Thread: D2 Dual Exhaust Sizing

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

Back-pressure is an urban myth.

So pulsed scavenge tuning and exhaust/inlet harmonic tuning doesn't exist? There isn't a need to manage your inlet trumet lengths and plenum volume/tape to suit your inlets reversion harmonics? Different exhaust design (length/joining pattern (4-2-1 or 4-1) doesnt have an effect, nor does desinging the 4-1 collector taper joint or putting your pipes into the collector in order of firing to create a vaccum and have a scavenge effect on the next pipe to fire?

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

Back-pressure is an urban myth. - Cannot disagree more! I'd like to see all of those turbo owners trying to get moving without any back pessure.

For a 4L LR there is no need for any more than 1 and 3/4 with duals,, - Cannot agree more!


however,,,

a vid after installation will still be listened to,,

more 2 centsers added.

"THE MYTH OF BACKPRESSURE"

…is probably the most widely misunderstood concept in engine tuning. IMO, the reason this concept is so hard to get around lies in the engineering terms surrounding gas flow. Here's the most impotant ones you need to be aware of to understand the things I'm about to say:

BACKPRESSURE: Resistance to air flow; usually stated in inches H2O or PSI.
DELTA PRESSURE (aka delta P): Describes the pressure drop through a component and is the difference in pressure between two points.

One other concept needs to be covered too, and that's the idea of air pressure vs. velocity. When a moving air column picks up speed, one of the weird things that happens is it’s pressure drops. So remember through all this that the higher the air velocity for a given volume of gas, the lower it's internal pressure becomes. And remember throughout all of this that I’m no mechanical engineer, simply an enthusiast who done all the reading he can. I don’t claim that this information is the absolute truth, just that it makes sense in my eyes.

Ok, so as you can see, backpressure is actually defined as the resistance to flow. So how can backpressure help power production at any RPM? IT CAN'T. I think the reason people began to think that pressure was in important thing to have at low RPM is because of the term delta pressure. Delta pressure is what you need to produce good power at any RPM, which means that you need to have a pressure DROP when measuring pressures from the cylinder to the exhaust tract (the term "pressure" is what I think continually confuses things). The larger the delta P measurement is, the higher this pressure drop becomes. And as earlier stated, you can understand that this pressure drop means the exhaust gas velocity is increasing as it travels from the cylinder to the exhaust system. Put simply, the higher the delta P value, the faster the exhaust gasses end up traveling. So what does all this mean? It means that it's important to have gas velocity reach a certain point in order to have good power production at any RPM (traditional engine techs sited 240 ft/sec as the magic number, but this is likely outdated by now).

The effect of having larger exhaust pipe diameters (in the primary, secondary, collector and cat-back exhaust tubes) has a direct effect on gas velocity and therefore delta P (as well as backpressure levels). The larger the exhaust diameter, the slower the exhaust gasses end up going for a given amount of airflow. Now the ***** of all this tech is that one exhaust size will not work over a large RPM range, so we are left with trying to find the best compromise in sizing for good low RPM velocity without hindering higher RPM flow ability. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that an engine flows a whole lot more air at 6000 RPM than at 1000 RPM, and so it also makes sense that one single pipe diameter isn't going to acheive optiaml gas velocity and pressure at both these RPM points, given the need to flow such varying volumes.

These concepts are why larger exhaust piping works well for high RPM power but hurts low RPM power; becuase is hurts gas velocity and therefore delta P at low RPM. At higher RPM however, the larger piping lets the engine breath well without having the exhuast gasses get bundled up in the system, which would produce high levels of backpressure and therefore hurt flow. Remember, managing airflow in engines is mainly about three things; maintaining laminar flow and good charge velocity, and doing both of those with varying volumes of air. Ok, so now that all this has been explained, let's cover one last concept (sorry this is getting so long, but it takes time to explain things in straight text!).

This last concept is why low velocity gas flow and backpressure hurt power production. Understand that during the exhaust stroke of a 4 stroke engine, it's not only important to get as much of the spent air/fuel mixture out of the chamber (to make room for the unburnt mixture in the intake system), it's also important that these exhaust gasses never turn around and start flowing back into the cylinder. Why would this happen? Because of valve overlap, that's why. At the end of the exhaust stroke, not only does the piston start moving back down the bore to ingest the fresh mixture, but the intake valve also opens to expose the fresh air charge to this event. In modern automotive 4 stroke engines valve overlap occurs at all RPM, so for a short period of time the exhaust system is open to these low pressure influences which can suck things back towards the cylinder. if the exhaust gas velocity is low and pressure is high in the system, this will make everything turn around and go the opposite direction it's supposed to. If these gasses reach the cylinder they will dilute the incoming mixture with unburnable gasses and take up valuable space within the combustion chamber, thus lowering power output (and potentially pushing the intake charge temp beyond the fuel’s knock resistance). So having good velocity and therefore low pressure in the system is absolutely imperative to good power production at any RPM, you just have to remember that these concepts are also dependent on total flow volume. The overall volume of flow is important because it is entirely possible to have both high velocity and high pressure in the system, if there is simply not enough exhaust piping to handle the needed airflow.

It’s all about finding a compromise to work at both high and low RPM on most cars, but that’s a bit beyond the scope of this post. All I am trying to show here is how the term backpressure is in reference to a bad exhaust system, not one that creates good low RPM torque. You can just as easily have backpressure at low RPM too, which would also hurt low RPM cylinder scavenging and increase the potential for gas reversion. And understand that these tuning concepts will also affect cam timing, though that is again probably beyond the scope of this post."

At the end of the exhaust stroke, not only does the piston start moving back down the bore to ingest the fresh mixture, but the intake valve also opens to expose the fresh air charge to this event. In modern automotive 4 stroke engines valve overlap occurs at all RPM, so for a short period of time the exhaust system is open to these low pressure influences which can suck things back towards the cylinder. if the exhaust gas velocity is low and pressure is high in the system, this will make everything turn around and go the opposite direction it's supposed to.

This is the concept of designing your headers/extractors better than ever to reduce reversion while maximising the potential scavenge effects. If you look at off the shaf designs the sequence that the pipes connect at the collector(s) is usually whatever fits the simpest. Tuned or even matched length pipes are a distant 2nd and worrying about what the join inside the collector looks like is about a contemplated as marrying your cousin who weighs 300lbs and looks like me even though she inherited all of Packers wealth.

The last pair of 4-1 collectors I made took around 30 hours to cut and finish, another 15 hours of welding then another 20 hours of hand finishing before pulse flow testing and changing slightly. The actual headers took over 100 mandrel bends cut up to fit available space, be the right tuned/matched lengths and still be able to be volted on. As it is over half the fitting bolts on each suide are retained bu the tubes passing infront of the bolt holes so you need to hold in place while someone screws the bolts in a bit at a time as none will fit completely in without twisting it and preventing you fitting other bolts.


The top end



And the pipes

Hey Chris,
Have you got any further with your investigations/purchase? I'm looking for extractors and system for the D1!

Related but not on topic but should we start up a Rover V8 sound file depository thread for low rev, high torque RV8 such as those in Rangies, Discoveries etc?