Thinking about exhaust setups

[1973 Mustang Mach 1]

Okay, as some of you know I'm the young guy on here. But I want opinions on how I should go with exhaust. My '73 Mach 1 is in the shop currently, so after they look at it, if they tell me I need to replace the exhaust system, I will. But I don't know what route I should take.

The current exhaust exits in front of the rear tire. I would like to add a cut-out system to the car. Here's a link explaining what a cut-out system is if you do not know what it is. http://www.installuniversity.com/install_university/installu_pages/freshman_year/exhaust_cutout_explanation.htm

I've been looking at exhaust for the past few days, and I kind of have a feel now what I would like to get out of it.

I have looked at Borla Exhaust a few times because the sound quality is better than most and I know they have made exhaust for early cars before.

But what I would like to know is where should I let the exhaust system end? Straight out the rear of the car, to the rear of the car and then angled to the sides, or in front of the rear tires?

I would like to add a cut out system no matter what.

I would like your opinion, good or bad, on what you think about anything I have said in this post because I like having input on my build.

 

[wwhite72]

perhaps you might try a oem style dual (correct H pipe) with standard full size turbo mufflers exiting out the back to start. no exhaust system is cheap, and SS Borla systems are stupid expensive. You can always modify down the road. My stock style system is plenty loud, and i have orig cast iron manifolds. Headers make a system much louder. Cannot imagine how loud a cutout system would be.

 

[RacerX]

I bought the Magnaflow full stainless system in 2.5" for my 351C 'vert. Quality and workmanship is very nice. Sounds great.

 

[wwhite72]

they sold you a stainless H-pipe that fit factory manifolds?

 

[nosdelacruz]

I have got exhaust out the side. It's 3 inch from the headers till the end. Glasspack mufflers as well. It is super loud, but I love it like that! One reason I went with the side also is because it was 300 bucks cheaper. If you want to do cut outs, then go out the rear of the car. There's no point in doing out the side exhaust with cut outs because its already gonna be super loud anyways. Just my opinion.

 

[jb73Mach]

2 1/2 pipes from the Hooker headers through Hooker mufflers, out the back, no cross-over. Loud normally but almost frightening when you really get your foot into it.

 

[rutkak]

I'm a fan of dual Flowmaster 40s straight out the back. It's pretty loud but not THAT bad. You can always go with 50s if you care what the neighborhood thinks. It should run you about $450-550 complete with pencil or angled chrome tips. I have the same setup on my 70 and 72. It just sounds right.

KR

 

[goodnigh]

Don of OMS sold me a terrific setup patterned after the Boss 351 exhaust.

The engine is a quench 351C 4V w/cam (mild?) and stock exhaust.

I will post a video as soon as I get my Toshiba Camileo X416 repaired.

Won't take a charge.

mike

 

[1973 Mustang Mach 1]

perhaps you might try a oem style dual (correct H pipe) with standard full size turbo mufflers exiting out the back to start. no exhaust system is cheap, and SS Borla systems are stupid expensive. You can always modify down the road. My stock style system is plenty loud, and i have orig cast iron manifolds. Headers make a system much louder. Cannot imagine how loud a cutout system would be.

I know there is no cheap exhaust system. And I know I can always modify down the road, I don't plan to sell my Mach 1, she's my first classic car, no way I'm letting go of her. And the cut-out system varies. But I will continue to do my research until I hear from the shop, that way I can make a choice that I'll be satisfied with.

I bought the Magnaflow full stainless system in 2.5" for my 351C 'vert. Quality and workmanship is very nice. Sounds great.

I've looked at the Magnaflow systems. They look like they work well. And I've sent an e-mail to most of the exhaust systems companies and asked them various questions.

I have got exhaust out the side. It's 3 inch from the headers till the end. Glasspack mufflers as well. It is super loud, but I love it like that! One reason I went with the side also is because it was 300 bucks cheaper. If you want to do cut outs, then go out the rear of the car. There's no point in doing out the side exhaust with cut outs because its already gonna be super loud anyways. Just my opinion.

