“H-PIPES–NAH–THEY DON’T DO ANYTHING.”
“MAN, YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO HAVE X-PIPES–THEY ADD 20 HP!”
We’ve all heard the comments and claims. Frankly, neither statement is correct or even close to accurate. So, instead of listening to your sister’s husband’s nephew, let’s dig into a few facts.
We’ll start with the huge claims of horsepower increase and perhaps save you some time. There are small improvements in power with H and X pipes but the gains must underscore the word small. If you’re expecting 20 hp you will be better off looking at a cam swap or headers over stock manifolds because you won’t find more than 1 percent increases with either an H- or an X-pipe.
So why go through the effort? The main reason most people will opt for an H- or an X-pipe has more to do with a change in pitch. This
