funny coming across this thread. i just noticed the black soot on my exhaust yesterday. never noticed it before.

with doug's 92 octane race tune and jlt 2 cai, my car's a/f was 13.0

 

I have this as well...it's normal.

To clean, use very fine steel wool. The black soot comes right off.

 

The insides of my stock exhaust is carbon black and I've run only 87 (well, maybe 2 tanks of 89) over the course of 35K miles with the factory stock tune, mostly highway driving.

 

Guys, I'm not even 40 yet so don't just blow this off as some old fart going on about the good old days, but I do remember as a kid going to car shows w/ my Dad and seeing all the old Fords w/ sooty black exhaust tips, my '84 did it too, more so w/out cats, and my '07 does it too, and its pretty much stock. Fords run a tad rich, always have, always will, mostly in the winter when the air is soo cold, and the carb. or comp. richens it up on start-up.

 

Thanks for all the input guys just wanted to make sure all was well with my stang.

 

Stock tune and Flowmasters with rolled tips on mine and I get a little black around the tips too. I use 87 octane. Cleans off real easy with just about any chrome cleaner.