When it comes to selecting the best exhaust headers for your engine, be it a classic muscle car, hot rod, or late model performance car or truck, the good news is that you’ll likely have plenty of options to choose from.
But that also poses a dilemma: With all those solid choices, how do you know which header design will work best for your particular car or truck?
Well friend, keep reading—we’ve got a handful of resources on the subject, and we’ll share them in links at the bottom of this article. In the meantime, we’ll discuss a few of the most popular header designs and configurations you’ll come across in your quest to upgrade your exhaust system.
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Common Exhaust Header Types
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1. 4-Into-1 Headers
Perhaps the most common header design is the standard 4-into-1 layout. This is where four primary tubes merge into a single collector. From there, it enters the rest of the exhaust system.
A good set of 4-into-1 exhaust headers lets the gasses from each cylinder pass down its own separate primary tube before mixing with the gasses from the other adjacent cylinders—in contrast to a typical stock exhaust manifold which begins mixing the exhaust gasses from each cylinder almost immediately.
This helps promote better flow, which ultimately results in improved performance.
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2. Tri-Y Headers
In contrast to a 4-into-1 design, Tri-Y headers are easily identified by the three Y-junctions created by first merging the four primaries into two slightly larger secondary pipes, then the final merge into a single collector. This essentially makes a 4-into-2-into-1 header.
The benefit here is improved flow, since the secondary pipes allow the exhaust gases to maintain a higher velocity for a longer period of time as they gradually merge into the collector. This enhanced exhaust flow typically results in a broader torque curve than 4-into-1 headers.
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3. Long-Tube Headers
Featuring extra long primary tubes that extend down into a single collector, you can consider a long-tube header a 4-into-1 design.
But the magic lies in the primary tube length, because each primary is specifically engineered to ensure the exhaust gasses merge together in precisely the right sequence. This helps produce more overall power than a stock manifold, specifically in the low- and mid-rpm ranges—right where most street-driven vehicles can use it the most. The longer primaries also reduce the chance of escaping gases getting drawn back into another pipe.
The downside is that these headers typically don’t fit with the rest of your vehicle’s stock exhaust system, and will most likely require a complementing aftermarket exhaust kit.
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4. Shorty Headers
Another take on the 4-into-1 layout are shorty headers. As you’d imagine, shorty headers feature four short primaries that dump into one short collector pipe.
The compact footprint makes shorty headers a popular option for tight engine bays. As an added bonus, many shorty header designs essentially bolt in place of the stock manifold, allowing you to easily connect it back up to the rest of the stock exhaust system.
Although shorty headers don’t always produce as much low- and mid-range power as full-length headers, they do provide significant power gains over stock manifolds and have the potential to produce higher rpm power gains.
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5. Block Hugger Headers
Taking the 4-into-1 shorty header design up a notch, “block hugger” headers came about by sheer necessity. While they have their origins back in the old hotrodding days, the idea of a slim header package that snugged up close to the engine to create a more compact overall package got new life in the modern era of engine swapping.
Since block hugger headers are, by their very nature, more compact than their shorty counterparts, you may give up some performance due to the requisite design compromises. Another drawback is that block hugger headers may require the modification or relocation of various engine mounts, brackets, and accessories—depending on your application, of course.
For this reason, many block hugger headers are sold by the specific vehicle fitment in addition to the engine application itself.
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5. “Lakester” or Lake-Style Headers
Though there is plenty of nuance with this specific header, the core element is the primary tubes extending straight out into a single funnel-style collector—a design common on early sprint cars.
Drivers often took those same sprint cars to race on the dry lakebeds of California in the 1930s, hence the Lakester name. Pretty soon after that, SoCal hotrodders hopped on the trend, and these Lake-style headers quickly became engrained in hot rod culture.
As alluded to above, there are some variations on these Lakester designs, some simply exit in a megaphone ahead of the doors, while some stretch all the way down the hot rod’s body. Still others feature a junction that feeds into a full exhaust system, allowing the megaphone to be capped and opened/closed as your eardrums, neighbors, or local law enforcement dictate.
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6. Zoomie Headers
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Zoomie headers. Though their use has waned lately, Zoomies are a fantastic throwback to hot rods of yesteryear. The Zoomie header origin story begins on the dragstrip, where the configuration was a practical solution to the unique layout of a contemporary front-engine dragster. The design evolved once Funny Cars arrived on the scene, and Zoomie headers were adapted to extend out from under the body shell.
As you’d imagine, their use on the racetrack inspired many gearheads to adopt Zoomies for their street-driven hot rods. Though they might not be the greatest fit for late-model musclecar, if you’re going for a rowdy nostalgia hot rod build, then a set of Zoomies is the way to go!
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A set of exhaust headers is a smart step on the path to bigger performance gains, and is the perfect complement to an air intake, cat-back exhaust, and high performance cylinder heads.
That said, performance exhaust technology is a complex, nuanced topic—so we’ve put together some more articles on related subjects to help you out. If you really want to go down the rabbit hole of exhaust system performance, give these posts a read too:
- Will These Exhaust Headers Fit my Vehicle?
- A Beginner’s Guide to Aftermarket Exhaust Systems
- How To Choose an Aftermarket Exhaust System
- An Introduction to Exhaust System Components
- How Does an Exhaust Pipe Affect Engine Performance?
- How Much Horsepower Does a Dual Exhaust Add?
- What is the Purpose of a Crossover Pipe on an Exhaust?
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