I've been very pleased with the sound my Mac axlebacks and Bassani catted xpipe provide for warm weather tooling around. They're loud, aggressive, and scream at WOT. With my window down and the radio OFF, I love just prowling around making the motor do its thing.
Problem is, any lengthy driving, especially with the windows up, got on my nerves as the dreaded 1800-2000rpm drone just about rattled my teeth loose whenever cruising speed in 5th got under load at that rpm range. This has been reported over and over across forums, and various combos of midpipe and muffler have been purported to increase or reduce the drone. My combo has always been reported to have great sound but intrusive drone at 2000rpm.
Anyhow, one writer on a forum with the same midpipe and muffler as me mentioned that his drone became manageable after getting JBA headers. I thought that was a bit much money for sound improvement, as the performance gains haven't exactly screamed bang for the buck in the magazines. But the other week, my son and I installed BBK shorties on his '86 Mustang GT. He has an xpipe and Flowmasters, which sounded great, but the BBK mufflers deepened the tone, clearly added some low and midrange punch, and really improved sound at WOT. I figured what the heck and ordered the BBK shorties for the 05-06 Mustang. They just got installed.
The first impression is that any hint of raspiness is about eliminated, with a healthy idle. Pushing on the gas elicits a nice growl, but it's not as manic or loud--the sound IN THE CABIN is very much reduced!! It's weird, and I got really bummed out that my signature exhaust sound had got tempered a bit. Curious how it sounded outside the car, I had my son get in the drivers seat and I watched him go about 100 yards up the street, and then do the same thing going the other way. Not WOT but just a bit of gas for fun. Ah-ha! Big difference. Outside the car the sound is awesome, and improved, and still very much as loud. Somehow the headers have removed the irritating frequencies and even reduced the drone to very manageable levels, and it doesn't translate into the cabin.
Now, I have no way to prove it unless dynoed, but I think mid-range punch is way up. Third and forth feel "stronger" and have more pull.
I'm detailing the car today as there will be a large cruise-in in our area tomorrow if the weather holds, and if it does, I'll take some film/audio to have you compare with earlier video of just the xpipe and Mac axleback alone. I'm pretty satisfied, and heck, it will add some spice to our car shows when the hood is up.
Thought I'd pass on the info, as few S197 drivers seem to be getting the shorties nowadays...
John
Problem is, any lengthy driving, especially with the windows up, got on my nerves as the dreaded 1800-2000rpm drone just about rattled my teeth loose whenever cruising speed in 5th got under load at that rpm range. This has been reported over and over across forums, and various combos of midpipe and muffler have been purported to increase or reduce the drone. My combo has always been reported to have great sound but intrusive drone at 2000rpm.
Anyhow, one writer on a forum with the same midpipe and muffler as me mentioned that his drone became manageable after getting JBA headers. I thought that was a bit much money for sound improvement, as the performance gains haven't exactly screamed bang for the buck in the magazines. But the other week, my son and I installed BBK shorties on his '86 Mustang GT. He has an xpipe and Flowmasters, which sounded great, but the BBK mufflers deepened the tone, clearly added some low and midrange punch, and really improved sound at WOT. I figured what the heck and ordered the BBK shorties for the 05-06 Mustang. They just got installed.
The first impression is that any hint of raspiness is about eliminated, with a healthy idle. Pushing on the gas elicits a nice growl, but it's not as manic or loud--the sound IN THE CABIN is very much reduced!! It's weird, and I got really bummed out that my signature exhaust sound had got tempered a bit. Curious how it sounded outside the car, I had my son get in the drivers seat and I watched him go about 100 yards up the street, and then do the same thing going the other way. Not WOT but just a bit of gas for fun. Ah-ha! Big difference. Outside the car the sound is awesome, and improved, and still very much as loud. Somehow the headers have removed the irritating frequencies and even reduced the drone to very manageable levels, and it doesn't translate into the cabin.
Now, I have no way to prove it unless dynoed, but I think mid-range punch is way up. Third and forth feel "stronger" and have more pull.
I'm detailing the car today as there will be a large cruise-in in our area tomorrow if the weather holds, and if it does, I'll take some film/audio to have you compare with earlier video of just the xpipe and Mac axleback alone. I'm pretty satisfied, and heck, it will add some spice to our car shows when the hood is up.
Thought I'd pass on the info, as few S197 drivers seem to be getting the shorties nowadays...
John