Bald Eagle,
You are right to question everything you read on the internet. Since I personally worked on dyno testing V8s that is where my first hand information lies. Since I have raced and rodded sixes for three decades and have studied others results with those engines my knowledge of their results is admitedly second hand, but well founded in fact.
Reducing the peak pressure spikes with the addition of an x pipe will slightly reduce the effective backpressure and,as such, will only slightly shift the torque and horsepower peaks to a higher speed.
A 180 crank in a V8 is akin to making a four cylinder engine out of it since two cylinders now fire at the same time. What do you think would have a greater effect on torque - turning a V8 into a huge four cylinder engine or evenly spaced exhaust pulses?
Keep asking good questions, and take all the opinions with a grain of salt.
