Wow. here we go,
1. H and X are the physical shape of the balance tube or crossover between the two exhaust pipes and are up front just behind the converters. they balance out the pressure pulses of the exhaust from side to side to help the flow. they will add a distinct sound. H-pipes are tuned more for lower RPMs and X at higher.
2. Axel backs on our cars are just the mufflers and tips.
3. Cat backs are everything from the converters back. H-pipe, exhaust pipe to the axel and then the mufflers/tail pipe, or tips.
4. headers are indeed the tubes coming out of the engine cylinder heads. there are long and short, equal length and un-equal length, big/small tube and emission certified and off road. shortys will bolt right up to your factory exhaust, directly replacing the (cast iron) exhaust manifold, easiest install. Long tube will need additional parts to connect to the exhaust. usually you cannot keep the converters because there is no room left.
equal and un-equal length will affect the "tune" of the exhaust bacause of the time the individual runners meet in the collector affect the scavaging of the engine. this tune is also affected by the overall length of the header, short or long. generally shortys are tuned for lower RPMs and long headers are tuned for higher RPMs. are we having fun yet?
small tube/big tube affect the tune of the exhaust bacause of the back pressure induced by the size (and length) of the primaries (tubes coming out of the engine) smaller having more back pressure/larger having less. some back pressure is needed, especially on a street driven car to keep the torque of the engine up. more back pressure=more torque and less horsepower. less back pressure=less torque and more horsepower, very simply put, and of course there are exceptions and variables way, way outside the scope of this explanation. oh yeah, we're having fun now!
5. anything off road usually means that they are not emissions certified. on H/X-pipes it means that you won't get converters.
6. a performance exhaust system by definiton will be complete. most parts are sold individually like headers or headers and x-pipe or just mufflers (axel-back). the exhaust pipes (from the H/X-pipe to the muffler) on the 05 are pretty good so most people do not replace them.
buying a complete system will be some major coin. I plan on starting with headers (prolly Mac's, maybe long tube) then an X-pipe and see if i'm happy with the sound. if not then I might do mufflers.
I know that this will not answer all your questions but at least it will help you come up with some more. :smilie
tw0scoops123 said:
Whats the difference between H-pipes and X-pipes?
What are Axle-backs?
What are Cat-Backs?
What are Headers?(I have a feeling these are the exhaust pipes coming out of the engine?)
What are offroad X-pipes?
Do performance exhaust systems come with their own mufflers or do we just take the stock mufflers on our cars and attach them to the performance exhaust system?