What do Extractors do on a car?

When it comes to improving the performance of your vehicle, extractors are one of the easiest and straightforward investments that you can make. This is basically a bolt-on accessory that you can easily add to your engine and immediately start seeing a difference in power performance from your engine to the drive train. High quality extractor brands that have a great range of product include Pacemaker, Xforce, Genie & Redback.

What is backpressure?

To understand the function and requirement of an extractor, it is important to understand the reasons to install this type of system. In a typical exhaust manifold, when the exhaust stroke occurs, the exhaust opens up and the pistons in each of the engine cylinders push out all the exhaust gases.

Often the process faces a certain level of resistance on the exhaust which results in an incomplete release of the gases from the chamber. When that occurs, some of the power produced by the engine gets wasted. The obvious culprit in the process is the exhaust manifold which gathers exhaust gases from the engine in a restrictive manner causing back pressure.

The question that arises is how an extractor really brings about better performance. To give you a simple idea of the process involved, the extractors basically play the role of a helping the engine cylinders speed up the process of removing the exhaust gases that build up in the cylinders. The extractors have longer individual tubes so that upon where they merge into the cone, one pipe helps suck the pressure from the other pipe via inertia.

The increase in efficiency means a cleaner environment and the cylinders result in a significantly improved power production. This solution is also a lot more effective as compared to an exhaust manifold by individually adapting to the pressure of each cylinder head, thereby significantly reducing backpressure. 

Considerations 

While switching from the stock manifold to extractors may result in an overall improvement in the performance of your vehicle, it is still an option for people to see whether they want a system that maximises the performance or simply install a system that is easy to install on their own.

Performance

For performance-oriented installations, ensure that the diameter of the tubes matches that of the cylinder and more importantly, long-tube headers are critical to maximising torque when the engine is running on low power and gaining maximum horsepower while the engine is running on high power levels. Compatibility is a key and each brand has their own design and curvature that may or may not be suitable for your specific vehicle.

It is critical that you do thorough research on the system that you are planning to purchase for your car and ensure that the extractors are compatible with your specific vehicle. Playtime Auto Parts have over 50 years trade experience and are ready to advise you in regards to the right fitting product. 

In addition to that, it is also necessary to consider about the ride height of your vehicle after you install the extractors. There may be some specific models of extractors that may not be compatible with your vehicle and cause ground clearance issues.