Getting an Idea About What Exhaust Parts Do

One of the most important parts of a car’s mechanics is the exhaust system as it gets rid of the potentially dangerous gases made during the engine’s combustion process. Besides that, one part of the system, the cat, is responsible for turning these toxic gases into harmless substances, making car exhaust much safer for humans.

Having a malfunctioning exhaust can be a huge inconvenience, but people who have certain knowledge in cars can potentially work on the problem themselves and save money by buying exhaust parts online. Purchasing exhaust parts online, as long as you know how to search for them, is very convenient and can save you time. Let’s talk about all the parts and what role each one of them plays in the exhaust system.

car exhaust system

Manifold/Header

The exhaust header is considered an aftermarket part – it doesn’t come as standard on all cars. Being an aftermarket part, it’s designed to increase performance, thus, it is more expensive. A header has long pipes that have smooth curves which allow the system to collect air and push it to the catalytic converter more efficiently. In order to ensure the exhaust doesn’t blow back through the pipes to the cylinders, these pipes are joined at tapered angles. Moreover, this design ensures performance isn’t negatively affected.

Manifolds on the other hand, come as standard on most cars. They’re made using as less material as possible and take up very little space. They’re designed with cost in mind and not performance, hence they’re much cheaper. They do an adequate job of directing the gases from the engine into a pipe that then sends them to the cat.

Catalytic Converter (Cat)

Throughout the combustion process, the engine produces gases that are toxic to living things – nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide just to name a few. When the number of cars increased in big cities, this became a huge problem. The catalytic converter was invented to resolve this problem. It cleans the carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides and turns them into carbon dioxide, nitrogen gas and water vapor, which are not harmful for the environment.

car exhaust parts online

Muffler

The process of transforming chemical energy into kinetic results in a lot of noise and the muffler is there to silence it as much as possible. When the exhaust valves open, the gases enter the exhaust system. The molecules from the gas clash with the already existing molecules in the pipes at a very high velocity, resulting in them piling up on each other. As they collide, they leave a low pressure area behind them that in turn allows sound to move quicker than the gases, creating noise detectable by the human ear. The muffler creates another sound wave to interfere with that noise.

Exhaust Pipes

Exhaust pipes are what links and holds the entire system together. They draw the gases away from the car and release them away from people. Large exhaust pipes are not always more efficient, in fact, large diameter pipes make the exhaust system less effective and can easily be damaged when riding on uneven roads or large debris.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.