So what should one do?
I think the stock exhaust on the '05 Stang looks pretty crappy with the mufflers sticking out and such so I was hoping they make an SLP brand or something with some resonators to take care of that aspect. BTW, what do you think the '05 GT would have HP wise with the full bolt-ons, exhaust, and intake? (5-speed)
Just thought I'd ask

 

This is an '05 question. Moving to '05 forum for you I am sure you will get a boatload of opinions there

 

You could always cut the mufflers off! I don't think it looks all that bad. Plus I think when its on the ground, you will not be able to see it all that well. I personally would like some side exhaust, but I don't think it will be able to be done on the new car.

 

You don't get any real benefit of cold air intake, pullies, etc unless you redo the exhaust completely. If you just do cat-back, you still have the stock headers and cats restricting airflow, thus restricting horsepower. What goes in must come out. If I thought I could pay off a car inspector I'd just do straight 3" pipes from front to back. My buddy had done that to his 93 GT and but flowmasters on and it sounded incredible. I was scared to ride in it, it was so loud.

If I get the new stang in the fall I'll wait until spring to do any mods to it, one less year of winter rust. I plan on doing everything, new headers, high flow cats, and Flowmaster cat-back. I figure that stuff won't be for sale until spring anyway. I decided I'd rather spend $1000 making it sound nice instead of painting a racing stripe on it making it look nice. Performance is better than looks. I like Torch Red w/chrome 18s better now anyway. You'll turn more heads with a custom exhaust than a paint job.

My plan is to get Magnaflow headers and X-pipe along with flowmaster cat-back.

Doing all this might get at least a 30 HP boost without doing anything to the intake/engine side.

 

just buy some lower profile mufflers like Flowmasters :shrug:

 

Actually, I think the exhausts look OK, but they sound GREAT! Since the muffler can be seen from the back of the car, when I get my stang, I'm just going to chrome flowmaster Force II. I bet it'll look much better in chrome.