Exhaust Terminology?

Headers come off of the engine, specifically the heads. There are several different kinds: Long tubes (where the primaries (individual pipes coming off of each exhaust port) are long ), unequal length shortys (where the primaries are rather short, this is the factory kind of headers), and equl length shortys (where the primaries are still short, but all the same length).

Mid-pipes come in basically 3 different variations: H-pipe (where the crossover makes the shape of an h), prochamber (basically an h-pipe, but these are proven to make more power), and an x-pipe (where the crossover makes the shape of an x). They come either with cats, or no cats (i.e. O/R (off-road, no cats are illegal on teh streets), so o/r x-pipe means an mid-pipe with an "X" shaped crossover with no cats. Oh yea, the stock piece is a catted h-pipe.

Then the cat-backs are everything from the mid-pipe back, they include flowtubes (pipes between the mid-pipe and mufflers), mufflers, and tailpipes. There are about 3904809834 different kinds of catbacks. Dumps are simply when you "dump" the exhaust right after the muffler, instead of having full tailpipes run out and exit the rear of the car. Dumps make it a lot louder, and some people complain of the exhaust smell getting into the car.

Hope this cleared up your questions, feel free to ask more.
-Chris

catback=well just that where your mid pipe ends your cat back begins. Another words from your mufflers back.
X/H/Prochamber=That's the H looking pipe under your car where the catalytic converters are connected. The off-road h pipes (no cats) gives you that classic mustang sound, and X pipes give you more of an exotic sound. The H pipe looks like a big H and the X pipes looks like a big X.
Dumps or turn downs=When you have no tail pipes the pipes end atfter the mufflers.

and there are Bassani mid length headers (or whatever they are called). They are kinda in between shorties and long tube headers.

Steve-Os95GT said:

Hey, thanks CMan. That cleared up EVERYTHING.

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No problem man. Here's some pics

MAC unequal length shortys


Dumps, you can see there is an "L" shaped pipe clamped (my new setup is welded) onto the end of the muffler, that directs the exhaust down to the ground.


Sorry, no pics of my h-pipe.

Mid lenth header are not offered for 5.0 only 4.6's as far as I know.

Steve-Os95GT said:

Why do dumps make it more loud? Are they "illegal?" Or should I say, would they pass inspection? I don't like my pipes sticking out the back. I think the dumps would be better for me. Any disadvantages/problems with dumps? Thanks again.

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Dumps make it louder by bouncing the sound back off the ground and at the car. It's like firing a gun out in the open as opposed to firing it in a closed room. It's a lot louder in the room.

They are illegal, because the exhaust is supposed to exit rear of the passenger area in a vehicle, in mustangs it's supposed to be rear of the axle. You could probably pass inspection though since most inspection stations don't really care.

I agree, I like the looks of no tailpipes coming out the rear of the car. Plus tailpipes weight a LOT!! lol. The only disadvantage may be they might be to loud for you. I have an o/r h-pipe with SLP's dumped, and it's frickin loud. But I've gotten used to it and don't mind it. You might notice more exhaust smell in your car with them, especially if you sit in traffic a lot, but I rarely notice mine really.