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Old 07-29-2009, 12:24 PM   #5 (permalink)
chuckm
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Monroe, LA
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Exploder - '02 Ford Explorer xlt

Rolla - '02 Toyota Corolla ce
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Sure, some back pressure is necessary. But it is an engineered system; it's not a "If some is good, more is better" deal. Rather, the exhaust system is designed to a local optimum.
Let's think about the power requirements of the alternator for a moment. Let's assume it generates 50A at 14V. That's 700 watts of power. Assuming an total efficiency of 70% (that's unrealistically high, especially for turbo!), you'd need to extract 1000 watts of power from the exhaust, or about 1.3hP. Again, "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." The exhaust gas pressure simply isn't high enough to extract that kind of power. An alternative way to think about it: how would your car behave if you stuck a 1/2" diameter exhaust pipe on it, all while leaving the catalytic converter and muffler in? Better yet, here's a real example of a what happens when you restrict the exhaust.
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Last edited by chuckm; 07-29-2009 at 12:26 PM.. Reason: adding link
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