I recently read that if you open your headers you can lose a ton of torque. Now, im pretty sure that this is a myth, but what are your thoughts on this?

 

lose low end torque and hp.

 

Gee, I hope nobody jumps in here and says the engine needs backpressure.
Yes, that "lose a ton of torque" is a myth, when used as a blanket statement.
Most anybody here who has messed with their engine will tell you that once you put a less restrictive exhaust and intake on your engine, you're going to need to get it "tuned". Newer cars need to have the computer altered, and with old school cars, it's called re-jetting the carb. The "myth" is there because, yes if you have your engine setup to run it's best with an exhaust system installed, then remove (or bypass) the exhaust to run open headers, it's likely to not run as well. I've heard of guys actually doing better times after opening up the exhaust, which is why you can't take that as a one size fits all kind of statement. Now that I stop and think, maybe I'll take off my 3" system and put a stock 1.5" back on. My low end torque outta be killer!
I guess the real question is, what is your intent with the car, or were you just curious?

 

i was just curious. I wanted to see what open headers look like because i have never seen them. I am 16 and my father is 61 and we just bought a 1970 Camaro and he had been talking about opening the headers, so i was just curious.

 

It'll be fun, at least once around the block. But you won't be able to hear yourself think, your tooth fillings will jar loose, and cops from miles around will hear you.

 

My taughts in this is BS. Why are real race cars always run with open exhausts? Is it because they want to cut down on power? lol

 

open headers sound great, for a few minutes. dont want anything flamable around the openings cause if there is it will be melted or gone in a sort time.

 

mmm but daily use is slight different from race use, even we have a racer attitude.

IMHO it depends on a lot of factors (is not only a backpressure issue ) but in some cases, you loose torque on low RPM and on daily use this can be bothering. You can also loose engine "elasticity" (sorry for my english) and having an engine less comfortable, too much difference on high and low RPM.
Open header can cause an off range of other engine equipments. Everything is designed calculating anything else on a engine and the more new one this point is more inficiating.

 

Open headers wouldn't be for a daily use, unless you're rich enough to pay for getting a lot of tickets. So, for practicality sake, we would be talking about race conditions for open headers. And with that, you would adjust/tune the engine accordingly.

 

It's a complete myth. You will lose nothing.

There are lots of exhaust myths starting with the flow of exhaust ports on heads, going to the size of the primary runners on headers, to the use of an X pipe.

None of that matters much at all, and an X pipe helps.