Basic Questions

[Apathy]

Q1- Looking at purchasing flow Masters... but from what ive seen, the Catback systems that they have are limited to the 40 series, and the 50 series mufflers... My question is.. is the entire catback needed? Or is it just as beneficial, to buy JUST the muffler... I am interested, in either the Super 44's or the Super 40's

Q2-I am assuming, Off-road Means... No catalytic converters, which means (Not street legal??).. Are all Onroad Xpipes/ catback systems, street legal?

Q3- Approximately How Much Horsepower Gain is typical, from Changing out, the stock H pipe, to an X pipe, and an average Catback exhaust (Stock Headers)

Q4- The differences in performance.. with Stock, compared to Shorty headers, and long Headers, Hp Gains?

Thanks ~ Violent

[TheGreekGuy]

regarding on road vs. off road pipes, all on road pipes are street legal.

regarding just a cat back vs. the mufflers you can weld in just the mufflers if you would like but its beneficial performance wise to install the whole catback(more flow). its wise to go with the whole catback if you can afford it.

regarding performance, swapping out the midpipe will be mostly for a louder sound although you do loosen up restriction whicih produces more HP. Dont expect anything drastic but something like 5-10 rwhp can be gained from a midpipe swap.

also if you change out to LT's i recomend waiting on the midpipe so that you purchase the one necessary for a LT setup.

ofcourse swapping out the LT's, midpipe and catback you can see some good hp gains all together.

as far as the cat back youve mentioned i would listen to the clips on the site and hopefully you change your mind.

ok hope that answers your questions.

[01Bullitt]

Not all on road pipes are legal actually. From what I have been told you cannot tamper with the cats in any way...that being said, you will never get caught running an after market mid pipe though.

[TheGreekGuy]

the catalytic converters on the aftermarket midpipe come untampered, so if your taking about tampering with them after youve recieved them then they are illegal. is that what your saying bullit?

[Apathy]

So ... why would a muffler company, sell just mufflers, and not Kits.. for each one of their mufflers? Id imagine, the pipes in between the cats, and the mufflers, wouldent exactly make much difference since they have to relatively take the same path...


also.. what about, the differences, between stockers, long and short headers
Thanks

[01Bullitt]

the catalytic converters on the aftermarket midpipe come untampered, so if your taking about tampering with them after youve recieved them then they are illegal. is that what your saying bullit?well you are not supposed to mess with the cats on an car period. Unless it is to replace them with OEM cats. At least that is what I have been told. But for example, my xpipe is modular which means it is not assembled when I got it. So therefore it could be conseidered that the cats are tampered with...if that makes sense. It just dosnt really matter though cause nobody can tell what an oem cat looks like anyways.

[Apathy]

I take it... Flowmasters, arent the favorite choice around here? They have a very very clean sound.. very generic... rich and deep growl, no popping, no bubbling, no gurgling.. just clean growl..

[01Bullitt]

Flowmasters are the most common muffler around I would say but on here almost nobody has them for some reason. They sound great but I think most people think they are played out.

[TheGreekGuy]

ah I see what your saying, so theres no proof there not tampered with.

regarding the flowmaster, the do sound great, but a lot of people around here experiment with different types of exhaust because they are, as you say. generic. if you like the sound then by all means go for it. most people who truly do not like flows are because of the drone, but if you can live with that then go for it. its your car bro, but i would also listen to other exhausts because there are SO MANY out there. then make your decision if you still like the flows.

[DropTopStang]

I had o/r H pipe and flowmaster catback on my 95 gt. When I put the flowmaster's on, I could tell a very little difference, but the sound was great. When I put the o/r pipe on thats when it opened up and I noticed a big difference in performance. If you get an o/r pipe even with flowmaster's it will pop and gurgle and all. I loved my flowmaster's though and don't regret buying them for my 95.

If you do a header swap, go for Long Tubes because shorties aren't going to give you much more performance over stock manifolds and I have heard a few with shorties and it changes the exhaust sound slightly and it was not to my liking.

[Apathy]

Is the popping and gurgling sound a good thing? I like the nice clean revs, i am actually looking into an X pipe, because it seems a More Direct route From A to B.. where the H, kinda cuts it and changes the exhuast flow

On another note, I race, 1/8th scale Offroad buggies, and i know even the slightest change to the exhaust makes the little buggies perform very differently.. so i am all about finding out, What id notice from the H pipe to a X pipe, Short headers, to long headers, and what not

[TheGreekGuy]

just know that once you get an X or H pipe for shorty headers that you cannot use the same midpipe for long tube headers. You woul dhave to modify the pipe or purchase a whole new pipe because of the difference in length. as far as clean revs if you like the clean revs you wanna go with a chambered muffler, anything straight through IMO will probobly give you burbles as you downshift and pops as you accelerate. again that is IMO. regarding the H vs. X pipe. The x pipe does produce more power but also a different sound. it will give you a more exotic sound that you would probobly like with a deeper note than the H pipe. the H pipe will give you a much higher pitched more muscle care sound. I have had both on different mustangs and im favorable to the X its a much smoother sound but i personally like the burble and cracks which is why i have slp. i would continue to listen to the clips and see what you like, then make your decision from there.

[Apathy]

I actually like the sound of the Slp loud mouth.. especially the clip with the borla mid pipes... bassani, is a little too high pitched and whiney for me.. I like the Stockers sound, id like some amplification, i want to be heard, and hear my car

[TheGreekGuy]

slp is the loudest exhaust for a mustant period. and is not like flowmaster at all. bassani iis a little exotic but if you like the slp go with it. just now it is the exact opposite to flows. you probobly wont have clean revs. it all depends on what your gonna change, you might wanna check out magnapacks. thats what i had on my 04 gt and its in my profile

[03muscle]

slp is the loudest exhaust for a mustant period. and is not like flowmaster at all. bassani iis a little exotic but if you like the slp go with it. just now it is the exact opposite to flows. you probobly wont have clean revs. it all depends on what your gonna change, you might wanna check out magnapacks. thats what i had on my 04 gt and its in my profile

+1 on the magnapacks I had flows on my 03 and well I got tired of them pretty quick. They didnt have the tone I was looking for. But I still have flows on my fox and love it/ hate it at the same time. hour and thirty min drive with the drone was killing me.

[TheGreekGuy]

yeah im partial to the packs lol I loved them on my 04 gt. def. the best exhaust setup for that year car period. but hey its very individual lol but try out the packs.

[FOX ROD]

You should contact Flowmaster regarding the Super 44's in a cat-back system. The Super 44's have replaced the original 40 series in some systems. If you go with Flowmaster I would stick with an H-pipe. IMO the H gives more of a deep, muscle car sound where the X gives more of a higher pitch exotic sound. The X also sounds better with the mufflers that have a straight through design as opposed to the chambered design of a Flowmaster.

[Apathy]

Firm believer of the quote "no question is a dumb question" Are exhaust tips,... purely cosmetic.. or do the larger openings, increase sound/performance...?

[01Bullitt]

Some tips do in fact change the sound. For example, I have SLP Loud Mouth 1s and I know that my tips also have built in "resonators". I had my tips off one day and it gave the car a complete different sound.