• Shortie and long-tube headers will help eliminate back pressure  

   A definitive part of being a muscle or sports car is the exhaust's tone that they produce. Corvette is no exception to this rule and have their own distinct tone. The purpose of this article is to describe the components that create the exhaust system. From the factory all Corvettes come with an exhaust manifold. Most replacements are known as shortie and long-tube headers. The difference between a factory manifold and a header is in the design. Headers give each cylinder of the motor its own exhaust port to release the gases which are then joined in the collector, while a manifold has multiple cylinders sharing a larger collector. On the surface this seems like the manifold would create more power because it has a larger port, but this actually creates excess back pressure and hinders performance. A good way to think about back pressure is as a form of turbulence in the exhaust pipes where the gases get turned in the wrong direction and hinder other gases from escaping.

The issue of back pressure affects the entire exhaust system and both shortie and long-tube headers will help eliminate this. Shortie headers have individual ports for each cylinder but have their collector within a short distance from the exhaust port, hence its name. The long-tube headers as you might expect have the individual ports for each cylinder but the collector is located further away from the exhaust port on the cylinder headers. This results in less back pressure because each exhaust port gets to flow freely from the cylinder head without interference from the other exhaust ports for a longer period of time. This is why upgrading from the stock manifold to a shortie or long-tube header for your Corvette will release lost horsepower that your bow-tie was being robbed of. Carrying this throughout your entire exhaust system will net a fair gain in power over your stock exhaust system.