H-pipe?

[green1970]

i have a 1970 f-100 with a 302 thats been bored .030 over, edelbrock intake and carb, and flowmaster dual eshaust. i have a set of long tube headers to put on it also. with these headers, how much would an H-pipe benefit it??

thanks,
tyler

[mrtleavitt]

Probably not a whole lot. If it was me, I wouldn't bother with an "H" pipe. I wouldn't think about an "H" pipe until I was in the high 300's for horsepower. But if you plan on building the engine bigger in the future, you might as well dump the money in right now and be done with it.

[Fordlorn]

An H pipe always helps. It will help any engine, not just high performance engines. It helps even out exhaust pulses and adds a slight scavenging action to the exhaust. It has been proven to add low end torque and add upper rpm horsepower. Don't know how it does it since there is always a trade off to get one or the other. Put the H pipe on it. Everything I have ever owned with a V8 in it had one. You can actually tune your exhaust by changing the location of the H pipe as well by moving it forward and back. Most apps. put it at about 8-10" past the collectors. YMMV.

[BiggDogg]

From flowmastermufflers.com:

Do I need to install an "H" pipe to my dual exhaust?
Flowmaster strongly recommends using an "H" pipe, commonly known as a "balance tube" on all "true dual" exhaust systems. An "H" pipe equalizes the pressures between both banks of the engine giving a broader and flatter torque curve throughout the rpm range. It also eliminates "back-rap" common on deceleration, and creates a deeper mellower tone both inside and outside of the vehicle.

Is an "X" pipe better than and "H" pipe?
Over the years, Flowmaster's testing of all types of crossovers, including "X pipes", has revealed no substantial benefits over a properly installed "H" pipe on street driven applications. However, in race applications with small cubic inch engines and /or restricted (small bore) carburetors, will respond well to the addition of X pipes, tri-y styled collectors and/or properly designed single exhaust systems.

[Jake11]

It just makes it a little bit less noisy. No big power gains. If your gonna fab it yourself you might as well do it.
The theory is the pulses on one side collide and cancell the pulses on the other side.The Ford factory did it in the
60's, so it probably works. Can't hurt performance. But than I kinda like open hedders.

Jake

[Fordlorn]

"Open headers" "Mmmmmm" (Homer Simpsonesque)

[OldBluef100]

i agree with open headers...i drove with open for months and found it very fun...when i put exhaust on it was so wierd...