Exhaust impressions, reality vs. youtube, decisions...
 

I have been going back and forth between exhaust combos, even losing sleep over which one to get. Had my mind set on Borla stingers since, to me, there isn't a better sound for an otherwise stock exhaust. however at Carlisle earlier this month I heard two cars with stingers combined with headers catted midpipes and they didn't impress me (sorry Jeff). Kinda pinched sounding in a way. To add the confusion. I listened to a guy's stang that had jba headers, o/r h and mac axle backs and it sounded PERFECT, yet every MAC clip I listen to on youtube has a somewhat tinny sound to it. I have a stock exhaust now and I'm looking at a obx header setup now with o/r H pipe. Now today I'm fovoring 70mach1owner's combo of headers, no cats, and magnaflows. Sounds nice and deep, but still has that bark.
I've watched about every mustang exhaust-related video on youtube, but just can't make up my mind. If I get stingers now I'd be happy, but I'm worried I'd tire of them with headers and o/r h. however, if I get Macs or Maggies now, I'd probably tire of them until I did the whole exhaust which would be a bit until I could afford it all and get a tuner. Hmm, look what I just did. I just created another "which exhaust to get" thread. :doh:

Mike

I agree with you about the Stingers. I have them and love them. However, I'm stock all the way back to them. If I were to get a O/R X/H/ProChamber, I'd have to switch to some kind of chambered muffler. I do not like the combo of an O/R mid-pipe and the straight through mufflers. The Ford GTA's and FlowMasters are actually two of my favorite chambered mufflers on these 3V engines with the O/R mid-pipe.

Unfortunately, other than hearing a specific combo in person and then replicating it on your car, it's really a crap-shoot. Been there, done that on several vehicles. My latest being my Mustang. The problem is the exhaust note is VERY subjective and on any given car, completely dependent on how a number of combined parts ends up working together. To make things even harder, it's even quite possible to have the same components sound different on two identical cars solely due to how they were installed!
Bottom line, you really have to simply narrow it down, best you can by listening to setups IN PERSON, and then taking a shot at replicating it on your car. Don't be surprised if you end up playing with the exhaust system more than once to get it "just right" for you.

+1.... I can't tell you how many combos I've tried. I will argue though that an offroad pipe WITH RESONATORS ADDED does sound great with a straight through muffler like Borlas; that is what I've stuck with for the past year+. Otherwise with an offroad pipe, you need to look for a chambered muffler that isn't much louder than stock, like Scott's magnaflows.

Mike, no worries, thats why they make so many choices. But the reason why I didn't go with an O/R X (no cats) is two reasons. 1 is emissions testing. I drive the car way too much and would be over the 5,000 mile threashold for emissions exempt. The 2nd, is that after attending the Cruisin' Ocean City Md show, I heard alot of cars with O/R X pipes and that sound is just too raspy and too loud for what I do with the car! Its a shame I didn't get to take you for a ride in my car outside the fairgrounds of Carlisle. A car with L/Ts and Stingers sound WAY different under load (driving) compared to just reving while standing still. If your ever in my area, let me know, and I'll make sure I bring the car to work, and I'll take you for a spin! :nice:

Yeah I bet it does sound different under load. It's a tough call and while I see tons of Mustangs around here, they're mostly all stock as far as exhaust go, other than old Fox bodied Stangs. I forget who was parked next to me at Carlisle, but he had a torch red S197 that sounded amazing. Now, you do bring up a good point about day to day driving the car with loud exhaust. Don't know how that will go until I try something I guess.

Mike

IMO Pypes MM gives a similar sound to the Stingers at Idle, but sound 100% better at WOT.

Would you say they're pretty obnoxious sounding with headers and an offroad H pipe?

Mike

Don't go crazy thinking about this. Come up with the set up you like the best and pull the trigger, life is to short to worry about this and not to make a decision...go for it bro.

I've heard O/R H and Pypes MM and I personally don't think I would run it on my car...It didn't really have any tone it was more of a ferocious ear popping scream than anything else. Something that I would compare to running Open Headers but not quite as loud- It could be cool running it for a while but would get VERY old VERY fast as a DD.

Another thing to consider is that a member here was running OBX Lts O/R H and Pypes MM a while back and said it sounded like a Harley at WOT, and thats not a good thing.

Another problem is that what sounds great from the OUTSIDE of the car, can be rather obnoxious on the INSIDE of the car. Unless you want to drive with earplugs or just "put up with" the noise, you really need to make a compromise.

Why bother losing sleep and messing with a these combos....Just put the SLP loudmouths on and leave everything else alone. It sounds outstanding. I have yet to hear any mufflers or set-ups that sound better.

My car sounded like a Dump Truck coming down the road when I took the mufflers off...I was so embarassed of that sound coming from my car I tried to keep the RPMs as low as possible

You could not talk me out of having Stingers no way shape or form. I personally think they sound the best. That is my opinion though.

+10000!

i just added mac lt,s to my pro chamber with bassani ab.. kinda quiet it up a bit more of a smoother sound till i hit the gas then it screams, im thinking about switching out the bassani for pypes race deletes, any idea if that would be a good choice....

+20000 here fellas! Its been well over a year since the install, and yet, I keep on getting a BIG :D every time I fire up my GT on the weekends, with its L/Ts, Catted H, and Borla Stingers setup! WHAT A SOUND!!!! IMO, there is NOTHING like it!!!:nice:

I have been debating on whether or not i want to add a short X Pipe to mine. Not really sure what it will do to the sound once i install the JBA Shorties.

I'm in the same boat, I am happy with my mufflers and I think they sound great. However I want my exhaust louder.
I'm not sure about an Offroad x/h-pipe due to emmissions and the gas fumes.
Maybe a mid x-pipe that keeps the stock cats or a bassani high flow mid pipe (expensive though)?
Long tube headers like OBX?
Great, now I will losing sleep, lol and I agree all the OR exhaust clips on youtube suck, sounds like a tractor just started up no matter what mufflers are installed. Too bad there aren't too many mustang clubs close by with GTG's

Sure if you took the mufflers off and didn't add the pipes to the end of the car, it probably did sound like a dump truck...:doh: