Got Flowmasters welded in, have a Q?

[astronut1885]

Well, yesterday morning, I was sitting around bored, and decided to get my old Flowmaster 40s welded onto my 04. They were old, a bit rusty, and the inlets were a little mangled, but I still figured they'd work. I took them to Lou's Custom Exhaust in Plymouth, and they did a top notch job of rebuilding the inlets and welding them in place of my stock mufflers. I was thoroughly impressed considering I told them I planned on chopping them off within a year for side exhaust. Now, what I am wondering is, would there be anything to gain from going to a full catback if I don't end up going side exhaust (still weighing the pros and cons)? The installation is clean, as good as having two brand new Flows spliced into the system, and it's otherwise factory pipes. They looked like 2 1/2" Mandrel bent pieces to me, so is what I have as good as a complete catback, or is there more to be gained with aftermarket pipes?
Thanks dudes.


BTW- Car sounds sweet... like a stock stang that just grew a pair lol. Not overbearing, but throaty and smooth. Won't get my pulled over, but it will get me noticed.

 

[Winters98GT]

hard to say without any pics if they are actually mandrel bends. On an NA car, they might be worth another 1-2hp, if that. Blown car, you might pick up 5hp. Leave it as is, not worth messaing with unless you are going 350-400rwhp or more.

 

[astronut1885]

I'll be getting my blower installed soon. This is the stock system I'm talking about, only with Flowmasters installed in place of the factory mufflers. Isn't the factory 04 system 2 1/2" mandrel bent?

 

[LI98GTStang]

Never heard that about any stock GT exhaust having mandrel bends. Should be 2.25" with standard (pinched) bends.

 

[astronut1885]

Ah. I wasn't sure, it looked a bit better than the old fox setups (maybe just because it wasn't rusty.) So, would it be worth my while to, if I stay away from a side exhaust setup, eventually get a full catback rather than the weld-ins I have now?

 

[Winters98GT]

nope

 

[astronut1885]

cool.
Thanks.

 

[Mossberg]

Never heard that about any stock GT exhaust having mandrel bends. Should be 2.25" with standard (pinched) bends.

05 + GTs have mandrel bent pipes factory.

 

[astronut1885]

Turds...They get all the good stuff, 3 valves, nice pipes. Too bad their cars are fattys.

 

[darkside03gt]

Never heard that about any stock GT exhaust having mandrel bends. Should be 2.25" with standard (pinched) bends.

my 03 has mandrel bent exaust on it and I got weld up flows and welded on tips Howerver I have never heard of anything prior to 96 having mandrels.

 

[astronut1885]

so maybe I'm not nuts?

 

[darkside03gt]

here is a stock 03 gt exaust http://classifieds.stangnet.com/showproduct.php?product=35326&cat=7 doesnt look like its kinked anywhere to me.

 

[astronut1885]

I thought so... So as long as they did a nice job transitioning the pipes to the mufflers, which it looked like they did, I basically have a catback now. The stock tips are nice enough for me, and I don't think there'd be anything to gain in 1/4" more diameter. My next move needs to be a midpipe and headers. I'm thinking either longtubes with a catted H, or shorties with a catted prochamber. I'm leaning more toward shorties, so that I can get the midpipe sooner. I bottom out enough in my area without LTs hanging under there.

 

[darkside03gt]

alot of people on here will tell you that shorties arent worth it. I have actually seen a test with bbk shorties and they lost 15hp and 20lbs of tq below 4000rpms

 

[astronut1885]

No kidding. They were like an old standby with the 5.0s. I always had 'em. So even though I'm going FI I don't need 'em? I plan on an eventual 8-9PSI, maybe 400 RWHP when I build a new motor.

 

[darkside03gt]

you can push your stock engine to about 400rwhp with a good safe tune and no with that power level you wont need shorties. if your gona build the engine why stop at 400? 500 is do-able.