headers, but the turbo/wastegate are the governing flow devices, so trying to figure out how the pieces fit together.
I did not see where the exhaust pressure was measured, but if it is just before the turbo, then up stream flow restrictions would not directly cause the pressure to be higher in front of the turbo.
Since between 6000 and 6500 rpm boost conditions are the same, that would mean that compressor power required is the same and turbo shaft speed is the same. That would also imply that the turbine volumetric flow is the same since turbine speed is the same for both cases. To get the intake conditions to equal in the two cases, the higher pressure and likely higher temperature case would require less turbine mass flow to drive the compressor than the lower pressure/temperature conditions. For the turbine side it is an energy balance, in both cases turbo shaft power would be equal, but the higher pressure and likely hotter air will allow more energy extraction and require less mass flow to get the same shaft power.
Long winded way of saying I agree that it is the flow restriction of the manifolds, just trying to figure out the impact to the devices that will most directly impact the back pressure at these levels of pressure and flow.
It's probably more to do with the volume of the manifold compared to the headers. Obviously here is more volume in when each cylinder has a pipe then a manifold that merges everything together quickly. Same amount of exhaust being created in a large volume equals lower pressure.
SUGGESTION: measure the BSFC of an engine during runs at various throttle settings. Use a Hellion sytem on a Hemi, which uses full-length headers before each turbo. Find which uses the least BSFC, has the lowest EGT and backpressure, etc. Then use cast log manifolds with the exact same turbos.
NA test is needed with the cast iron manifolds and the turbo headers with Y pipe. I think you'll see a significant difference there and thus one of the reasons for the boosted difference.
How exactly do you run a turbo header na?
@@HerrPoopschitz take the turbo off and just run a regular exhaust pipe off the manifold or headers
@@HerrPoopschitz I seen guys run those turbo headers without turbos and just run the exhaust out the fender
@@jmullis78ify Ah. Goofy lazy people. Gotcha.
@@jmullis78ify You don’t even have to take the turbo off, just disconnect the intake and have the engine breathe atmospheric pressure air. That way the NA combo still has a bit of the back pressure, just not as much as it would under load
Bernoulli's principal. A decrease in pressure = increase in flow. I would guess the decrease in back pressure allowed more efficient spool which allowed the compressor to do I its thing more efficiently. Basically the entire turbo is working more efficiently as the back pressure drops.
If you’ve watch any of these videos before it was pretty obvious which would win. Richard should run both hot sides N/A without a turbo on them. I think it’s obvious the headers would flow more and make more power than hooker set up N/A but it would be kinda interesting seeing what the difference would be. Anyway as always with all his dyno runs the more power N/A the more power under boost.
Richard had the best tech channel on UA-cam
Yeah Richard! you read my mind 👍this will be interesting! Of course my vote and preference is good fabricated long tube but bolt on cast stuff can be great for an easy street set up
Nicely done, I think it comes down to packaging and fabrication skill. I would also like to see a test done using stock manifolds as a budget builder would.
THEY WORK GREAT
@Richard Holdener I have a question. I have a silverado with a cammed lq4 that I want to turbo. Eventually I want to go 408 with a big cam. I'm only planning to run 15psi on both setups. The question, is there any benefit to running a vsr80mm or bigger vs 7875 at that boost level?
drive pressure being lower or closer to 1:1 with boost pressure is just more efficient on the top end. I'd be interested to see cams with high overlap vs none on high backpressure setups.
Richard is the GOAT. Period. Testing and results. Nobody can compare.
Shit, "common" knowledge in some circles was that the turbo was the biggest restriction and the pre turbo exhaust didnt matter much... Seems there might be some error to that. Very awesome test.
I built my turbo setup with that info in mind... Im thinking i may have made that in error now.
Full-Race did a test on one of their 300HP Honda's, and going from Log to Tubular Manifold they picked up 40HP on a little 4 banger. It convinced me to change the header design on my turbo kit.
The turbine is a restriction but I think what is overlooked is restrictions can add up. It will take more hp to pump exhaust through 5 restrictions then is will just one.
