rmurer

Purchased from AM. Everything about the kit seemed straight forward.

I was wrong. Installation was on a 2011 GT. Used jack stands which probably didn't help my case. Ford does not make it easy to remove the h pipe and cats. I spent close to an hour and 1/2 on just a couple of the clamps. Tried my hand at removing the cats from the headers but, those are practically impossible. So i gave in and took it to a shop.

The shop even had issues, they had to use an air chisel on one of the bolts that connects the cats to the headers. But in the end it got done. Picked it up and suspected that there might be a leak but wasn't entirely sure.

Finally checked for leaks yesterday and it appears the ball joint clamp isn't the most perfect connection as even the clamp being as tight as it was, was still allowing leaks at both connections. Tried shifting the clamps around and adjusting them but no go. Had to resort to patching it with a putty. At first it seemed to work but i think i jumped the gun so i have to get back under and add more.

My conclusion is i probably wouldn't recommend this product to other mustang owners. The sound is great with my gt500 AB's but its almost not worth the hassle.

Brandon302

For the leaks try some of that high temp tape/header wrap, that is what I used for the ball joints to the cats on my flow masters x pipe.

rmurer

Never thought of that! Maybe because the store i was at didn't have it....Maybe thats what ill pick up on the way home today to try. And its right under the clamp so the clamp will also hold it in place.

Brandon302

You just want to make sure you wrap a ways past the clamp on both sides and also make it a little thick because it will dry out with the heat.

MJJ

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I hate to say this but when I saw your original post you may recall I posted JBA has a history of great sounding, poor fitting pipes. Seems as if that continues to hold true.

rmurer

yup sad but true.

dmichaels

Thanks for the detailed overview - I had thought about putting these in for track days, sounds like it is definitely not worth the effort... too bad it's such a PITA

Brandon302

Doesn't seem like there is really a point for track days, unless you just want it to sound good, I've read quite a few threads saying cat removal doesn't really increase your HP.

dmichaels

It's a significant restriction - on my S4, taking out the cats (4 of them) gained me a couple mph in the 1/4... huge gains. Granted it was a turbo car and I had the rear O2's tuned out so no codes were thrown - I could see without tuning no realized gains if the engine thinks there is a problem with the cat's (makes the engine run rich)

rmurer

I did fix most of the leaking with some high temp tape, probably wont last through the winter but its fine for now.