The Skinny on Exhaust

Summary: A basic view of stock vs. performance exhaust and explanation of how it works and how it can benefit.

So let's imagine that you and your significant other just finished a bottle of wine... Now take a look at the bottle and let's imagine that the more part under the skinny neck (you not the bigger part) is the motor of an engine. Now you see all that air stored in the bottom part of the bottle, that's engine exhaust. Well what are you waiting for, take all that air that the engine has and push out the thin little neck. That is what the engine is trying to do every time one revolution of the engine goes through and then your engine is idling at 2,000 rpm. Yes that is revolutions per minute. I was trying to get a point across and I don't know if I did. For every one revolution your engine goes through, it takes air and fuel, ignites it and the left over, carbon dioxide, is expelled. So as a professional in the field of performance accessories, I can say: A stock exhaust is not made for optimal performance. Well you can't really blame the automobile producers. They have to worry about noise and pollution (which are mandatory by laws); cost of producing millions of each individual component, the list is endless. So the answer is a better performing exhaust by a reputable company. Now let's say that you take that bottle of wine we were talking about previously and put an imaginary performance "muffler" at the end. Well you got the exhaust sounding pretty good, but there is still bottle neck (no pun intended) in the process. You can expect to get a couple of HP (horsepower) on to your auto or truck but without widening up all of the exhaust, you really won't get a measurable increase in power. At least not one you will feel when you mash down on the gas, not that we do that in public streets Mr. Police. Now this is really a small portion of performance and in particular exhaust systems. In reality we can write full books on these and there are. So if you want to dig deeper into this you should get a hold of a reputable performance oriented shop and ask, ask, ask. Especially since everyone has their own opinion. At Spool Motorsports.com we are always happy to answer questions, give advice and sell you the best products for your auto or truck... just give us a shout.