The back pressure is measured at the turbo flange so the manifolds will not change the back pressure readings. The dual waste gates are the factor. Way back in the eighties we put an extra waste gate in the system to relieve excess back pressure. The exhaust manifold/headers will contribute some HP but the lower back pressure will contribute equally.
I think back pressure accounts for about half of the 6% difference in power between the cast and tubular manifolds. The other half would come from increased airflow and the extra fuel that comes with it.
Great test... Even thought the Hooker manifolds look good, the tubular headers create lower back pressure.. Tubular manifolds for me...
Normally they would say send it to Richard but now, Mr Banks, has done this and calculated the hp that is lost by back pressure ratio.
A twin scroll comparison would be interesting divided vs non divided, single and twin scroll and if it's out there twin turbo twin scroll.
It would need to be done on something other than a v8 where the two inlets can isolate all of the negative cylinder to cylinder interference during each's valve overlap. Having two divided turbos would work on a v8, but only if the runners crossed banks to properly pair them, which is why it's only really done on "hot v" setups with the exhaust in the valley where the intake manifold typically sits. 2 rotor, 4cyl and 6cyl can utilize a (single turbo) divided turbo setup but you won't find any tangible benefit with 8 cylinders since they can't all be meaningfully separated
Now we need a trick flow turbo header test, on a 5.3 preferably
I'm thinking about that time you did manifolds vs headers with a supercharger and saw more boost. That was a weird one.
-- Here's my only hypothesis: Because the exhaust gas is under pressure which makes it more dense, the tune frequency for the header is still valid. You still have that good factory intake. The cylinder gases are still getting discharged to a primary tube that likely holds more volume than the cylinder, so the system is still able to resonate and function properly.
The pressure in the exhaust between the exhaust valve and the turbo is created by the piston pushing the waste gases out on the up stroke. This requires energy from the closed system, more pressure requires more energy meaning less is available for the output. It's a simple conservation of energy equation.
I think what everyone is neglecting is the dual wastegates.
The majority of the power gain is after the vehicle hits 11 psi of boost and the wastegates open. This is because there is significantly more flow, which is reducing back pressure and increasing hp.
Sure the headers flow more, and I'm sure there would be some power increase, but it wouldn't be this large with the same number of wastegates.
The only way to accurately perform this test would be with the same number of wastegates on each setup.
how exactly do dual waste gates add flow?
The big aspect to consider is how long that eBay manifold will last before it cracks versus the more robust cast manifolds.
Very interesting vid for sure, keep them coming Richard.
Would really like to read the real reason , since I’m also working on a turbo (gen 3 stroker hemi) build ….😉
Kinda new to all this stuff but I think it has something to do with exhaust pulses and wave tuning…. Probably would see the same affect NA then … .
Thanks for redoing this video. So headers do work with boost just like cams.
I would like to know if the NA engine sees a similar power difference with the headers vs the Holly cast manifolds.
THIS IS NOT AN NA EXHAUST
@@richardholdener1727 you could still run them both na tho, please lol
@@justin_parks yeah, He does that a lot. annoying...
I feel like back pressure is a large part of it, but with those pressure ratios of the tubular manifolds the turbo is going to be spinning much faster. I think that the tubular manifolds put the turbo more into its sweet spot and that made half the power gain. It could easily have shown LITTLE GAIN or even NO GAIN if a smaller turbo was used that has a different "sweet spot".
Help me understand, I thought that, like for like, compressor wheel RPM had a direct relationship with boost pressure. It seems like this is a cylinder filling/ pressure reversion issue.
@@Orange_pickles compressor wheel speed is same as turbine wheel speed. The veloctiy (air flow) of the exhaust as it goes from manifolds to downpipe is what determines wheel speed. Backpressure is like boost, it is a measure of pressure and not necessarily airflow. You can have lots of boost and little air flow, and also you can have lots of backpressure and little air flow.
