Interesting how much the longer collecters (?) filled in the the lower end torque numbers. BIG difference there. Almost unnoticeable on the top end.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Ted

Thanks for the information, This is the best real world info that I have read about header design.  Theory on paper and actual number sometimes are far apart. Thanks for taking the time to establish easy to understand data. And yes graphs are wonderful!

Gary Ryan San Antonio.TX.

From what I've read, I don't think tri-y's are exactly a myth, but they also aren't exactly a truth. What it boils down to is if the person designing and building them knows what he is doing, they will provide the desired result... but the same can be said of 4 into 1s. Either way you go, with the proper design, it can outshine everything else on the market.


Lawrenceville, GA

Pete. Here’s the graph showing the torque curves for the firing order specific Tri-Y headers as tested in some of the various configurations. Although I didn’t overlay the graphs, you can look at the previous graph and see where the Sanderson Thunderbird headers start out at a higher torque value at the lowend of the test range than the TriY headers. I had tested the Tri-Y’s in the past without any collectors or exhaust and they were down significantly on peak torque numbers but playing with different length pipes behind any of the systems tested changed up the torque curves quite a bit. The TriY headers with the right length pipes did okay but I wouldn’t say they were leaps and bounds better than anything else tested. Score wise, they were still slightly less than both the Sanderson Thunderbird and Sanderson pickup headers with all else being equal.

Here’s a link to a previous test where the TriY headers were tested without pipes or mufflers and compared to the Reds Headers and the EMC headers on another engine.

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic51444-3-1.aspx

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Gary.  The listed score on the chart represents the best score of the various configurations for a particular exhaust system that was tested.  In the case of the Sanderson Thunderbird headers there were eleven different configurations tested.  Four with 2” dia exhaust pipes, four with 2¼“ dia exhaust pipes, and three configurations tested with 2½“ exhaust pipes.  In this particular exhaust test the Sanderson Thunderbird headers were not run directly out of the end of the header collectors simply because that scenario would not be seen in the real world.  Because of the testing with the three different diameter lead pipes, the Sanderson TBird headers are listed as three separate categories on the chart.   This allowed the best score for each size of pipe to be displayed.  Going back through the data, here’s a chart showing the torque curves for the Sanderson headers with 2¼“ lead pipes of varying lengths.  You just gotta love graphs as they give a very good overview visually that just cannot be achieved when using charts but by the same token, the graphs can get very busy quickly.

 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted, If your not too tired of answering foolish questions then I have one more. I have always heard that try-Ys produced more torque at lower RPM than conventional Hedders. And therefore were better for street driving in a car with an automatic. Did your test show this to be a fact or just another urban myth. Enquiring minds want to know. Thanks Pete

Ted

 Sanderson should send you some R & D money.  I would never have thought the torque numbers on the t-bird headers would be that high. I would never considered them if not for your dyno numbers. Did you try any extensions on them to see if the torque picked up any? Thanks for your dedication to the Y-block, it takes alot of guessing out of what works.

Gary Ryan San Antonio.TX.

Good grief Ted! You must be exhausted!! It's very interesting  to see what actually works and what turns out to be "old Wives tales."  Red's headers look like a copy of my Hedmans, and everbody said they didn't work. Guess everbody knew what he was talking about.......for this time, anyway.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

More pics

  Fenderwell headers 1.75” tubes - MW

  Fenderwell headers 1.625” tubes

  KC 4 tube Maxton Mile 1 5/8” headers

  EMC headers 1.75”/1.875” stepped


  Jardine small tube headers

  Unequal length 'by design' tubes


Jon Kaase EMC headers

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

More pics

 Sanderson 1½” T-Bird headers

 JC 4 tube car chassis shorty headers

 Tri-Y pickup headers firing order specific-CC

 Sanderson 1½” Pickup headers


  Reds four tube headers

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)