diff between 96-98 and 99-04 Magnaflow Cat-back?

GrapeGoat said:

Hey folks,

I have a friend with a '97 GT in need of an exhaust system. I happen to have a Magnaflow cat back from my long-gone '03 GT. It would be convenient if I could give (okay, sell) it to him, but Magnaflow lists different part numbers for the 96-98 and 99-04 systems (15671 and 15638 respectively).

Anyone know what the difference is between the two systems? Can the 15671 easily be made to work on a 96-98 car?

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94-97 has different hangers than the 98-04 mustangs, and I bet the tips would be different as well. The hangers are nothing an exhaust shop cant fix though..

GrapeGoat said:

Thanks for the reply. Those hangers unbolt from the car very easily, so theoretically, I could just get some 99-04 hangers and bolt them up to the '97.

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Yeah I really don't think those will pose a problem. As far as I know, nothing else (besides the tips) are different. IMO they probably won't look good on his car because they're made to sit inside the cut outs on your 03's bumper... but once again, you can buy new tips and have them welded on

The Magnaflow cat-back will fit fine. I put a Magnaflow cat-back that was made for the 99-04's on my old 98. The only difference between the 97 and 03 is that on the 03, there is an addtional hanger on the muffler and the hangers on the tips are different. This is not a problem. The cool thing about the Magnaflow tips, which are all the same, is that 1) the tips clamp onto the tailpipe and 2) the hanger is a 1/4in rod that slides in a grommet atop the tip. This allows the tips to be fully adjustable and installed exactly where you want them without having to weld anything. So, depending on what he wants to do, he can A) buy tailpipe hangers (the ones that attach to the car w/ rubber isolator) for a 98-04 and use the existing tip hangers (the only problem is that the tip will be right against the bumper) or B) bend the 1/4" rod and make new hangers to fit the stock hangers, which you can do very easily. It sounds more difficult that it really is.

To simplify...they will fit. Install the cat-back like you normally would and bend some 1/4" steel rod to hang the tips.