I see what you're saying about the turbo being in the sweet spot, but 11psi is 11psi, and the motor picked up 45hp. 40-50HP is actually a really common gain from what I've noticed, Full Race did a test back in the day comparing a log-style manifold to an equal length 4-1 manifold and their honda picked up 40HP. Gentle curves with merge collectors w/exhaust pulses is always going to be better than having the gases make sharp 90* turns. ua-cam.com/video/TkOFB2R2sqc/v-deo.html
Very enlightening as always, thanks Richard
Didn't this video come out a few months back, turbo headers were the best right ! Glad I have mine.
Would also love to see the stock manifolds vs tubular vs Holley manifolds for a bottom line NA and with boost
I could go pull out my chemical engineering fluid dynamics book, but....not sure what I could really calculate without more data. Regardless, yes, I could see the pressure difference making up part or most of the power difference.
Think about a pressure washer, put a big nozzle on it and it moves the same quantity of water as a small nozzle would, but the engine has to work harder to do it. It isn't a perfect analogy because water isn't compressible like a gas is, but you get the idea. Back pressure indicates restriction to flow, which means more energy required to move the same quantity of fluid.
I'd be interested in seeing a comparison of those two exhaust setups NA and see how that compares. I'd love to see longtubes (whether fancy turbo headers for a race car or typical LTs) thrown in too, all 3 both NA and turbo.
I say this was a pretty perfect example of pumping losses.
I would guess the increased back pressure makes the scavenging effect less efficient and leaving more inert gas in the combustion chamber for the next power cycle.
Backpressure definitely makes a difference, but not all that HP is gained just from that. I think probably 50% of the HP gains is from scavenging increase front the longer tubes and smoother air flow.
Purrrrrfect video...praying this test would go down..thank uuu
In my mind its the same concept if it were a N/A combo. And you've proven it in other tests where you ran extremely long exhaust tubing. Exhaust restriction robs power whether its attributed to manifold, muffler, or undersized tube dia. they're all causing additional back pressure.
well a engine is nothing but an air pump in the end of the day, if you need to push harder to get that exhaust out you use momentum and get a backpreasure that prevents the engine from running as free, so i think it is fair to say that it can be contributed to the backpreasure as it directly work against the engine, a turbo like a supercharger does steal hp, although it is more effective than a supercharger.
i think a interesting thing to have tried would be to get a air compressor and run the engine at the same 11psi without a turbo or charger, but an external air source to see what 11psi and no restrictions of spinning up the turbo would be.
Thanks Richard, great product review / comparison. One question I have is price vs longevity.
Exactly. It was no surprise that tubular headers make more power, but they are nowhere near as durable as cast manifolds in a turbo setup.
Hey Richard, have you ever tested a turbo manifold vs a regular manifold (or headers), on a naturally aspirated engine? I think it would be interesting to see how much power the turbo manifold gives up, just so you can install a turbo.
More back pressure reduces air flow through engine due to less favourable pressure ratios and also causes higher pumping losses as piston works harder to push the exhaust out
Well done, and would not have guessed this
I wonder if exhaust overlap has an effect. Would the air charge be more diluted at a given back pressure figure if theres more cam overlap?
Im going to have to watch the turbo comparison video again. Not as apples to apples as it adds the compressor variable.
Would love to see this with equal length headers
Great vid showing how back pressure is not a good thing 👍. I knew it cost power and can hurt boost curves but I didn't know even that little bit of Bp could rob that much power. More air in=more air out=more air efficiently in = more air efficiently out = mo powa!
I have gone to a bigger sized AR and gained similar power with everything else being the same so I would say sure the power comes from the reduction in back pressure.
Yes again it’s an air pump more back pressure will effect flow be a good balance of both for high hp I think
Yes backpressure will affect power. Higher backpressure the lower the power due to it not moving the exhaust as it should, if it gets high enough you can lose power from it polluting the next combustion cycle because it can't scavage enough exhaust fast enough.
Only thing OTHER than back pressure (and lower VE because less of the gas is able to leave) I can think of is if there was some more heat transfer from turbine to compressor on the cast setup? That seems like a stretch though. Maybe faster turbine speed due to faster boost response also led to a higher efficiency/cooler charge and better VE too? That’s still a knock on back pressure effect though.
