Headers are only as good as the rest of the exhaust system. The least resistance that the exhaust gases (or footballs
) encounter, the more power the car will make. It doesn't matter how efficent your headers are, if the rest of the system restricts flow, you're losing power.
I'm assuming that this isn't the only question you have, so I'm going to try and explain the basics of the 4 stroke V8. This applies to every modern automotive engine ever made.
The reason they call it a 4 stroke engine is because there are 4 different phases to a complete combustion cycle. The 4 cycles are the intake stroke, the compression stroke, the power stroke, and the exhaust stroke.
The engine block is the foundation of a motor. It houses the crank, connecting rods, pistons, and oil pump. Heads, on the other hand, are the units on top of the block.
The heads mount to the block and they direct the air/fuel mixture to the cylinder through tunnels within the heads called "intake ports". The air/fuel mixture is sucked past the valves and into the motor on the intake stroke.
Then the piston travels up, compressing the air/fuel mix on the compression stroke. Now at the height of this compression stroke, the spark plug will ignite this mixture and force the piston down into the power stroke. Finally the exhaust valve is opened and the spent gases are pushed out of the motor by the piston on the exhaust stroke.
The spent exhaust gases are pushed into another set of tunnels within the heads called "exhaust ports" and are directed towards the headers, into the exhaust system and out of the car.
Now there is a little bitmore to it than that, but this should give you a general idea of how it's done. There are alot of well written books on engine basics and they should help explain the basic theory better than I can.
If there is one peice of advice I can give you, it would be to read everything you can get your hands on. Get a subscription to Hot Rod or Car Craft. Just read as much as you can. And don't be afraid to work on your car. That's how we all started.
This is a pretty cool site
http://www.autoshop-online.com/auto101.html
[This message has been edited by Tedster (edited 01-29-2000).]