Topic: "Headers" or.."head-pipes"??

[Ichiban 4]

Here's an interesting question that comes to me in reading some threads on this website: Most seem to call the head pipes on their bikes "headers"..even when they're connected to pipes/mufflers further down the line.

Maybe I'm showing my age here..but we always called headers (in fact most my age still do)..the pipes coming directly out of the head/exhaust ports but WITHOUT mufflers.  In other words..to us old timers..headers are straight pipes open directly to the outside without mufflers..baffles..restriction of any kind.

If the pipes connect to a muffler..et al..then we refer to them as HEAD PIPES..rather than headers.  I believe that most hot-rodders..still use the header/head pipe differentiation that I'm describing here..for practical reasons..obviously.

So..was wondering if anyone here had other experiences/explanations for how they differentiate between the two applications?

Cheers,

Al / Ichi

[Retro Rocket]

Extractors or headers is the term we use for the pipes coming off the head or heads on a car, generally we call the whole pipe on a bike a 4 into 1 or 4 into 2 or what ever is relevant. If i was referring to the top part of a motorcycle exhaust i would call them headers.

Mick

[KeithB]

I too am..er.."vintage" and we used the term headers to refer to a tuned length aftermarket exhaust manifold designed for better performance. Bike or car. On cars, the stock unit was a "manifold".
It's only recently I have come across the term "head pipe" for the stock head to muffler pipe on a bike.

[Don R]

I think it's a regional thing, headers to me are a set of "head pipes" that go to a collector. A head pipe is the pipe from a cylinder or manifold that goes to the wye or muffler. Extractors were headers on VW's. A set of pipes with the mufflers cut off aren't really headers to me those are drag pipes.
 How about our european and down under friends? What do you guys call them?

[Stixxy]

I too am..er.."vintage" and we used the term headers to refer to a tuned length aftermarket exhaust manifold designed for better performance. Bike or car. On cars, the stock unit was a "manifold".
It's only recently I have come across the term "head pipe" for the stock head to muffler pipe on a bike.

+1

[Terry in Australia]

I think it's a regional thing, headers to me are a set of "head pipes" that go to a collector. A head pipe is the pipe from a cylinder or manifold that goes to the wye or muffler. Extractors were headers on VW's. A set of pipes with the mufflers cut off aren't really headers to me those are drag pipes.
 How about our european and down under friends? What do you guys call them?

G'Day Don, Mick's already summed it up from an Aussie perspective, I've always called the exhaust tubes that protrude from the head as "header pipes" or "headers", and the complete unit with muffler attached as the "exhaust system". "Extractors" is a term used mostly on car engines here, not bikes. I've heard the term "head pipes", but only from watching American shows like "American Chopper" or "Biker Buildoff" etc. Cheers, Terry.  

[Stev-o]

One word: headers.

[Ichiban 4]

Hmm..

Interesting replies here.  Seems like we tend to have different interpretations..related to age..area of country (including Oz) we're from..and whether or not we're heavy duty gearheads.

When I was a mere lad of 15..my buddy's' dad owned a custom muffler shop in So. California..that we used to work in..during summers part-time..on cars and bikes.  That was largely through high school for me.  The header/head pipe terms I described previously were consistently used by all the guys working in the shops that I was around.

I never heard the term "headers" being used the way it is on this website..until seeing it here..so that really made me wonder if I was missing something all these years.  The terms describe fairly clear ideas and concepts to me..which come to mind when I see/hear them.  So..after 50+ years of using them that way..I think I'll continue to do so.

On a little different topic..and in reply to an explanation of the term "manifolds"..we always (still do) thought of them as being cast iron/aluminum..and basically OEM equipment.  Manifolds were the first thing we wanted to modify/take off a car..when modifying/"souping-it-up".  However for all around driving..the manifolds were better than headers..as they usually had thermostatic componants attached to them..that allowed you to keep the engine warm (in-car heaters too) during cold weather.  The guys here from colder climates..can probably attest to the utility of exhaust manifolds on cars..for regular driving.


Maybe this has "exhausted" the need to discuss this issue further..but now @ least..I think I understand better the reasons why some use the term headers so liberally on these threads.

Cheers,

Al / Ichi

[Stev-o]

Oh no, it is not over!

...but we always called headers the pipes coming directly out of the head/exhaust ports but WITHOUT mufflers. 

We called them "open headers" if no muffler was installed.

[dave500]

extractors or headers are more of a car term here in australia,these are tube pipes that replace the cast iron factory fitted thing that you throw away,on bikes it was just say a four into two,or one,they can be called either here with or without a muffler,generally you would mention if you had a muffler,or its an open exhaust.i think.

[paulages]

headers are the downpipes before a collector or muffler, with or without said muffler. part of an exhaust system, but not the whole thing. that's how i've always heard it anyway.

[KeithB]

And then there is the "header plug".
A metal cap that covered an exit hole just where the pipes met to go to the rest of the exhaust and muffler.
When you were racing, you opened the plug to bypass the muffler.
Not that I ever street raced....

[gmonkey]

For cars, in my limited experience, headers connect to the head and include the collector where they join to go to the rest of the exhaust.  What makes them distinct from a factory exhaust manifold is that they're made of tubing rather than cast and tuned to be the same length and smoothly bent for better performance.  That's also the terminology you're going to see if you're ordering parts online everywhere I've seen.


I assumed it was always headers on motorcycles because they always come with tuned (to some degree) bent pipe exhaust all the way to the head instead of a manifold.  I don't think I've ever heard a manifold between the head and a turbo called headers.

[Retro Rocket]

For cars, in my limited experience, headers connect to the head and include the collector where they join to go to the rest of the exhaust.  What makes them distinct from a factory exhaust manifold is that they're made of tubing rather than cast and tuned to be the same length and smoothly bent for better performance.  That's also the terminology you're going to see if you're ordering parts online everywhere I've seen.


I assumed it was always headers on motorcycles because they always come with tuned (to some degree) bent pipe exhaust all the way to the head instead of a manifold.  I don't think I've ever heard a manifold between the head and a turbo called headers.

In Australia they are called extractors, headers are the stock and usually cast items.

Mick

[Spanner 1]

'Headers'.... the pipes from the exhaust flanges to about under each foot-peg, after that , nothing = open headers... in Western European lingo.

[77cafe750]

no i dont have a comment i am just marking this to subscibe tis getting good

[Ichiban 4]

Knew that some called them "head pipes"..or "header pipes"..@ least Yoshimura seems to..
http://www.asylummotorcycles.com/productdetail.htm?productld=10787844&ez=Yoshimura head pipe

Ichi