Higher back pressure big changes in scavenging is why the headers do a better job making hp. The runners for each cylinder is even length or close to it so scavenging is same.
I think it's a reasonable assumption to conclude that the change in horsepower difference is attributable to back pressure change. To me, it raises the question of does the back pressure make it harder for the piston push against the pressure, or does the pressure make it harder for the turbocharger to push the boost into the combustion chamber, or both?
When you run log style you have less manifold volume Wich works like a smaller turbine housing. That’s y tubular headers make these changes back to back.
You can stay log and run a much larger turbine housing and will spool faster make more power and torque below the curve and also the same or more total hp
I Did No Expect That Much Change In Back Pressure! Then I Thought Maybe The Greater Back Pressure Would Mean Greater Spool For The Hooker But It Clearly Did Not. And You Would Think 2 Wastages Would Bleed Off A Little Bit Of Pressure During Spool Up. This Makes Me Think It's Directly Related To The Wastage Amount / Sizing Change. You Figure At Full Song The Configuration With 2 Wastages Wide Open Is Allowing More Exhasut Flow Out The Engine Then Forcing It Though 1 Gate And The Turbo. I Know Diesel Guys Say Adding A Wastage In Some Instances Adds Power Becasue It Allows Some Exhasut To Flow Out While Turbo Still Makes The Same Amount Of Boost. Like It Becomes A Higher Ratio Turbine Housing WOT Full Boost When Gate Opens Allowing Greater Exhasut Flow.
If power is relative to flow and restriction is contrary to flow. It stands to reason that any restrictions to flow will restrict power. The tubular system just plain flows better.
I think the answer is pretty clear, back pressure absolutely kills power (given the same boost). If it does it NA, it does it under boost! Another thing to consider, if this engine was on pump gas, more back pressure will make the engine more sensitive to knock, leading to the tuneup requiring less timing and of course killing power potential. I'd be curious to see pressures at the port/runner vs pressure at the turbine as well as pressure in one bank vs the other. Now the real question is, if you put long tubes on an engine with collector extensions, and put the turbos there? Does it gain power? My logic says yes, although it would be ridiculously impractical to package.
Hellion systems do this and some people with pickups put the turbos in the bed - it works!
@@BLKMGK4 Well yeah, there's lots of rear mount setups. I'd be more interested to see a test that's more back to back like you could do on a dyno, really isolate variables.
You had double the outlet for the wastegate. Thus less backpressure. Need to plug the second wastegate and see if the results are still less backpressure and more power.
Less backpressure means more scavenging, which equals more air and fuel in the cylinder. That equals more power.
Doesn’t it also require more horsepower for the engine to pump exhaust gases out at 21 psi compared to 15 psi?
I'm with you, but honestly, I can run a high amount AC with that hooker, and I'm not in a point race in NHRA, can't afford to or need to be the fastest guy in the whole world, and last but not least a thousand horsepower turbo is going to make ...a thousand horsepower, my friends would laugh if they heard me say don't overthink it. I haven't missed one of Richard's videos, some of them I watch ... a few times. Damn those hooker manifolds are overpriced though.
the waste gates don't determine back pressure-they regulate boost
So for some reason with the hooker manifolds it required 21 psi of back pressure to make the same boost as the tubular headers made with 15 psi of back pressure. Doesn’t that just mean that the cast manifolds just don’t flow as well?
@@richardholdener1727 could have ran the tubulars with one gate, just to compare points on the graph that happen to be the same boost pressure and see what happens
Thanks Richard! I am curious whether the higher B/P was a function of the Hooker casting restrictions or waste gate (WG) size? Could a "Y" pipe & flange replace the single WG, then 2 WG's be installed on the branches of the "Y" to see if B/P would significantly drop with the increase in "window" of 2 WG's. Any thoughts Mr. R. H.?
How smooth are the internal castings of the Hooker manifolds? Has anyone tried porting or Extrude Honing? Thanks, Paul from S. Central Tx.
