i have an california exhaust question

i would like to do some exhaust work on my car. seeing how i live in ca longtubes are out of the question. and since shorties dont really offer much over stock, i will have to stick with the stockers.next down the line the mid pipe. considering that i have to keep the stock manifolds which midpipe will offer the most gains? off road x pipe or h pipe. i dont mind the midpipe being not ca compliant because its easy to change, but i dont feel like having to do longtube swaps on a 4.6 to smog lol. so which system would you guys recomend? stock manifolds, OR X or H? and mufflers? right now is all stock with flowmasters welded in and 3.5" tips. and i am actually in love with the sound of my car, it sounds great i think the 3.5 tips really compliment the flows or something. but are the flows bad on performance.

i have a exhaust tubing bender at the shop i work at. so my other option is stock manifolds. build a 2.5 or 3" off road x pipe back, and beter flowing mufflers. its not a mandrel bender but unless its an extreme bend it makes a prety nice bend. i would like to just build my own system because it would cost next to nothing. are the aftermarket mandrel bent OR catbacks going to be very much beter than me doing it all custom? i wouldnt think so. but what do you guys think. keep in mind the cost advantage 200-400 bucks for a catback probably? or like 50 bucks worth of tubing? also if i go this route which mufflers flow the best? thanks
 
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i can find absolutely nothing about any mustang owners building custom exhaust's lol. seems like everyone is using the main aftermarket (bassini, bbk ect) is that because those systems are that much beter than custom or because most people dont have access to pipe and benders and welders?

has anyone ran 3" exhaust from the manifolds back, with an h or x pipe, and borla stingers or similar muffler? would a 3" system like that have any gains or is there no point than going biger than 2.5?
 
I think most people wouldn't have the expertise and equipment to build their own exhaust. Furthermore, the quality and fitment of the aftermarket will generally be better. They can do testing on many different cars for longer periods of time to ensure the correct fitment and that there are no new NHV issues. I would recommend against building your own system, because it wouldn't save that much money, and there's a 99% chance that the aftermarket parts will be better quality with a better fit. Your tubing bender won't make mandrel bends.

Also, I would not recommend going to a 3" exhaust system. A 2.5" system will be PLENTY for you. 3" adds a lot of complexity to make it fit, extra weight and may even hurt performance by lowering exhaust flow velocities.
 
I think most people wouldn't have the expertise and equipment to build their own exhaust. Furthermore, the quality and fitment of the aftermarket will generally be better. They can do testing on many different cars for longer periods of time to ensure the correct fitment and that there are no new NHV issues. I would recommend against building your own system, because it wouldn't save that much money, and there's a 99% chance that the aftermarket parts will be better quality with a better fit. Your tubing bender won't make mandrel bends.

Also, I would not recommend going to a 3" exhaust system. A 2.5" system will be PLENTY for you. 3" adds a lot of complexity to make it fit, extra weight and may even hurt performance by lowering exhaust flow velocities.

Why would it fit worse? He is making it fit his car. If he can cut and weld decent he would be able to make it fit 100%.

hillbilie5.0 I would pick up whatever crossover pipe you want (H or X) and build the pipe out of 2.5 piping. You're also going to need a ball socket for the driver side and a two bolt flange for the other.

I've not seen anyone post pix of PYPES longtubes, so here they are: - Page 3 - Corral Forums

There is one that he had made for his car. Not the best looking ever but it cleared his T/A.
 
In my opinion, it is the reality of fabrication. Have you ever tried bending or welding up an exhaust system before? The angles and lengths have to be PERFECT. When you buy an aftermarket part, it was probably made on a jig which exactly matches the car it will go on, so it truly fits correctly. Plus, there is a certain amount of experience that goes into building an exhaust system knowing which bends tend to vibrate more and exactly what angle is needed to mate with XXX part. In general... easier said than done.

Why would it fit worse? He is making it fit his car. If he can cut and weld decent he would be able to make it fit 100%.

hillbilie5.0 I would pick up whatever crossover pipe you want (H or X) and build the pipe out of 2.5 piping. You're also going to need a ball socket for the driver side and a two bolt flange for the other.

