Dragbike header preferences? Sidewinder vs. ...

I have been searching around making a list of all the parts i will be needing for my dragbike build. I have seen two main types of exhuast that i am interested in. There is youre sidewinder pipe that seems pretty common, and then there is a pipe configuration such as this one cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dragbike-KZ-J-Ba...fPartsQ5fAccessories that i see often. Is one better than the other? Any downsides with either? The ebay link pipe looks pretty sweet and i have seen others like it.

i like that one also, i wonder if it would fit an unraked frame? I love the sidewinder on mine , it just looks killer, and it sounds awsome also. Oh and the other thing i love about it is the whole underneath of the bike is free, so changing oil will be a peice of cake.

Jordan, you should decide your bikes purpose when picking each part. i think u said 99% drag, is that right? The header is supposed to work in the rpms that u want the motor to perform. It is meant to compliment your cams. u may have heard the term "it's on the pipe". this means the bike is performing in the intended rpm range of the pipe. back in the day the road racers had dif pipes for dif tracks.
u are going 1170cc right? the sidewinder would suite u better.
The ebay pipe has shorter and larger primaries. this is likely more suited for a 1500cc motor.
Maybe u could get some good advice over at dragbike.com.
I am certainly no expert, but i have been reading up on pipes lately.
Hope this helps. Good luck with the build.

This is one sweet looking pipe! Check on the intended RPM range for this pipe. Does he offer differant size pipe to choose from? I believe you can also "adjust" the range with the megaphone?

That pipe on EBay is way too big unless you've got a really good flowing head,piston size has got nothing to do with it. Dennis Murray, who builds the finest pipes anywhere imho,told me not to bother with a big tube spyder pipe until I got the ported GPZ big valve head on the bike. You also need a seriously raked frame to clear the front fender.

Your right, but u would not put a low flow head on a 1500cc motor.all components need to work together. U need to stay close to 1.4" ID primaries.

That is a nice looking header....but 1 3/4" primarys, even stepping down to 1 5/8", are freakin' A huge.

1 3/4 are decent sized primarys for a 5.7-5.9L V8!

Definitely a serious dragbike piece I would think. Looks badass though.

TURBO ! :laugh:

jordan just like jack has said you would need to do a very serious frame rake to be able to use that pipe and also you would need a lot more motor than you are building to take advantage of the head pipe size. if i were you i would stick with the v&h sportsman pie it will clear the front wheel and it will work better with small port openings

Rules of thumb for headers:

Primary diameter of head pipes determines where you are going to make torque. It's not horsepower that gets you moving. It's torque! Smaller motor you have, generally the less torque you have. Head flow, cam spec.s all figure into this but in general this works this way. Increase the diameter and you move peak torque up the rpm range. Make them smaller and you gain more torque down low but lose it at higher rpm.

Increasing the length of the of the primaries tube increases torque in the lower rpm range while shortening the length increases torque in the higher rpm range.

You need to know what you are using the bike for. Around town and you would want to use smaller tubes but longer in length. If you are mainly drag racing, then you can go the other way but keep in mind what parts you are using. A 1428cc, .460/.480 cams and highly ported head could use different header then a 1075cc, .410 cams and mild head motor would although they are both being raced. That's why V&H makes or made three different racing headers. Each had a different tube diameter and length. Regular sidewinder, the PCO header with 1 5/8 tubes and the Pro-stock or "spaghetti" pipe for top level motors. Pick the one that suits your needs.

It's a balance between all the parts you plan to use. You have to think this through in planning to buy parts so they compliment each other. Good head work, big cams and race header using a big bore but with low compression will kill HP. Parts are designed to be used under certain conditions and other parts to make each part work the way they were designed to do.

So...if you want high rpm power, then go big on most parts and around town, keep them on the smaller size. You can use different parts to adjust power to the track conditions like Mark alluded to the way road racers do. Drag racers can do the same...even street bikes. I plan on building a bike to run at the drag strip but am planning to make power at higher rpm and deliberately trying to kill off bottom end power to make it easier to launch and make it on the top end. Hopefully I can accomplish this with the parts I choose. This wouldn't work on the street though. so pick your parts wisely.

Keep you street header pipe diameter small to keep torque up and make all your power down low where you will use it 99% of the time. After all, that's where we have it over the new bikes. They are built for high rpm power. KZ's can walk these new bikes at the start but they will leave us at high rpm. Use this to your advantage. Keep the races short! LOL Or...be like Plummen and say the hell with it and pack on lots of safety gear, wind the turbo up and hit the nitrous button just when you think you've already hit warp speed!

build a lower compression motor without all the fancy valvetrain parts and smaller cams and run it on pump gas during the week with a little good gas on the weekends,yeah put a turbo on it! :laugh:

racer54 wrote:

Rules of thumb for headers:

Primary diameter of head pipes determines where you are going to make torque. It's not horsepower that gets you moving. It's torque! Smaller motor you have, generally the less torque you have. Head flow, cam spec.s all figure into this but in general this works this way. Increase the diameter and you move peak torque up the rpm range. Make them smaller and you gain more torque down low but lose it at higher rpm.

Increasing the length of the of the primaries tube increases torque in the lower rpm range while shortening the length increases torque in the higher rpm range.

You need to know what you are using the bike for. Around town and you would want to use smaller tubes but longer in length. If you are mainly drag racing, then you can go the other way but keep in mind what parts you are using. A 1428cc, .460/.480 cams and highly ported head could use different header then a 1075cc, .410 cams and mild head motor would although they are both being raced. That's why V&H makes or made three different racing headers. Each had a different tube diameter and length. Regular sidewinder, the PCO header with 1 5/8 tubes and the Pro-stock or "spaghetti" pipe for top level motors. Pick the one that suits your needs.

It's a balance between all the parts you plan to use. You have to think this through in planning to buy parts so they compliment each other. Good head work, big cams and race header using a big bore but with low compression will kill HP. Parts are designed to be used under certain conditions and other parts to make each part work the way they were designed to do.

So...if you want high rpm power, then go big on most parts and around town, keep them on the smaller size. You can use different parts to adjust power to the track conditions like Mark alluded to the way road racers do. Drag racers can do the same...even street bikes. I plan on building a bike to run at the drag strip but am planning to make power at higher rpm and deliberately trying to kill off bottom end power to make it easier to launch and make it on the top end. Hopefully I can accomplish this with the parts I choose. This wouldn't work on the street though. so pick your parts wisely.

Keep you street header pipe diameter small to keep torque up and make all your power down low where you will use it 99% of the time. After all, that's where we have it over the new bikes. They are built for high rpm power. KZ's can walk these new bikes at the start but they will leave us at high rpm. Use this to your advantage. Keep the races short! LOL Or...be like Plummen and say the hell with it and pack on lots of safety gear, wind the turbo up and hit the nitrous button just when you think you've already hit warp speed!

Well Said.