Does A Manta Exhaust Increase Power, Or Is It Just A Myth?

Does A Manta Exhaust Increase Power, Or Is It Just A Myth?

At Manta Performance, we have created a huge quantity of exhaust systems for vehicles of every size and type. A common question that we get asked is, "Does A Manta Exhaust Increase Power?" That’s a question we are happy to answer!

The short answer is yes, a Manta Performance exhaust will give you more power. As to how much additional power, the answer comes down to “it depends.” There are several factors that can affect how much extra power you will get from your Manta exhaust system. First, let’s talk about factory stock exhaust systems.

Factory exhausts must be made a certain way

When manufacturers design an exhaust system for a mass-produced vehicle, they must consider a lot of different issues. Most of these have nothing to do with performance:

• It must be easy to fit onto the vehicle as it is moving down the assembly line
• It must be quiet enough to meet noise requirements wherever it will be sold
• It must meet cost targets set by the carmaker’s cost accountants
• It must also meet the relevant emissions requirements wherever the vehicle is being sold

What you typically end up with from the factory is lots of mufflers to keep it quiet, as well as smaller pipe sizes for easier assembly and lower cost. That’s good for the manufacturer, but not so great for the driver.

Manta exhaust systems don’t have those limitations

When you upgrade to a Manta Performance exhaust system, you are going way beyond the limits that the vehicle manufacturer has to observe when making their factory exhausts. Let’s run through a few possible scenarios:

Replacing your complete exhaust system in a turbocharged diesel vehicle

In this situation, you are replacing your turbo diesel’s factory exhaust system with a Manta Performance exhaust system. When referring to pipe sizes in a turbo diesel exhaust, bigger is generally better, up to a point. We have found that a 3in single pipe size offers the best increase in performance. Any bigger, and you will generally run into issues with too much noise or have issues with clearance around aftermarket accessories. Any smaller, and you will see an increase in exhaust gas temperatures and a reduction in performance.

When doing a turbo back exhaust, the stock manifolds remain in place, and no other engine mods or tuning are required to be done. This means that the engine stays responsive low down in the rev range before the turbo kicks in. After fitting the Manta exhaust, you will usually notice the following benefits:

• A 5% to 8% increase in power and torque
• Lower exhaust gas temperatures
• Your turbos will spool up earlier and quicker
• More efficient running, resulting in lower fuel consumption
• More torque at the low end

Of course, if you want more top end power, some extra tuning will feed larger amounts of fuel and air through the turbocharger and into the engine, where it will produce more horsepower and higher performance. It’s your choice!

Replacing from the headers back in a normally aspirated (NA) vehicle

Let’s focus now on normally aspirated (non-turbocharged or supercharged) vehicles, which includes both petrol and diesel engines. These engines must do without an upstream boost, since there is no compressor-type device to pack more fuel-air mixture into the cylinders. Instead of the upstream “push” of a turbo or supercharger, normally aspirated engines use a principle known as exhaust scavenging.

The exhaust scavenging process begins when your NA engine’s exhaust gases exit from each cylinder. These gases travel through your exhaust system very quickly. The high speed of these exhaust gases creates a negative-pressure area inside each cylinder. This suction effect pulls more fuel-air mixture into the cylinder for the next combustion cycle. When it works well, it’s a lot like having a small supercharger bolted onto your engine.

Maximising this scavenging effect depends on the right size pipes. Large pipes that work great with a turbo are too big for a normally aspirated engine, reducing the scavenging effect, slowing the exhaust flow, decreasing the engine’s torque, and generally diminishing the engine’s performance.

Manta Performance exhaust systems are engineered to maximise this scavenging effect. Our years of experience in designing these systems have led us to use a combination of different pipe sizes, depending on the engine’s output. We typically use 2.5-inch pipes on our NA 4WD exhaust systems. Doing this maintains the right amount of exhaust scavenging and preserves low-end torque, especially when headers and extractors are added. Any bigger, and you don’t necessarily gain any extra power, but may actually lose some torque down low.

While we use larger pipes than 2.5in on some of our Street Performance range of exhausts, these are for engines that typically output a lot more power than your average naturally aspirated Landcruiser, Hilux or Patrol. Bottom line is, we will have the perfect option for your car, and there are proven performance gains to be achieved with every Manta Performance exhaust system!

Manta Performance is a brand you can trust

Manta has been making quality exhausts for over forty years. From its humble beginnings in 1974 as Perth’s first exhaust shop, the Manta brand has grown to become a reputable and proven manufacturer of world-class high-performing exhaust systems to fit popular vehicle makes and models.

Fitting is available at The 4WD Shed in our Bayswater, Vic workshop. Give our team a call on 03 9720 8783 to discuss your next performance upgrade.

Manta Exhaust Blog Post - 04/08/2021