Exhaust used by Convertible Owners?

Topdowncruise

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Apr 7, 2005
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I am humming and hawing about which cat back to get for my recently acquired 89 GT vert.It is essentially stock with the stock headers and the 4 cats.I have 3.55 gears so on the Highway my tach reads about 2250.I am interested in a relatively quiet exhaust as I don't want to draw attention to myself in town during normal driving or have so much noise I can't hear my stereo on the highway.Of course, if I am heavy on the throttle I understand that any performance exhaust is going to be quite a bit louder than stock.I am leaning toward the regular Magnaflows in part because they are stainless steel and I hear they are not very loud.Borlas are too expensive.I get the impression alot of vert owners on this forum go with dynomax super turbos.Are they supposed to be alot quieter?Much of a difference in drone?Any other recommendations?I live in a smaller community so I can't compare to many other stangs first hand.Also,I find sound clips only marginally useful.Guidance would be appreciated.
 
I've got an 89Gt Vert and just installed BBK shorties, O/R H-Pipe and Flowmaster Cat Back Force II's 3 days ago. My engine is stock but I have a few bolt on's. Sounds pretty good.........It is quiet while cruising, but lay into it and it puts out a nice aggressive tone. Good luck! Oh by the way got 3 chamber Flows on a 96 351 Bronco that sounds great also....
 
One of my friends has a '96 Black Convertible GT with a UPR off-road X-pipe and Flowmaster American Thunder Cat-Back system, sounds extremely loud and mean, very nice. Another friend has '95 Convertible GT with a complete MAC exhaust from the full-length header, Off-road H-Pipe, to the MAC Cat Back System; it is another winner in the sound department. Both of these combinations of exhaust systems sound awesome. If i had a convertible, I'd consider it, but my '89 GT hatchback, hard-top, has a MAC Off-road H-pipe, MAC 1 5/8 Equal length headers and Flowmaster 10 series (1 chamber) race mufflers. So if you want to talk about loudness, talk to me.
 
I put a Flowmaster Force II cat back on my vert and have been happy with it. It's louder than stock but only when you're pushing on the long pedal. I haven't noticed any drone at cruising speeds and it's very quiet when you are at a steady speed.
 
I'm running with the Dynomax SuperTurbs, and they are not quiet. They have a very deep bass rumble at low rpm, and I have to crank the stereo. The quicker the engine revs, the less "deep" and they seem to mellow a bit. Honestly, they sound more like a late 60's muscle car than the more modern growl using other combo's. I like the sound, and here in Florida there's no real need to worry about the cops pulling me over for being too noisy.

No cats, though, and dumped at the axle.
 
Dynomax super turbos here two. But I have the 2.25 not 2.5 and they sound a little louder than stock at idle with a 2.5 O/R H-pipe. At speed, it sounds nice. Noticable but not too loud. I have a UPR 2.5 O/R X-pipe thats going on soon not sure how that will change the sound.
 
TheBocSez said:
Dynomax super turbos here two. But I have the 2.25 not 2.5 and they sound a little louder than stockat idle with a 2.5 O/R H-pipe. At speed, it sounds nice. Noticable but not too loud. I have a UPR 2.5 O/R X-pipe thats going on soon not sure how that will change the sound.

If you are switching over to a UPR Off-Road X-Pipe, your car is going to sound a little less loud, but more raspier. It sounds good but the big difference between the two is that an H-Pipe tends to be deep-sounded and louder than an X-Pipe which is preferrably quieter with no deep-sound, but a raspy sound. Have fun with it.
 
i have flowmaster 2 chamber american thunders with BBK cat. h-pipe on mine. i think its the perfect middle of the road. normal cruising has a mellow tone, full throtle and you can hear it a couple of blocks away.
 
My set up has changed but at one time I was running a Magnaflow catback with the stock H and headers. If you want something that isn't going to blow your eardrums out but still give you that great Mustang sound this is it. It was pretty quiet at idle and coming off idle. If you got on it really hard it gotta a little loud but not obnoxious or anything and as I remember it I didnt have any drone problems.

Now I am running the same catback but with an O/R x pipe and FRPP shorty headers and it is nice and loud now. Just the way I like it :D
 
StreetStang302 said:
If you are switching over to a UPR Off-Road X-Pipe, your car is going to sound a little less loud, but more raspier. It sounds good but the big difference between the two is that an H-Pipe tends to be deep-sounded and louder than an X-Pipe which is preferrably quieter with no deep-sound, but a raspy sound. Have fun with it.

Thanks!, The H pipe was fine but is leaking pretty bad. Got a smokin deal on a like new X pipe so figured why not give it a try.
 
RYC CUKR said:
My set up has changed but at one time I was running a Magnaflow catback with the stock H and headers. If you want something that isn't going to blow your eardrums out but still give you that great Mustang sound this is it. It was pretty quiet at idle and coming off idle. If you got on it really hard it gotta a little loud but not obnoxious or anything and as I remember it I didnt have any drone problems.

Now I am running the same catback but with an O/R x pipe and FRPP shorty headers and it is nice and loud now. Just the way I like it :D
Thanks.By 'coming off idle" you mean up to about 2500 RPM, where I change gears under normal driving?It sounds like it would be fairly quiet until I go to aftermarket headers and/or an O/R pipe but I imagine that is probably the case for any exhaust system.
 
Topdowncruise said:
Thanks.By 'coming off idle" you mean up to about 2500 RPM, where I change gears under normal driving?It sounds like it would be fairly quiet until I go to aftermarket headers and/or an O/R pipe but I imagine that is probably the case for any exhaust system.

Yeah that is pretty much what I meant. If you really get on it hard then it might get a little loud but but if you are just driving normally then it has that nice mustang rumble.

It was a definite improvement over the stock system that was on my 93. Like I said I had no problems with exhaust drone. My old 91 with o/r H and flows would actually rattle change in the car at 2000-2500 rpm. Got a little annoying since that was cruise rpm at 80mph in that car.

My Magnaflow catback went on really easy. Probably took me 2 1/2 hours to remove the old one and put the new catback on. That was working on jackstands in my driveway.