Gurgling and popping on decel is the product of unburnt fuel due to a poor scavenging of the cylinders on the exhaust stroke of a street car… Many Wanna-be's want to emulate that decel sound of a fuel rich mixture of Professional road course cars. The latter is a necessity ( a tune ) of a car that is pushing the limits of braking and acceleration., ON a street car, it is a complete waste of fuel economy and performance. Getting each cylinder completely purged of any exhaust gases and pull a vacuum on each cylinder as the intake vavle opens , allows for a full " Load " fuel mixture, increasing performance and fuel economy...

Bill aka ET

 

I assume Bill the XPipe does this?

 

d extraction of exhaust gases because the back [ An X Pipe is much better at doing this. An X pipe adds balanced extraction of exhaust pulses, pulling equal and balanced pressure from both banks of cylinders as each exhaust valve opens. The more scavenging that can be produced by the exhaust system , the more ( pull or draw ) will occur.to efficiently remove " all " of the exhaust gases that remain in the combustion chamber .
...

 

I value you input greatly but I have my doubts an X-pipe solves a rich condition.
I can tell you this though, an X-pipe installed on my 02 eliminated those sounds.

 

I never once said it corrects a rich mixture... ( Reading and comprehension )… I said it helps to extract unburnt fuel remaining in the combustion chamber on deceleration. which is not corrected with fuel trims. I never once mentioned anything about a rich mixture other than my reference to Professional race cars like Formula 1 cars who run richer. and notably pop and gurgle on decel in a tight corner with flames and all that fan boy stuff, that some street urchins like... The point being, popping in the exhaust pipe on a street car is due to unburnt fuel lingering. Savaging is like using a syphon or a venturi flow to draw " All the exhaust from the cylinders.
I hope I have restored your faith LOL. go back and read what I said in the other post..
Bill aka ET.

 

There is a reason the top header companies package includes an X pipe.I will trust their research.My stock 04 Z06 with ARH headers,X pipe and hi flow cats with stock Ti cat back sounds just fine.Low rumble at idle and loud but not ridiculous when you nail it. Best part no drone.

 

Engine Masters did an episode about this, but now they are all paid subscription on Motor trend on demand..>BUT...I found the H pipe vs X Pipe shootout episode on another video site. Check it out

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5s8nr8

 

When you write "savaging", I assume you mean "scavenging"??? As for cars that pop and gurgle on decal, please further explain your remark that "some street urchins" like it, as, without further explanation from you, it seems like a non sequitur. Smacks of an air of superiority or haughtiness, don't you think? Plenty of car enthusiasts in my local car clubs, including me, appreciate an aggressive, masculine pop, gurgle, etc. I make no apologies for that. At age 55, I am no "street urchin", and, though I am no youngster, I am proud to own a 630 HP supercharged C5 and another C5 with a 521 horsepower iron block LQ4 408 stroker engine straight piped out to Borla XS mufflers. Fast, loud, and heavily modified rocks my world.

 

VERY good video and should answer everyones questions. For me bc I have no idea what is on my C5 yet, what ever is there will remain and I will spend the $400 for an X Pipe on something else if I don't have one. YMMV

 

That video is only a small part of how we all actually use our cars... those tests are just a straight pull up to peak horse power and torque. You did not see any testing where the motor was accelerated and decelerated over an hour or so... " Normal street driving and aggressive street driving.".. There are very few professional road racers here.. While at a full Pull, the Xpipe show an edge, it is even more advantageous under normal Corvette Street use with an assortment of driving styles from Mild to aggressive.. Bythe way THAT H-pipe in the video that came close to an X pipe, was skewed in that the Cross pipe was 2 feet long and internally it was 2.5 inches as stated .You have to understand exhaust systems to see these little nuances that effect a real life situation. The H pipe in a First gen C5 was the size of a dime not 2.5 inches... in 2000 they opened that cross pipe up to 1.250 in. Some people Think straight pips are best but in reality they are living in the 60's. from a technology point of view.

