On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:40:10 -0700 (PDT), cmyr
wrote:

Going back to some hot rodding roots,I believe V.E. was increased
in the late '60's-70's thru the use of a specially designed double
cone affair placed in the collector pipe of a tuned exhaust
system,which created a stronger vacuum effect , creating stronger
scavenging of exhaust, and to some extent , helping draw more fuel/air
mix into the cylinder.

The anti reversion cone was a dirty fix for a crappy header design.
Better than a manifold, but not as good as a proper "tuned" header.