Do you need equal length headers for turbo applications. I have a idea off of the Japan VQ30DET.

 

Why would they need to be equal length?

 

when each cylinder opens its exhaust ports it sends a pulse of exhaust through the pipe. the time that it takes to travel a certain distance through the pipe before the next pulse differs depending on how long the pipe is. if you have a pipe that has two pulses before the first one reaches the turbo and then the other pipe having 1.5 pulses before it reaches the turbo the exhaust flow will not be smooth. of course this doesnt mean your turbo is going to mess up but having equal length, or multiples of the equal length allows for a more smooth spool.

 

I don't think that makes a big difference. In theory it might make for interesting coversation but that's about it IMHO. If the lenghts varied GREATLY, it might make a difference. Since the turbo doesn't know what cylinder it's receiving the pulse from, it will spool the same regardless of which cylinder the pulse came from. Plus since the V6 has a pulse from each side one at a time, I don't think it's a problem.

Also since the engine bay has a number of restrictions to where you can actually place the turbo, getting exact lengths is next to impossible. I know what the poster is referring to. Tilley has already done this. His setup is nice because the pipes are very short vs the reverse Y setups on other 4-gen systems.

 

never said it would do any benefit - just trying to explain to you what the purpose was behind it. my pipes are not anywhere close to being equal length and i doubt i will ever care to try and make them so.

 

Yeah you probably don't have to and it's not worth the effort. And I believe equal lengths has to do with na exhaust scavenging more than anything else. ie.. pluse from one side help to excavate the pulse coming down from the other cylinder bank. When turbo'd, there's no need or any scavenging for that matter as there is just one big huge exhaust pipe.