Headers were more efficient at flow. Like you say boost is relative. Air in and air out equals efficiency and power. Take your cake and eat it too. Fun test. Wish the hookers flowed better they're a slick setup. Curious how long tubes would compare to the short tube headers. Also curious if scavenging is still a thing with turbo or if it's mainly flow restriction. And if a collector extension pre turbo would make any change as well. I supose the y pipe counts as a collector extension tho. 😂 As always thanks for your efforts and keep up the good work!
I think the higher backpressure creates lower HP levels through charge dilution. The less backpressure, the more spent gasses you can get out of the cylinder, letting more of a fresh charge in.
I also think the Hooker system is a great system for a street bound Turbo LS set up. It's much easier to package in a street car. Now if you're running at the track, and looking for all the horse powers, then you would want the tubular, but in a race car you're less worried about how it looks, cutting the car up to fit it, etc.
One thing I wonder though, if you plumbed both into a full street exhaust system, how much would that of leveled the playing field for this test?
What A/R exhaust housing was that Precision turbo? .81 or .96 ?
Yes, more back pressure is the reason for less power
Strsight from schoolbook: if you are for some reason limited to some certain turbo (class rules etc.) that is not perfect for your combination, then use pulsetuned exhaust. If you can use a turbo that gets lower backpressure than boost then use as compact manifold as possible to get all the exhaust energy to turbine.
This guy always has bad turbo match that makes more backpressure than boost. 76/75 never works well, compressor too big for turbine. And 76mm compressor is +1100 hp turbo so lots of wastegating that drops turbine efficiency and makes boost/backpressure ratio worse.
It is obvious that the tube headers are a more efficient design. You mentioned that the tube headers had two wastegates and the manifolds had one. If the manifolds had a second wastegate installed in the cross-over pipe, would this reduce back pressure some and bring the HP closer to that of the headers? There are two advantages that I think the manifolds should have, one is reliability, two the exhaust should retain more heat for better turbocharger function. But I realize that these two advantages may not overcome the flow advantages of the headers.
Did the log manifold need less fuel per boost pressure than the tubular? Is there a direct correlation between fueling and back pressure? Also with less back pressure, can you run more or less timing?
I have those hooker manifolds and I can tell you that I’ve gone through 2 passenger side gaskets at only 17pounds of boost. Still wouldn’t say they are bad the car made good power and was a blast to drive just don’t expect high boost out of them.
I with you Mr Holdner. I think the extra back pressure cost hp.
One interesting comparison may be spool time, if the Hooker manifolds get a turbo moving from idle quicker (IE: gaslight stomp).
It will largely depend on the total exhaust system's volume, and a bit on how much heat is lost. You can size the x-over on the Hooker much smaller than you typically see (2-2.25") and quite possibly have better transient response. The headers also have much more surface area to lose heat, which Richard has shown will slow turbo response.
@@hydrocarbon82 The cast will get hotter and hold way more heat then stainless tubular. Think of a cast iron skillet.
Richard, you're using a Holley EFI for the tests right? Why not grab a couple of MAC valves to get turbo control? Once you got the PID figured out you could probably use one of these to really get some some consistent boost levels when testing so long as the wastegates had enough authority. Couold even use shop air to better control it by adding pressure on the gate. Keeping the boost level even would really help on tests like this I think. Wish there was an easy way to measure the CFM into the intke too.
Great video and comparison. I'm curious what the heat differential was between the two exhausts closest to the turbine wheel. Possibly the cast iron sapping more heat versus the header transporting more heat to the turbine? Temp probe would be great to debunk that being that heat and pressure are relative.
THE REVERSE WOULD BE TRUE FOR HEAT
I'd also be curious to see the EGT differential between each setup, given that PV=nRT with more back pressure EGT should also rise I would think as long as timing, a/f, etc. stays consistent. Great video Richard!
Richard have you seen the newer Summit LS manifold? It's a true divided manifold with two wastegate locations. May be a good compromise.
Interesting!
Not in price
Ok. Correct me off I’m not dissecting this test properly. The reason the tubular headers produce more hp is because of the exhaust tubes are not in conflict with the exhaust flow except at the end of the manifold but they are directed freely through a pipe. The hooker headers are in flow conflict right at the beginning and creating flow problems. Stock manifolds would be better than the hooker headers?? Something to wonder. !! Thanks Richard!!
