exhaust question-somewhat different

[junkyardwarrior]

I'm going to abandon my 180° exhaust project for my '93 LX. I had built a 180° header out of a set of Flowtechs (re-routed the tubes under the car crossing over 2 from each side to the opposite collector) and although it sounded awesome, it wil stay on that car ('85 coupe) as it is a drag car only.

On my '93 LX 5.0...I'm going to old school. But I need an educated opinion. What I am thinking about is BBK long tubes, catted H pipe, and 2.5" flowmaster tails. What I have not decided on is the mufflers. I am thinking American Thunder series but I've not heard them in person. My goal is a daily driver. A fun one but I drive it 200 miles a day some days, mostly freeway, and it needs either NO or very little interior resonance. I also have an '03 Lightning and I love the way it sounds (stock exhaust)...not too loud and not really too quiet-although it could stand to be a hair louder but not much. That's what I would like the Mustang to end up like. Something I can hold a conversation with my GF without having to holler all the time. Needs to be quiet but not silent like the stock exhaust is. Does anyone have any experience with something like I'm doing? I'd like your suggestions....

Mods:
AFR165. Ed's cam (218-230 @ .050). 9.7:1 compression. RPM EFI intake, 75mm TB and MAF 24 lb injectors. Nothing exotic really. Daily driver is the goal-needs to be pretty quiet and reliable.

 

[90stang5speed]

I would like to hear this 180* exhaust you speak of on the drag car. Another guy made a post about " drone is gone " or something like that. This guy welded some tubes at 90* angles to his tail pipes. the other end was capped off. I wont do his write up justice but, the idea was that the sound went up the tubes & when it bounced back it was 180 out from the pulse coming down the pipes & canceled out some of the sound. I havent tried it but, it seemed like a cool idea for a DD that wants a great WOT sound but quieter at cruise (around 2000 RPM). Try to do a search about drone. I wish I could give you the post but, I stumbled on it by accident. Might even want to google it because Im not sure it was on this forum.

 

[junkyardwarrior]

the 180 deal I did is a true 180 degree header that pairs cylinders that fire 180° apart. Meaning #2 and #3 primary pipe from the right side cross over and they are in the left collector, and then #6 and #7 cross over from the left side to the right collector. The primary pipes from numbers 5, 2, 3, and 8 are in the left collector and 7,4,1,6 are in the right collector.

Takes a ton of cutting, welding, repositioning to make it work. And there's other ways of doing it too....another way is to reposition them so that cylinders 1,5,4,2 are in one collector and 6,3,7,8 are in another-but it's not a "true" 180° header. In this form, you only have to cross one from each side (#5 and #3). Haven't tried it though. Trust me...it's not worth the hassle to make pipes cross under the transmission. My '85 is a C4 car with a 306". Sounded like all the rest of the SBF cars out there and I wanted it different . With the way the pipes cross under the bellhousing, the pan gets hot, trans runs warmer than it should, the floors are hot (no carpet) and it's a PAIN to install (all are slip fit tubes) but it does what I wanted it to. One of the side effects was that the collectors are much further back which keeps the methanol fumes more toward the back of the car which is a good thing.

It is supposed to even out the firing pulses in the exhaust-thereby helping scavenging. I did it for the sound only. And it sounds different alright! Like a pair of slightly upset 4 cylinder bike engines arguing with each other.

They're set up just like a cross plane Indy V8 (before they started using "flat" crankshafts) but they're obviously not equal length and a factory style H or X won't fit by any means-not that you'd need one anyway (I run it straight). I like it but not on a street car. And it didn't do a thing for power-at least not on the timeslips.

But it does turn heads and make people wonder. Maybe one of these days I'll get a picture and sound clip. Yes. Different no doubt.

 

[2000xp8]

For a daily driver i would not bother with long tubes, me personally on lower displacement engines i think they are over rated. Not to mention there are some ground clearance issues. You can also mix and match brands and parts easier with shorties or equals.

Ford racing shorties or bassani equals is where i would be looking.
I've had a couple different flowmaster kits, not sure which the AT catback is, but i've had the 2 chamber and 3 chamber (which i currently still run) the 3 is a bit quieter and less drone.
Personally i wouldn't buy either one again at this point.
After having so many exhaust parts go bad, i'm all about better quality, especially on a car that see's alot of miles, because exhaust doesn't only degrade from the outside, but from the inside too.
Look for something in the catback department that is stainless.