My friend's Ford Rangler has Glasspack muffler's on it, and it is loud as hell. You could be a mile away and hear him coming, especially since he drives like a bat out of hell.

2 1/2 pipes from the Hooker headers through Hooker mufflers, out the back, no cross-over. Loud normally but almost frightening when you really get your foot into it.

I've checked out the Hooker mufflers, they seem to be a good product. And you just described how my 2011 Camaro sounds when I put my foot into it

I'm a fan of dual Flowmaster 40s straight out the back. It's pretty loud but not THAT bad. You can always go with 50s if you care what the neighborhood thinks. It should run you about $450-550 complete with pencil or angled chrome tips. I have the same setup on my 70 and 72. It just sounds right.

KR

My friend's 89' S-10 has Flowmasters, and you cannot mistake the sound of his truck for anything. It is a beautiful sound to hear.

 

[mdan575]

Depending on what you are willing to do. Stainless isn't that hard. You can get stainless exhaust pipe pretty easy including curved pieces. The price really isn't that much and a 120 Mig can weld them together easily. Thats all mine is. I used my Millermatic 135 some 308L wire and 75/25 mix gas. Came out real nice. Butt welded all the pieces and the Borla stainless muffler were probably the costliest part.

Yes I know they suggest tri mix gas for welding stainless. But it really isn't that big a deal. Unfortunately it is only 2" exhaust and I am gonna have to upgrade if I really want my new motor to breath.

 

[1973 Mustang Mach 1]

Depending on what you are willing to do. Stainless isn't that hard. You can get stainless exhaust pipe pretty easy including curved pieces. The price really isn't that much and a 120 Mig can weld them together easily. Thats all mine is. I used my Millermatic 135 some 308L wire and 75/25 mix gas. Came out real nice. Butt welded all the pieces and the Borla stainless muffler were probably the costliest part.

Yes I know they suggest tri mix gas for welding stainless. But it really isn't that big a deal. Unfortunately it is only 2" exhaust and I am gonna have to upgrade if I really want my new motor to breath.

I know Borla would probably be the costliest part, but you know I'm just looking for the parts that'll make it my "Hotrod." And I emailed Borla with information about what I plan on doing and they do not already have an exhaust system made for my model/year of Mustang so they'd have to make a custom one, so I asked in my message would I be able to add a cut-out system with their product and what would the cost be if they had to make custom exhaust. So I'm waiting to hear back before I choose anything.

 

[Wolverine]

Exhaust out the rear...the way God intended.

Fumes- The farther the better. And, if you tune your car in a garage, it is a lot easier to direct the fumes out.

Noise- There is plenty of noise, at least if you planned your motor right.

Heat- Get the heat away from you and your lucky passenger. You don't want your old lady burning her precious thigh on one of those pipes. Not only won't it look good, she may never want to go for a ride with you again. Wait...that's a bad thing, right?

Road Clearance- Anyone say speed bump...unless you have a high suspension.

 

[1973 Mustang Mach 1]

Exhaust out the rear...the way God intended.

Fumes- The farther the better. And, if you tune your car in a garage, it is a lot easier to direct the fumes out.

Noise- There is plenty of noise, at least if you planned your motor right.

Heat- Get the heat away from you and your lucky passenger. You don't want your old lady burning her precious thigh on one of those pipes. Not only won't it look good, she may never want to go for a ride with you again. Wait...that's a bad thing, right?

Road Clearance- Anyone say speed bump...unless you have a high suspension.

Some of those things sound like what I thought about recently. And I'm just going to reply to your points to be funny in a way, so don't think I'm trying to correct you or be mean.

Exhaust - I just wanted an opinion, because I may change it from where it is currently.

Noise - I plan on having great noise inside and outside the car.

Heat - My girlfriend will be the main passenger and she knows all my plans for this car.

And funny/sad story about the heat thing. My uncle use to have a '69 Corvette with the side exhaust all the way down the car (both sides) and his girlfriend kept burning her leg on the pipe so she told him, "Either get rid of this car or me." So he sold the car because he liked her a lot and two weeks later she broke up with him.

