Repair 7

What Do Car Headers Do

Car headers, which attach to the sides of a vehicle engine, are an important part of a vehicles exhaust system. Made up of solid steel tubing, headers are the first parts of a vehicles exhaust system to come into contact with exiting engine exhaust gases.

Link Engine to Exhaust System

Headers are long, tubular metal pipes that bolt to the sides of an engine. Headers line up with the engine exhaust ports and provide a link through which exiting engine exhaust gases flow out of an engine and towards the inner exhaust system.

Collect Engine Exhaust Gases

As burned engine exhaust gases exit an engine, headers collect these gases and funnel them down the header pipes and into the main exhaust system, which is where the muffler and catalytic converter reside.

Transport Engine Exhaust Gases

Headers serve as a critical link between a vehicles exhaust system and its engine. As engine exhaust gases flow through a set of headers, the headers direct these gases to the main vehicle exhaust pipe, where they flow through the exhaust muffler and catalytic converter.

Temper Exhaust Sound

Headers also serve to dampen and temper the sound of a vehicles exhaust system. By providing a solid, tubular enclosure for exiting engine exhaust gases, headers help mask some of the popping and crackling sounds of high-speed, high-temperature exhaust gases.

Reduce Exhaust Gas Speed

As exhaust gases exit a vehicles engine, they travel at very high rates of speed. Headers present the first physical barrier to these exiting exhaust gases, a situation that serves to slow down their rate of speed as well as increase the efficiency of both the vehicle muffler and catalytic converter.