I've not seen anyone post pix of PYPES longtubes, so here they are: - Page 3 - Corral Forums

There is one that he had made for his car. Not the best looking ever but it cleared his T/A.
 
ive done a lot of exhaust systems in cars and trucks, so i can do the bends and welding no prob, and there is exhaust tubing, the bender, welder, and lifts at work. so i guess really my question is will a pretty much free non mandrel bent custom OR x or h pipe sound and perform close to a $200-$400 one? is it really worth it to spend the money when i can make one. i may end up just buying one to save the hassle, that extra couple hundred could buy some 4.10s if i make the pipe hmmmm. lol
 
be careful cops like to look under your car when the pull you over.

x2 i was out there visiting my dad and a cop drove by flipped his lights on and had me pulled over before he could see my tags were from outta state. he said he had a whole laundry list of tickets he was planning to give me. then started looking all over the car and under her. he felt the need to let me know that my car wasnt street legal there.:jaw: i told him in okie we can run about anything we want. god bless the states with no inspections :flag:
 
i dont really care to much about being legal, ive never seen a cop look under a car around where i live. i live in auburn ca. i bet down in sac and bigger cities they are more onto that stuff. whats the penelty anyway for having no cats if u do get caught? fix it ticket or what?
 
if you go with an o/r midpipe then you might aswell do long tubes. I just got some installed. Ive only got 1 ticket with my old set up since 03 (ford racing shorties/off road H/flows). when I got the ticket they didnt look at anything they just gave me a fix it... LOL then i gave it to my buddy and her signed it off
 
Well I figured changing a midpipe for smog or for a fix it ticket aint that hard. But the longtube job I hear is a real pita. Plus ther 400 or 500 bucks for longtubes. I wish they were just legal in cali I could do full exhaust and not ever worry about swaping back to stock. Damn cali
 
I've never had a cop look under my car, and I live in the Bay Area, and in Sac when I'm in school.

BTW, hillbilie, I think I saw you on HWY 50 the other day. :p

dont think it was me you saw, not on highway 50 anyway. im in auburn so i prety much keep it to highway 49 and I 80 lol. yeah im really not to worried about a cop looking under my car. if it gets to be to much of a problem i'll weld some fake cats lol.

so i see that the pypes off road H pipe is only $115, and i think i can get it cheaper through work through ATECH which is summit racing. probably be like 90 or 100 bucks maby less i dont know i will find out at work tomorow and maby order it up. so what i was thinking though for exhaust setup, stock manifolds, pypes 2.5" offroad H pipe, and i will keep my flowmasters for now. but i will bend up some new 2.5" tail pipes that i'll finish with my 3.5" tips.
so whats your guys opinion on that setup, i think that will sound wicked and no cats plus 2.5 pipe all the way, thats gota flow decent. still gay that LT's are so expensive and illegal in cali.
is the pypes h pipe made to work with stock manifolds?



i could never move back. none of my cars are street legal there

yeah it sucks. and i always end up coming back to cali though. ive moved out of state a few times. and i always end up back here. there is alot of stupid things about cali, but i still love it here. i can shoot **** and ride my dirtbike from my house and ride for days, go fishin right down the street, the bar is only a short drunken drive.....jk LOL
 
so i see that the pypes off road H pipe is only $115, and i think i can get it cheaper through work through ATECH which is summit racing. probably be like 90 or 100 bucks maby less i dont know i will find out at work tomorow and maby order it up.
I think that H is for LT headers. Seems to cheap to be for stock manifolds. Also, LMR sells prebent polished stainless tailpipes for reasonable. I think bending your own tailpipes is going to be more trouble than it is worth. Even if you bought a used catback just for the tails?
 
Actually, it was on 80. I was heading to Roseville.

that could have been me then. on tuesday and thursday i leave work in auburn at 12 to go to seirra college in rocklin, then i go to my dads in roseville after school alot of those days so that defenitly could have been me. if it was this black car with a ****ty paint job then is was me haha. its geting sprayed kirker "Hot rod black" satin black sometime this month. so it will be dark and evil looking rather than the half shiny half flat its got goin for it right now.

IMG00121-20091208-11471.jpg
 
that could have been me then. on tuesday and thursday i leave work in auburn at 12 to go to seirra college in rocklin, then i go to my dads in roseville after school alot of those days so that defenitly could have been me. if it was this black car with a ****ty paint job then is was me haha. its geting sprayed kirker "Hot rod black" satin black sometime this month. so it will be dark and evil looking rather than the half shiny half flat its got goin for it right now.

IMG00121-20091208-11471.jpg

Yup, that was you. :nice: Can't wait to see how it's gonna look with the new paint job!