Came across some better illustrative pics in similar threads in the Classic Mustangs forums on here. There's a lot of different ways to go about doing it, but the most practical one that I've found is to use the Dynomax #17676's - fewer bends, cheap, simple, and easy to set up.
If you're looking for a certain kind of tone, you can always go the double-back way if you use any type of muffler with an offset inlet/center outlet setup - more bends, of course, which may mean more backpressure and less clearance, but it might satisfy if you've got a very specific flavor of sound you're wanting and you don't want to blow $500 on a Spintech pre-fabbed setup.
Dynomax supposedly sells a ready-made "universal side-pipe hookup kit" for about $50, but all it consists of is a pair of 180* U-bends and two 90* elbows - you can easily buy the mandrel 180* U-bends from Summit for a lot cheaper and slap a pair of elbows on there, yourself, or have an exhaust shop bend a set of pipes that you can clamp/weld onto those U-bends to finish it off.
Only thing I've had a problem trying to engineer so far is where/how to go about rigging up hangers for the tailpipes. The muffs use the stock hangers, but my prior experience with this setup has taught me that the tailpipes bounce around too much if they're left unattached (they tend to thunk against the floorboards on heavy dips/bumps). I see the $700 Steeda side-exit setup uses a second set of OEM-style rod-and-rubber hangers on their tailpipes, but that looks like it might involve pulling out the rear seats/carpet and doing some drilling/bolting ... which ain't all that bad, just hard to figure the how-to part, as far as a D.I.Y. setup goes.
FWIW, I had to hunt around at FIVE different locations in town to come up with two 90* elbows and two 45* elbows - nobody ever seems to have 2.5" stuff in stock, always 2.25" crap - and I'm placing the order for Dynomax #17676's and an off-road X-pipe tonight. If I'm lucky, they'll arrive close to my next pair of days off, and I'll have time to hack off the old stuff and bolt up the new goodies. I was gonna wait until Spring '07, but the dragging exhaust and thumping/rattling tailpipes are driving me insane ... and rubbing/burning through my fuel lines near the fuel filter and rubbing metal off my rear axle tubes!
Total side-exit cat-back cost thus far: $150 ($20 in elbows, $130 for mufflers/shipping).
Since all exhaust mods seem to mandate requests for audio samples, I promise to take video of before/after sound, and appearance pics.
If you're looking for a certain kind of tone, you can always go the double-back way if you use any type of muffler with an offset inlet/center outlet setup - more bends, of course, which may mean more backpressure and less clearance, but it might satisfy if you've got a very specific flavor of sound you're wanting and you don't want to blow $500 on a Spintech pre-fabbed setup.
Dynomax supposedly sells a ready-made "universal side-pipe hookup kit" for about $50, but all it consists of is a pair of 180* U-bends and two 90* elbows - you can easily buy the mandrel 180* U-bends from Summit for a lot cheaper and slap a pair of elbows on there, yourself, or have an exhaust shop bend a set of pipes that you can clamp/weld onto those U-bends to finish it off.
Only thing I've had a problem trying to engineer so far is where/how to go about rigging up hangers for the tailpipes. The muffs use the stock hangers, but my prior experience with this setup has taught me that the tailpipes bounce around too much if they're left unattached (they tend to thunk against the floorboards on heavy dips/bumps). I see the $700 Steeda side-exit setup uses a second set of OEM-style rod-and-rubber hangers on their tailpipes, but that looks like it might involve pulling out the rear seats/carpet and doing some drilling/bolting ... which ain't all that bad, just hard to figure the how-to part, as far as a D.I.Y. setup goes.
FWIW, I had to hunt around at FIVE different locations in town to come up with two 90* elbows and two 45* elbows - nobody ever seems to have 2.5" stuff in stock, always 2.25" crap - and I'm placing the order for Dynomax #17676's and an off-road X-pipe tonight. If I'm lucky, they'll arrive close to my next pair of days off, and I'll have time to hack off the old stuff and bolt up the new goodies. I was gonna wait until Spring '07, but the dragging exhaust and thumping/rattling tailpipes are driving me insane ... and rubbing/burning through my fuel lines near the fuel filter and rubbing metal off my rear axle tubes!
Total side-exit cat-back cost thus far: $150 ($20 in elbows, $130 for mufflers/shipping).
Since all exhaust mods seem to mandate requests for audio samples, I promise to take video of before/after sound, and appearance pics.
