Would these be any good for my 450?
Discussion
Hmm, I'm a cynic by nature but...
If it was that easy to get more power by just changing the headers to this design don't you think that TVR would have designed the headers like this in the first place? After all, they did design the exhaust specifically for the wedge.
Assuming the claims made are correct (Ass, you, me etc) - pure max power figures tell you very little about the performance of the car on the road. It's pretty easy to optimise the power output of an engine at one specific rpm (ie max power) but a totally different thing to get a good spread of power through the engine speed of the engine; that's where the expertise of engine tuning generally really lies. Just changing the exhaust will not give you anything (and may take power away) unless you optimise everything else to match it.
And it's torque that accelerates a car not power, so it's very possible to have a car with a higher max power output but slower acceleration; because the torque available at the engine speeds that the car is passing though as it accelerates is lower than that from an engine that is optimised throughout the rev range.
Oh and another thing... Back pressure (pressure loss) in a pipe that has bends of a radius twice the diameter of the pipe are very low so bends are OK; pressure losses through sudden changes in cross sectional area are much larger in comparison (4 into 1 collector anyone?).
Don't do it!!
I'll get down off my soap box now...
If it was that easy to get more power by just changing the headers to this design don't you think that TVR would have designed the headers like this in the first place? After all, they did design the exhaust specifically for the wedge.
Assuming the claims made are correct (Ass, you, me etc) - pure max power figures tell you very little about the performance of the car on the road. It's pretty easy to optimise the power output of an engine at one specific rpm (ie max power) but a totally different thing to get a good spread of power through the engine speed of the engine; that's where the expertise of engine tuning generally really lies. Just changing the exhaust will not give you anything (and may take power away) unless you optimise everything else to match it.
And it's torque that accelerates a car not power, so it's very possible to have a car with a higher max power output but slower acceleration; because the torque available at the engine speeds that the car is passing though as it accelerates is lower than that from an engine that is optimised throughout the rev range.
Oh and another thing... Back pressure (pressure loss) in a pipe that has bends of a radius twice the diameter of the pipe are very low so bends are OK; pressure losses through sudden changes in cross sectional area are much larger in comparison (4 into 1 collector anyone?).
Don't do it!!
I'll get down off my soap box now...
Good headers CAN gain a lot over stock, but the wedge headers are already low-production and especially for the "tuned" V8 engined wedges the manifold is already pretty good. It might well result in some gains but the photo and description are extremely vague! Todays technologies and insight into exhaust flow characteristics do mean you can gain significantly if they were well made.
The Hatter said:
Hmm, I'm a cynic by nature but...
If it was that easy to get more power by just changing the headers to this design don't you think that TVR would have designed the headers like this in the first place? After all, they did design the exhaust specifically for the wedge.
Don't do it!!
I'll get down off my soap box now...
Yea yea yea. The headers that came from my 450 and Blaine fitted to his 400 were ( coincidently ) custom made by a Porsche racing team so you may think that they did know a bit about exhausts, they did indeed show a noticeable increase in torque and bhp. From memory Blaines 400 made 260 + punching well above its weight. TVR while trying to optimize power would also need to consider costs and fitted basically the same exhaust to all sorts of Wedges 350 400 450, how can one exhaust system be the optimum for all these models? I cannot say that these headers are going to do the trick but if you want to know what 4 into 1 headers CAN achieve ask somebody who knows and has had his faced pulled off driving a big Wedge fitted with a modified system. If it was that easy to get more power by just changing the headers to this design don't you think that TVR would have designed the headers like this in the first place? After all, they did design the exhaust specifically for the wedge.
Don't do it!!
I'll get down off my soap box now...
Edited by BadRed on Saturday 28th January 07:33
BadRed said:
Blaine had a set of 4 into 1s which I gave to him on his 400, on the rolling road it did make very good numbers, they did hang a little low under the car. Rev is / was / did make a set for his seac, not sure how far he got. ( pity the seller cant spell 
)
Hi Darren - hope your are doing OK .. not supplied anyone with any concrete wellies lately. ) The TVR designed exhausts are a compromise on price / power .. probably in that order.
Idea pipe diameter is 1 1/2 inch .. no need to go bigger unless you have a genuine 300+bhp as you will only lose low down power.
Sure you can you do better - sure .. 4 into one is good but getting all those pipes into a small space is very difficult.
Here is a picture of 'Blaines' 4 into ones..
Mine are on the car but I dont have any pictures of the underside clearance .. will take some over the weekend.
rev-erend said:
Concrete Wellies DIY kit still available by special order along with a new line of Concrete Necklaces and Millinery, I have withdrawn the underwear range as I could not get the gusset right. I am working on a concrete breast implant as I believe there is a gap in the market. The concrete condoms are not selling at all well, may have to do a BOGOF
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