Back in 1998 I bought my 1991 stock GT from the orignal owner and it came with factory exhaust (full mufflers and all 4 little catalytic converters up front).
I too had fallen in love with that unique 5.0 sound and so was determined to get it. I spent about $350 right away at a local exhaust shop and, on the advice of the manager, installed Flowmaster "chambered" mufflers which were made exactly to fit my car and were basically s-shaped tubes with bulges on them that bolted right in.
Those mufflers were an improvement, but lacked the burliness and bass that I was going for. It only kinda sounded good here and there depending on the rpms I was at. For 7 years I drove the car like that, but it never was what I had really wanted. Always bugged me.
I wanted to increase the sound quality and also keep my emissions legal front h-pipe with the cats. I also didn't feel like rolling the dice again for hundreds of dollars to end up where I already was.
Then, in 2005 a friend of a friend showed up with this stock 1988 LX 5.0 and it had "THE SOUND" I had been chasing all those years. I was amazed and pleased to find that all he had done was to put simple straight pipes where the factory mufflers had been, while retaining the factory h-pipe with the cats. The car had no mods.
So, for the grand total of $50 a local exhaust shop straight piped my car and I've been in heaven ever since. The system sounds totally "tuned" with just the original cats and straights at the back. Everyone I know loves the sound of my car (I'm known for it now). Going through the 5 gears is always a pure pleasure for me, and I haven't even had the stereo on since then (I'd much rather listen to the car).
The fact that it's a GT with the turned down pipes at the back adds to the bass, which really carries. Heads turn on people that I'm driving TOWARDS while they're still far, far off in the distance.
The car is loud, but a good kind of loud, at any speed. It sounds just as good inside, windows up or down. I've never once been hassled by the law. The cats muffle the sound so that it sounds really rounded, really low, really mean (but not crackly or barky). You can almost 'feel' the sound as much as you can hear it. And due to the bassiness it really travels. People can hear me coming a long way's off when I go to visit them.
I keep the 4cyl "fartcan" guys on the defensive here, who think that louder is always better. I don't agree...and neither do the cops. I love the way they get all jumpy when I pull up. I just laugh.
Either Ford took the time to tune the exhaust in aniticipation of people putting straights on it or it is simply an amazing and fortunate coincidence. IMHO I've got the best sounding car in town - and that's a REALLY great feeling. People always assume that I must have done some mods but in reality the car is totally stock, including the cats and the thermactic air pump and EGR ect. - the only "mod" is the muffler delete.
Anybody else out there running a similar setup? Comments?
I too had fallen in love with that unique 5.0 sound and so was determined to get it. I spent about $350 right away at a local exhaust shop and, on the advice of the manager, installed Flowmaster "chambered" mufflers which were made exactly to fit my car and were basically s-shaped tubes with bulges on them that bolted right in.
Those mufflers were an improvement, but lacked the burliness and bass that I was going for. It only kinda sounded good here and there depending on the rpms I was at. For 7 years I drove the car like that, but it never was what I had really wanted. Always bugged me.
I wanted to increase the sound quality and also keep my emissions legal front h-pipe with the cats. I also didn't feel like rolling the dice again for hundreds of dollars to end up where I already was.
Then, in 2005 a friend of a friend showed up with this stock 1988 LX 5.0 and it had "THE SOUND" I had been chasing all those years. I was amazed and pleased to find that all he had done was to put simple straight pipes where the factory mufflers had been, while retaining the factory h-pipe with the cats. The car had no mods.
So, for the grand total of $50 a local exhaust shop straight piped my car and I've been in heaven ever since. The system sounds totally "tuned" with just the original cats and straights at the back. Everyone I know loves the sound of my car (I'm known for it now). Going through the 5 gears is always a pure pleasure for me, and I haven't even had the stereo on since then (I'd much rather listen to the car).
The fact that it's a GT with the turned down pipes at the back adds to the bass, which really carries. Heads turn on people that I'm driving TOWARDS while they're still far, far off in the distance.
The car is loud, but a good kind of loud, at any speed. It sounds just as good inside, windows up or down. I've never once been hassled by the law. The cats muffle the sound so that it sounds really rounded, really low, really mean (but not crackly or barky). You can almost 'feel' the sound as much as you can hear it. And due to the bassiness it really travels. People can hear me coming a long way's off when I go to visit them.
I keep the 4cyl "fartcan" guys on the defensive here, who think that louder is always better. I don't agree...and neither do the cops. I love the way they get all jumpy when I pull up. I just laugh.
Either Ford took the time to tune the exhaust in aniticipation of people putting straights on it or it is simply an amazing and fortunate coincidence. IMHO I've got the best sounding car in town - and that's a REALLY great feeling. People always assume that I must have done some mods but in reality the car is totally stock, including the cats and the thermactic air pump and EGR ect. - the only "mod" is the muffler delete.
Anybody else out there running a similar setup? Comments?