on an NA car(no turbo) you want some backpressure. how much is highly dependant on hundreds of variables so each car is unique. having a moderate ammount of backpressure helps in cylinder scavenging and therefor velocity.
on a turbo car you can get away with zero backpressure with no ill effects.
before or after the CAT, that may, or may not be there?
back in the days of old, higher back pressure usually yielded better gas mileage. under 2500 rpms. over 4000 rpms wasn't really necessary, or even an option then.
about that scavenging and back pressure sequence of events, I thought it was
velocity of exhaust gases creates a void in the header and cylinder
intake valve opens in overlap time interval, intake charge see's a lower pressure in the top of the cylinder and header, and makes haste to that lower pressure area. thats the scavenging part.
the intake charge is now moving, but not because of the piston which is sorta hangin' round the top of the cylinder doing basically nothing.
oops!! the fast moving exhaust gases just noticed a low pressure area BEHIND THEM! they ran so fast they created a pressure void in the header. time for an about face and seek out lower pressure area going back up the header towards the cylinder.
(this is where waves and reflections make things really complicated)
some back pressure is now created because the intake charge is beginning to populate the header, AND because the exhaust gases are coming back.
the exhaust valve see's all this and has a mental breakdown because it can't decide between:
A: slamming shut and sealing out what has already passed into the header
or
B: delaying the closing so the returning exhaust gases can ram into and push the "scavenged" intake charge back into the cylinder, which now has lower pressure because the piston has finally started moving down creating a void.
those pesky waves and reflections are really giving the designer a workout at this point.
decisions, decisions. what's a tuner to do?
Damn, must be a slow night if I'm typing all this. :wave:
Perry