toronado

I finally had a chance today to clean my car and take some pictures for the first time since adding dual GT take-off mufflers, 17” GT Bullit rims, and removing the rocker-panel stripes I could no longer stand to look at.

[attachmentid=18898]

I’m going to try to keep this brief.

I thought the V6 muffler sounded ‘ok’. I ran with a single GT muffler and I think it was probably about a 25-50% improvement in tone and volume. Then I had the other GT muffler installed via $150 worth of cutting, torching, and welding – all behind the “Y” in the factory pipe. We simply added a second “Y” in reverse. The sound is maybe 50% better than with the single GT muffler and I think it looks great. I can’t tell whether it has affected performance and I haven’t checked my mileage yet.

$85 – pair of GT take-off mufflers
$85 – two OEM Ford muffler hangers
$150 – custom exhaust work

$320 – total

It was worth every penny to me. I hated the look of the single and now it sounds pretty good. It’s not very loud but at least it doesn’t sound like an import or drone you to death at any RPM.

The wheels are awesome! $700 on eBay shipped. They look perfect and my handling has improved. Hope I can sell my old ones..

And like Grimlock said, the rocker-panel stripes peeled right off. This mod just might take the cake. The difference to my eyes is astonishing. To me the stripes distract your eyes from “the line” and mess up the overall shape of the body somehow. $0.00

my gallery!!!

charles

looks great!

Donna

Very Nice.

Mineral grey and bullits look fantastic!!

Rik

Bee-yoo-tiful.

I agree, looks better without the side stripes.

I sort of did the same thing in reverse--got my car (same color as yours) without the stripes and added the spoiler after the fact.

I plan to do the same thing with GT mufflers, too. Did you have the left side of the bumper cut? Local body shop man I talked to thinks it will warp the bumper, so I'm anxious to have someone prove him wrong.

Did you happen to take any pics of the underside of the car? It sounds like you did your exhaust setup exactly the way I'm planning to have mine done. glad to hear that it sounds good!

kevinv-6

very cool! Did you do the muffler work yourself?
I ask because I have two GT mufflers sitting in my trunk and if it only cost 150$ to pay someone to do it I may end up with duel exhausts!
and please tell us about the back bumper

TheLegend

Looks aweosme.

A little of topic but I must say that I love the bottom black side panels at the bottom of the V6's. I wish the GT's was like that. It breaks the monotony.

toronado

Thanks all!!

I can't believe I forgot to describe my solution for the driver-side tailpipe opening in the bumper! I just cut it myself with a box-cutter knife. :dance: I made a stencil of the other side, reversed it, measured, marked, and cut it. Its not perfect but I don't think anyone will notice.

More noticable would be that the driver-side muffler as pictured in my gallery was hanging lower and further back than the other. The lack of a close-up in my gallery was intentional.

Honestly I don't know enough about cars to recommend an exhaust installation like mine. Despite having to return to the shop twice to have pipe bent away from axle, I never took pictures while the car was up. But I got my idea from the Magnaflow "dual exit" system, so mine is basically like this.

[attachmentid=18975]

I'm not sure if everyone will find or even want to find a shop that will do this for $150 like I did. The low cost is partially because I installed the passenger-side muffler myself. The guys at this shop in Houston were definitely not experts. Like I said I had to return twice. But all is good now; both tailpipes are hanging straight and even, and my pipe is no longer smacking against my axle when I drive.

I would love to hear from anyone else that gets or aleady has the same setup. :

Mustang05

Boxcutter huh.. Sounds like a great plan to me! I have noticed how "flimsy" the bumper is, I think you could actually tear it in half. haha. When i scrap up some money i def. will make this a mod. Thanks for all the ideas!

azlitigator

Wow, you car looks amazing! I agree with Donna, those Bullits look perfect on there. :yes:

Fazm

hey toronado, think theres anyway you could make a sound clip of those dual gt mufflers? i plan on going with a dual setup (was plannin on gettin an x or y pipe and dual jba mufflers) but if dual gt's sound good, its definately cheaper.

toronado

Yes I'll see about getting a sound clip posted! It will require assistance from one of my laptop-owning friends (or something) but I'll get it done.

I don't think my assessment of the sound improvement I mentioned in my original post accurately describes my true opinion. I make it sound like the dual GT setup I have only sounds about twice as good as the V6 muffler and thats not the case. My current sound absolutely kills the original sound.

But I've actually only heard it from inside while driving; nearly always with the windows up so I don't really know how it sounds for others. So I'll try to get clips from both inside and outside posted by next weekend hopefully.

Fazm

That'd be awesome. You can drive here and use my laptop hah.

Rik

I showed that picture to my local Midas Muffler shop, and they quoted me $150 to do a similar setup.
I think I'm going to wait until I can afford a GT rear bumper, though. I don't have the cojones to try cutting the bumper myself.

kevinv-6

I showed that picture to my local Midas Muffler shop, and they quoted me $150 to do a similar setup.
I think I'm going to wait until I can afford a GT rear bumper, though. I don't have the cojones to try cutting the bumper myself.
[/b][/quote]

hmmm midas huh? I am thinking I will be checking out a midas shop soon!!!
my son has been wanting me to do duel exhaust since we bought the car

Grimlock

Looks great toronado!

AWmustang

Ok... I will be the first to admit that I'm not an expert on the exact workings of a car's exhaust, but why wouldn't you just remove the factory Y pipe and have true dual exhaust?

Zodiac

Mostly because of the backpressure issue concerning the v6 engine. Going to true duals from a Y-pipe opens up ALOT more airspace for the pressure to try and fill. It can quite easily lead to a loss of hp. Going to a true-dual set up you will also see the engine breathing easier in a higher rpm situation and pulling harder rather than at lower rpms. Im running true-duals and havent seen any problems after roughly a month and a half of use. Havent experimented with an H or X pipe or offroad cats yet.

Gameon

Hey Tornado really nice stang! I'm planning on doing the same dual setup that you got. Can you tell me the part # of the 2 OEM hangers that you bought (I hope my local dealer doesn't rip me off). Do you have any recommendations that I should tell the muffler shop before having them do it?

toronado

Gameon - Thanks! The hanger p/n is 4R3Z5A246AA and should run you around $40 to $50 each. You'll need to order two and each requires two bolts which are not included. Fortunately you'll just happen to have four bolts left over from the V6 muffler. (cool how that works out, huh?)

Recommendations? I'd hate to recommend anything - I know squat about cars.


AW - Why not true duals? A few reasons. First I was trying to spend as little as possible. Second, I didn't want to cut any pipe between the factory Y and the motor (makes it easier to go back to stock if I need to). Third, none of the aftermarket 'dual' systems I've seen for 05 Mustangs are true dual. All I've seen are H-Pipe, X-Pipe, and Y-Pipe. So I figured it was safer not to run true duals.

i dunno.. :scratch:

IchBinEinStang

Just a question/observation: I noticed that the dual setup runs to a y pipe, than through a short pip to another y pipe to each bank of the V6. I think I would have taken out the original y pipe and put in a cross over (x pipe) instead... would this make more sense?

I am looking into buying the V6 model and have been looking at how much it would cost to make the modifications to custmize the car...