Exhaust 2.5 Vs 3" Tail Pipes

2011rustang5o · Oct 28, 2016

As much as I love the sound of my long tube, o/r x dumped 40 series I'm a little over the exhaust smell at red lights and the wife is pissy. Need to add tail pipes. Any idea is there would be any real difference between 2.5" and 3" tail pipes besides sound? Everything else is 2.5"

331 stroker, heads, cam and intake 93 LX coupe car.

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General karthief · Oct 28, 2016

My humble opinion.
Loud, annoyingly useless, with a drone at certain speeds that will drive you nuts.
But then my only experience was a big block chevell with full length headers H pipe borla mufflers and full exhaust, no it wasn't mine.

2011rustang5o · Oct 28, 2016

Thanks for adding nothing to this and not answering the question.

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General karthief · Oct 28, 2016

2011rustang5o said:
Thanks for adding nothing to this and not answering the question.
Sorry, from what I have read on here and a couple rags I get, a 3" exhaust is just loud, no real benefit, unless your putting out mad hp. Some tests even show loss of hp and or tq, you could keep the 3" to the mufflers and neck it down to 2.5" over the rear and out the back, mandrel bent of course, that will tame it a bit in my opinion, with minimal power loss, coups have an advantage over hatch backs on exhaust noise inside the car. Also the straight pipes that exit the back of lx cars should be the same size, some times exhaust shops but a 'polished' end that is bigger giving it a megaphone effect. Loud does not always sound good.
This is my opinion and only my opinion, I hope to be helpful, I am also a bit of a joker, so expect the occasional reference to beer and picking on priuses.

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General karthief · Oct 28, 2016

Ok first of all I have no idea what I did to make my previous post (#4) look like that and I also reread your question, put a mandrel bent 2.5" full exhaust on it and call it a day.

2011rustang5o · Oct 29, 2016

I know on the 2011+ cars 3" is useless unless you are turbo and high numbers. I'd like to tame it down a little. 2.5" it is. Kinda thought the 3" looked good but it's hard to tell in a picture.

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Gearbanger 101 · Oct 29, 2016

There is no horsepower benefit to going with 3" tails on your setup. The bigger tails will do little more than make your exhaust louder. A 2-1/2" exhaust will support over 450hp N/A.

Still gonna drone like a bugger with those 40-series on there. That's just the nature of a chambered muffler.

2011rustang5o · Oct 29, 2016

I actually have no drone at all even with the dumps. Very surprised. If the tail pipes add drone oh well. It's not a full daily driver.

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Mustang5L5 · Oct 29, 2016

For the tailpipes only, no real benefit of 3" pipes over 2.5". Really just a visual thing.

3" might be a pain to run over the axle just for clearance, and usually the transition from 2.5" to 3" after the axle can look awkward if visible.

As for sound. You have a 331, it's gonna be loud no matter what.

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2011rustang5o · Oct 29, 2016

Mustang5L5 said:
For the tailpipes only, no real benefit of 3" pipes over 2.5". Really just a visual thing.

3" might be a pain to run over the axle just for clearance, and usually the transition from 2.5" to 3" after the axle can look awkward if visible.

As for sound. You have a 331, it's gonna be loud no matter what.

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Yea sound either way is ok with me. Loud or quieter it is what it is.

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JD1964 · Oct 29, 2016

Not that I suggest it but 2 1/4" tailpipes would not loose any performance either. Reason being the exhaust gasses have cooled and contracted by the time they come out of the muffler. The contracted gasses don't need the same size pipe that's closer to the engine to flow the same amount.

2011rustang5o · Oct 29, 2016

John Dirks Jr said:
Not that I suggest it but 2 1/4" tailpipes would not loose any performance either. Reason being the exhaust gasses have cooled and contracted by the time they come out of the muffler. The contracted gasses don't need the same size pipe that's closer to the engine to flow the same amount.

Science! I almost bought a stock set of tail pipes BUT they are too far away for me to want to drive for them. Gonna order the 2.5" late model tail pipes. They got a 10% off sale right now.

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2000xp8 · Oct 29, 2016

I would probably buy a whole catback.
Last time I checked, the tailpipes were all over 50% of the cost.
Much easier to bolt in and adjust a catback than mix and match mufflers and hope it all fits without welding and cutting.

I switched to a dynomax ultraflo welded kit so my mm panhard bar fit without modifications to the pipes and I got it on sale on amazon for $259 for the whole thing and that was for the lx 2.5 setup.

2011rustang5o · Oct 29, 2016

If I did a cat back I would need a mid pipe to because the previous owner had bullet mufflers welded to the mid pipe. Not trying to spend a million dollars right now.

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JD1964 · Oct 29, 2016

2011rustang5o said:
Science! I almost bought a stock set of tail pipes BUT they are too far away for me to want to drive for them. Gonna order the 2.5" late model tail pipes. They got a 10% off sale right now.

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I bought a Flowmaster cat back for my LX. My stock LX tail pipes were in such good shape I chucked 'em behind the shed for another day. Later my son bought a 93 vert that had dumps off the mufflers. Warlock mufflers and man was it obnoxious riding in that thing. We went behind the shed and resurrected the old stock LX pipes and had a local street rod builder we know make an adapter and welded them on. Man what a world of difference adding tailpipes makes! 100% tolerable now! Even feels like it runs better without all the noise in the cabin.

2011rustang5o · Oct 30, 2016

My friends dad has a track only bracket racer nova. It's real neat to sit it in at idle and cruise it in the pits because it's open headers. So when I got this car I was psyched because it was like that kinda but the romance has already worn off. Especially because I think the dumps are 1/2 the reason the interior smells "old" even with the new carpet.

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General karthief · Oct 30, 2016

Way back when they made wooden tailpipes they used to say, if you can't make it fast, make it loud.

Exhaust 2.5 Vs 3" Tail Pipes

2011rustang5o

Active Member

General karthief

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

2011rustang5o

Active Member

General karthief

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

General karthief

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

2011rustang5o

Active Member

Gearbanger 101

Straight Outta Locash

2011rustang5o

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Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

2011rustang5o

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JD1964

there is enough sticking out to grab on to

2011rustang5o

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2000xp8

2011rustang5o

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JD1964

there is enough sticking out to grab on to

2011rustang5o

Active Member

General karthief

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

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Exhaust 2.5 Vs 3" Tail Pipes

Active Member

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

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wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

Active Member

Straight Outta Locash

Active Member

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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there is enough sticking out to grab on to

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Active Member

there is enough sticking out to grab on to

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wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

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