I figured this would be a good way to turn up the volume a bit on the stock exhaust, and maybe add a few horsepower.

Has anyone done this and figured out the gains?

 

If the x-pipe has cats it won't be a ton louder, but if you are looking for a modest increase in volume with a nice throaty grawl, go for it. Magnaflow and Bassani will be your best bet.

 

Does it really pick up that much HP since the factory intermediate pipe is now also an X-pipe design and is mandrel bent 2.5" also??

 

Well, Ford did do a good job with the mandrel bending of the stock h-pipe. Although, the high flow comp cats will have higher flow and the crossover will result in better exhaust scavenging and evacuation. So that is how these x-pipes can pic up such decent gains over stock. Mind you that they are not huge HP gains but they are quite noticeable at WOT.

 

Stock is an "H" pipe. Rumor has it that you can gain about 15hp from an x-pipe. I plan on getting just an x-pipe at first. Especially since the mufflers don't offer any hp gains.

 

If you can go no cats, do it. I currently have the MAK performance Offroad X-pipe with stock mufflers, and it sounds mean, much louder and deeper than before, but not too loud going down the freeway. I haven't been to the dyno, but in talking to the owner of MAK and other owners of the pipe, they say about 12-17 rwhp can be gained from the pipe depending on the application. I will suggest a custom tune with it though. It is not required, but i seemed to have benefited from the tune, as the car tends to run rich with the pipe on, and needs to be tweaked a bit. Also, the pipe is only 199 bucks, and really easy to install, i love it so far (about 2000 miles).

Hope that helps.

 

I did the offroad Mak x-pipe. Makes stock exhaust much louder...but still crising is quiet. A bit raspy in note. Noticeable performasnce gain(SOTP)

 

MM & FF magazine is doing an article next month on x-pipes. Mustang Exhaust did an article and got 1 HP peak with an x-pipe. It did much better at high rpm. If its no cats 10-15 HP, high flow cats 5-7 HP, stock cats 3-4 HP.

 

3 Cheers for the MAK Off road. Mine has been great, once I solved a few installation gremlins(rattles). The performance gains are there throughout the rpm range, but it's most noticeable up top. Sounds great, but is a bit raspy with the OEM mufflers. X-pipes in general sound raspy, but I knew this from the get go. Can't go wrong with the price and performance gains!

 

Just wondering if anyone is having the check engine light come on with the off road x pipes?

 

Isn't it "Mac"?

I've decided to sock money away for some JBA LT's and their catted H. w00t!!!

 

From what I've been able to glean, there is a trade-off between H and X pipes. X pipes will produce more hp, where H pipes produce more torque. The sound is different as well. An H pipe also sounds more like a vintage muscle car (my 351W-4V had a stock H-pipe).

I'm an H-pipe fan, but I like gut wrenching torque and deep rumbly exhausts. If you want a high hp screamer, the X-pipe is probably your cup of tea.

 

No, the product that we are talking about is a company from FL called MAK Performance. MAC is a different company. The one we have is www.makperformance.com

 

A little off topic but it was mentioned how great the supposedly mandrel bent stock exhaust is. I just installed SLP LM's today and was very surprised to find a not so mandrel bent section in my exhaust. At one point (just before where the axle-back section starts) the pipes are crimped down to about half their normal size for clearance.

Want to free up airflow? Replace that section.