Fun video. I’m a bit confused about the back-pressure. Was it measured nearer to the head or nearer to the turbo? Ideally we would measure it at both places to evaluate the exhaust manifolds. Higher back-pressure should result in higher cylinder pressure when the intake valve opens. This is going to resist flow and reduce the total mass of air going in, or lower volumetric efficiency. The dyno doesn’t lie, there is less torque, so less air and fuel, assuming something else is not stealing power.
It looked like he had a tube right under the turbine inlet, so it was the pressure driving the turbo in these tests, not the pressure at the ports.
Why weren't you using your electronic boost controller? I still loved the test. Restriction/inefficiency is seen by the back pressure developed. I really like the design of the Hooker setup. Hopefully they will create a larger higher flowing version.
Yeah, he has an aftermarket EFDI and I thought he got an electronic controller that stood alone as well. Badly needed for this test :(
Awesome Tech! Thanks Richard!
That’s a lot higher back pressure than I expected! maybe they aren’t as pretty on the inside lol but my guess the gate is probably the biggest problem and log manifold design’s in general can see some nasty high pressure points. how smooth is the flow to the single gate? I can’t imagine it’s dead consistent
it would be interesting to see what it would be if you stuck a extra gate on the cross over of the hooker set up . but no back pressure results in bad turbo lag so the right size header and cross over is important.
Hey I was thinking it would be interesting to see a comparison between a self tuning/learning system with just basic input like you can do in your garage vs a Dyno tune
I would love to see how the cast turbo manifolds like the Summit offering stack up here.
I can only think this is directly related to pumping losses and the ability to effectively evacuate the combustion chamber. I wonder if less exhaust lobe timing would be better on the hooker setup
Of course the back pressure is going to affect horsepower. Back pressure is going to apply downward pressure on the piston as it moves through the exhaust stroke. While some back pressure is desirable for street vehicles to suppress backfires and will produce more mid range torque, on the track both of these benefits are less attractive in relation to overall horsepower.
Seems to me they both controlled boost fine but the headers got up to pressure much faster and with much less restriction. More of the kinetic energy got to the turbo to spin it harder instead of turning into heat and pressure
Great info! Great content, thank you!
Any guess of how much more a natural aspirated aluminum headed BB Chevy would weight vs a single turbo inter cooled cast block LS package??
Not sure
Adding a second wastegate on the crossover of the Hooker setup might drop the back pressure quite a bit.
Boost pressure is the same, only differences are the manifolds. Then higher HP manifold has greater efficiency, as the Turbo exhaust housing should be the most restriction in the exhaust path. And back pressure was measured at turbo flange. Therefore the Hooker headers have a design fault somewhere, my guess would where the 2 banks merge into one.
Would the back pressure on the manifolds come down if you were to make a bypass pipe parallel to the passenger side manifold. So the merge on the passenger manifold would not be a factor anymore
Wow .... Great info. It would be neat to see if the cfm was the same on both from 6 to 6.5?
30hp hot air pump/compressor can't help the VE of a motor. the extra 3ft of exhaust path and bends would surely change the resonance and flow of each bank and therefore distribution.
humble testing ideas
-either a big and small gate on the same system in the same place (or 2 in the same place, 1 locked out, then both) does it make an efficiency difference in the zone before boost creep becomes an issue. -does having the gates closer to the ports let the merge pipe cool slowing spool.
It takes power to compress the gasses, so it makes sense to me that you lost power. The backpressure was evidence of wasted energy expenditure. I am curious if a hot side turbine change could help reduce that at all? In other words how much tuning can we find in the hot side without killing response to compensate for less than ideal mechanical limits like exhaust routing.
I think the lost hp could have been caused by the pumping loss of the piston pushing the exhaust out of the engine due to higher back pressure. But that is a pretty obvious reason so maybe I'm wrong.
Sooooo. We have always said "just get all the exhaust to the turbo". S log manifold does that. I've Lay's said that if headers make sense N/a, they make sense boosted. So maybe improved scanning is resulting in less backpressure. Help me here