How important is taper in intake manifold and head design? What does it accieve? And how does the % taper, or however its Measured, effect the powerband? I bring this up because I noticed on cutaways of maserati engines in ads, that they have alot of taper, and they get some mean hp/ci numbers N/A.

 

a taper allows the tract to store an adequate volume while keeping airflow velocity up throughout the tract. the idea is a constant decrease in section area, which helps in accelerating the charge. the more uniform that section area decrease the better the tract will perform. it's all geared to deliver as much velocity as is needed for the rpm the engine must operate in. the higher the approach angle, the more velocity can be tolerated so every cylinder head type is going to have a different optimum port taper. the shape of the port also plays a big part. you would need simulation to really hash out the differences. something where you can overlay different designs with various taper angles and map that against a pressure crank-angle diagram. just software and money but this stuff is what seperates the men from the boys so to speak.

JB