Everyone knows that the exhaust system releases toxic gases. The exhaust system also plays a vital role in improving your car’s engine performance.
What does an exhaust system do? How to measure exhaust pipe diameter? These questions aren’t new for an expert car mechanic. But, for beginners, these questions are confusing.
If you are a beginner, the questions may come to your mind. Don’t worry. We have come to give you some easy solutions to the questions. Furthermore, we will talk about parts of the exhaust system and how you can connect exhaust pipes.
What Does An Exhaust Do?
Every exhaust system doesn’t perform the same. It varies on exhaust quality. Normally, a good quality exhaust does three main things.
1. Reduces Noise
The main work of exhaust is to control the sound. Every exhaust system produces sound. But a good quality exhaust doesn’t sound like a normal exhaust. It reduces the sound.
2. Emits The Dangerous Gasses
The exhaust of your car emits the dangerous and toxic gases that are produced by the engine.
3. Keep The Engine Cool
The exhaust discharges the hit of the engine and keeps the engine cool. Because of this, engine performance increases. One statistic shows, good quality exhaust systems improve engine performance by 2-10%. The engine heating problem mainly occurs for the bad quality exhaust system.
Parts Of An Exhaust System
There are many parts to an exhaust system. The main five parts are given below.
Manifold
Manifold is the leading part of the exhaust system. It gathers toxic exhaust gases.
Catalytic Converter
Our cars produce toxic gasses, but they release non-toxic gasses. Who converts the toxic gasses to non-toxic gasses? Yes, you’re right; the catalytic converter converts the toxic gasses to non-toxic gasses.
Muffler
The main work of the muffler is to reduce the engine sound. People complain about their car sound. They say their car makes a lot of noise. Usually, it happens for bad-quality mufflers.
Pipe
Exhaust pipes flow the gasses. There are many types of exhaust pipes.
Tip
It is the last part of an exhaust system. It releases the gases. It isn’t a tenacious work. You have to measure your car’s exhaust pipe diameter in two ways. One is the Internal Diameter, and the other one is the Outer Diameter.
Essential Things: You won’t need many things. You will only need a measuring tape or a normal ruler to measure exhaust pipes.
How To Measure ID (Internal Diameter)
In this type, you have to measure the internal side of the exhaust pipe. Measure the difference between one inside edge and another inside edge across the middle. You can use a measuring tape or a ruler. Muffler and tips are measured in the ID dimension.
How To Measure OD (Outer Diameter)
Method 1
Measure the difference between one outside edge and the other outside edge across the middle by a ruler or a measurement tape. If your exhaust pipe is exposed, you will be able to measure the OD of your exhaust pipe by this method. If your exhaust pipe is blocked, follow the upcoming method then. Most pipes are measured in OD dimension.
Method 2
Measure the periphery of the pipe. You can use a thread to do this; after that, measure the thread with a ruler. Then divide the value of the exhaust periphery by 3.14(pi). Some people use two dial clippers to measure exhaust pipes.
Usually, you will find 2, 2.25, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, and 4.5 inches OD size exhaust pipes in cars. It depends on the horsepower that what size pipe you will need for your car.
Two Types Of Exhaust Pipes Joint
Lap Joint
The lap joint is the essayist way to connect exhaust pipes. If you connect a 2 inches OD pipe to a 2 inches ID pipe, the OD pipe will slide into the ID pipe. This way of joint exhaust pipes is called the lap joint.
Buck Joint
Sometimes, you have to connect two same-size pipes. This joint is called the buck joint. The Buck Joint is complicated compared to the lap joint.
How To Connect Pipes
You can connect exhaust pipes in many methods. Popular three methods are given below.
Saddle Clamp
You will find many types of clamps in markets. But we recommend using the saddle clamp if you don’t want to connect pipes by weld. There are two different types of saddle clams for buck joint and lap joint. And saddle clamp is easy to use.
Band Clamp
You also can use a band clamp to connect exhaust pipes. But you have to be careful of the leakage problem.
Welding
Welding is the safest and popular method to connect exhaust pipes. If you have a welding machine and can use it, you should connect exhaust pipes by welding. There won’t be any leakage issue if you connect pipes by welding.
Conclusion
A good exhaust system can increase the car engine performance. It is odd to hear a lot of noise from cars. It mainly happens because of the bad exhaust system. You have to be concerned about your car engine and the exhaust system. We hope now have an idea about the exhaust system and how you can measure exhaust pipe diameter.
