For some time I was interested in piston engine exhausts. I like header, collectors and then turbines. I remember that I was not able to understand the good texts about that topic at first. Now, what they wrote, sound natural to me. I got used to it, somehow trained it by reading multiple texts. Then on the other side there are films that work the first time. I mean engine start with zoomies: Like P51 Mustang plane, or funnyCar dragster at night. I would be cool to imitate that in a film in blender. The question is: is there a tool for smoke and flames? Then I read that exhausts-gasses can become supersonic. The SR 71 on take-of has these very nice disks in it. Or on shuttle start. But after some estimating I think that these will not appear on exhausts. I do not imitate, I want to add something to it. So lets blend it with a screamer. That is a zoomy like short exhaust from the waste gate of an old ralley car or of the Ferrari F40 (yeah the 80ies). Next ingredient would be Pantera I found on the internet with a 8 to 1 collector. My idea is, to use a Pantera, open the hood over the V8 (or use a V12), place exhaust on top (like in tank or in the new Porsche hybrid, or AMG GT), and arrange the exhaust headers so that they meet in circle with the exhaust pulses exiting clock-wise (or counter-clockwise). I know how to model the pipe, but in the end the cross section needs to change as all pipes are squeezed together on that circle (ring). Then on a film with the view from behind at 300 RPM idle, which is made possible by large displacement, conservative cams and fuel injection, flashes of flames would go around the circle and smoke would diffuse out of the dark pipes. To combine this with the screamer idea and to give it a Diesel-Punk touch, a turbine housing could be placed behind that. This housing would rotate and be driven by the camshaft (or in sync with), and collect the flames, to produce a constant stream at the turbine, which is located co-axially. In the past I was thinking like: No move-able parts in the exhaust! Pure acoustics. But in this case, the bearing could be placed in the cold center, and we do not care for a perfect seal between the turbine housing, and because the exhaust has momentum and at full throttle only a small percentage escapes through the gap, making from some nice flame effects suitable for Diesel Punk (although it is gasoline,). I would even be possible to use the gap as a waste gate and change it in a sequence, like on upshift the flames suddenly escape there, and light flashes up. The turbine housing covers only 1 to 2 zoomies, the ones with the flames. At idle the smoke coming from the uncovered pipes would still be visible. I would like to be more technically and direct exhaust from on open valve to a valve just to be opened in order to let it bounce back there and strengthen the main pulse for the flames and the turbine, but I do not know how to not let this look too technical. At least this would lead to some more detail: a pipe attached to the turbine housing connecting the zoomies around the flaming one. The turbine shaft is connected to a compressor, the compressed air would go to side/top mounted inter-coolers, and then down to the inlets. This would emphasize a technical Diesel look. Even some real racing cars are naked (behind the cabin). With a clean layout (symmetric inlet air, filters in front, intercoolers behind), exhaust in the center, cylinder heads visible in between, turbo in the back, I could cater to the eye. To focus on the engine, on that model, all suspension stuff or wheels need to be under cover (unlike in a real F40).
Problem is, this is punk. I will never get real. It is loud. It is not green. I have no application for this. It is beyond my modelling skills, or not suitable to blender. So I thought I dump this topic here you cheer me up and in a dark winter night, I might give it a try. Also I have trouble to attach the exhaust pipes to the cylinder head. C3 continuity and all that.