Some street urchins " Think " Street urchine " ( those who might point out a type-o to somehow try to make a point … fairly sad in my opinion. not having the ability to recognize a type-o)
that running 3 inch pipes are better than running 2.5 inch pipes.. it only shows their lack of real automotive knowledge,, while some Big cube motors can benefit by 3 inch pipes , most Corvettes would lose from this choice. Bigger is not always better, Take 20 inch wheels... Some like them but the real problem is not the wheel, ( well it is if they are cheap and you want to avoid bending them ) its the tire. Given a 20 inch wheel reduces the side wall of tire fitted for 20's on a Corvette, what is does is break down the road absorption factor.. in slow motion a 20 or 25 aspect ratio tire will bottom out to the rim on most post holes rail road tracks and road hazards... leaving the wheel extremely susceptible to being bent. Running cheap wheels with 20 or 25 aspect ratio tires is formula for disaster.Everything is a trade off.

Some people like aesthetics and other like functionality.. Its a smart man who will recognize what the trade off actually is. People who choose 60's automotive technology are living in the past, the ancient past when it come to todays technology. Straight pipes are laughable from all of todays automotive engineers. OH and I forgot to mention, there are those out there who think their liberal arts, degree, or shade tree degree can qualify them to over achieve a professional automotive engineer. There are lots of them here. these guys think they know something, and have no test data or equipment to back up anything they do. Guys running 650 hp with straight pipe could do much better with a real exhaust system. The bottom line here is what ever makes you happy is ok with me.. but the facts are the facts.. understanding what is being presented requires some advanced knowledge in the subject.. Ive been doing this for 40 years and did not get my two degree from under an Oak tree.

The information I give here freely is not meant to be argumentative. Its just meant to be informative with the option to take it or leave it.. I will happily discuss any differences of option in Private message..
I hope my information is valuable to some members here as it has been over the last 18 years.
Bill aka ET

 

That's all fine and dandy if you feel that way, as long as you don't think it gives you super hero powers, and think you're going to blow the doors off of everything on the road because you have an X pipe. It's simply just not the case. I also find it interesting as you note that almost all Corvette exhausts are packaged with an X pipe. I personally don't think it's a power thing. I think it's a popping on decel thing.

 

I love that show. I've seen every episode often times multiple times.

I will say if I were to have a minor knit pick on that particular comparison, I'd be curious to know how much exhaust leaks there were just scabbing the H and x into their makeshift exhaust system. Tek Screws just don't cut it. I'm guessing there's some pretty gnarly leaks there. Maybe affected the numbers, maybe not?

 

Maybe, but not worth $400 to me.

 

X-pipes have been proven and documented to be superior to h-pipes for at least 20 years now, but there always seems to be people who continue to argue it? The only reason to go with an H over an X would be sound preference since some people don't like the smoothed out sound an x-pipe makes which I personally think sounds better, but to each his own I guess.

Steve

 

I put corsa extremes with the 4" tips on my 99 coupe about 3 months ago. Sounded Great. Last Tuesday I had new cats and a Borla X pipe installed. My vette mechanic has sound videos of my car factory to extremes then now. Borla with new cats after. My car sounds like the idle is a lower tone. It sounds WAWWWW BETTERRRR AT WOTTT
It also reduced the small cabin drone from the extremes.

 

I based my decision on the video. I can't argue with facts.

 

The video proves the only difference is sound and thats nothing but a preference. For 20 years we have had people swearing a CAI gives them 50 hp gains but we all know thats horse hockey. I have reservations about any claim of noticeable hp gains from either pipe over the other.

 

The video proved there is very little HP gain, at least not enough for me to cough up $400 for a X pipe. I did look under my C5 and I have an H pipe with BBE Bullets, the bullets will go and I'll buy something quieter and sound deaden my interior, call it a day and drive the vette next year or weather permitting.

 

 

FWIW the X-pipe showed up in NASCAR in 1991 when Rusty Wallace engine group added it to his car. They found out when they placed it on the engine dyno, immediately after the headers it added 6 hp to a 755 hp engine but increased the torque in certain high rpm ranges. Rusty was able to slowly pass most cars on the track at that time and ran about 6-8 races when he was involved in an accident at the summer Daytona event--he rolled upside several times. There was a picture take during one of the rolls that showed the x-pipe. Next race every NASCAR team added the X-pipe. Placing the X-pipe downstream on a Corvette will help flow, sound and cut-down back-flow of engine gasses but will not help hp.