Road Clearance - My thoughts exactly. I already deal enough with my 2011 Camaro being so low that I am always looking for bumps in the road. One car is already enough to worry about road clearance.

 

[RacerX]

they sold you a stainless H-pipe that fit factory manifolds?

Not an H but an X pipe.

 

[Mister 4x4]

For my '71 with a 351C-2V, I chose a Pypes Street Pro system from Summit. All said and done, around $480-ish for stainless with X-pipe. It comes off Hooker Competition Long-Tube headers (close to the same price for ceramic-coated), and required very little in the way of trimming and bending to get things installed. Unfortunately, Hooker didn't include the collectors with their headers (unlike Hedman, but I didn't want to wait a month for back-order) so I had to purchase the collectors separately... and they're not stainless or ceramic coated (they're black, and readily visible).

I'm also planning on cut-outs, which will should fit perfectly just ahead of the mufflers.

It has a pretty awesome exhaust note as well, and not too loud actually. Here's the video from first fire-up:



Hope the helps!

 

[mdan575]

How much do you like that X-Pipe. I know usually the sound difference is pretty noticeable. I went with an H-Pipe on mine.

Hard to tell but knowing long tubes that looks like it hangs pretty low. I had long tubes previously and they annoyed the hell out of me. Seems they were always catching on something. Pulling on and off the car trailer sucked if I didn't have everything setting just right. One thing I really like about the Tri-Y's on now. I was able to route most of the exhaust up inside the tunnel out of the way.

 

[Mister 4x4]

How much do you like that X-Pipe. I know usually the sound difference is pretty noticeable. I went with an H-Pipe on mine.

Hard to tell but knowing long tubes that looks like it hangs pretty low. I had long tubes previously and they annoyed the hell out of me. Seems they were always catching on something. Pulling on and off the car trailer sucked if I didn't have everything setting just right. One thing I really like about the Tri-Y's on now. I was able to route most of the exhaust up inside the tunnel out of the way.

I love the X-pipe - it looks cool. But I suppose ignorance is bliss - I have no idea how different the sounds are between straight-pipes, H-pipes, or X-pipes since I've never owned any vehicles with those set-ups before (OK, I take that back: my '78 K-5 Blazer had straight pipes with glass packs... and sounded awesome). This is also the first time this car has run since I've owned it, and I'll wager in the last 30-ish years as well. So, I literally have nothing to compare it to.

The headers don't hang down any (or at least very much) lower that the Global West subframe connectors I welded on - in fact, I don't believe I can even see them hanging down much at all (unlike other cars I've seen) - I'll need to get some pictures and measure, I suppose. Right now, I can't say for sure if they'll hang down low enough to catch on anything or not because I haven't actually gotten the car off the lift, nor has the suspension settled in (all of the sheet metal, bumper, etc., is still off the car).

What I do know is that they don't hang down anything like what's in this picture (1" lower front springs, 5-spring pack, Hedman headers), which is pretty much the look I'm going for with my car (although, no exhaust drag):

 

[Jim and Jutta]

I'm a fan of dual Flowmaster 40s straight out the back. It's pretty loud but not THAT bad. You can always go with 50s if you care what the neighborhood thinks.

KR

Same set up I have on mine, Flowmaster 40's straight through 2 1/2 inch stainless pipe with polished stainless tips, simple system and I love the sound.

To avoid issues with the neighbors I try and keep the revs down upon start up and ease out as soon as it's warm enough to drive. No "early" morning or late night start ups unless I really have to. There's a guy about a block over with a 72 SS Nova that seems to like pissing his neighbors off because he revs the hell out of the car for several minutes every time he starts it up, I'm a block a away and I can hear it.

Jim

 

[wwhite72]

Ok perhaps i am a bit of a fan of Ford engineering but please note; Ford had all the best minds in the world for our cars, and they used the H pipe design. There are a ton of factors that go into an exhaust system to enhance performance, and on all Ford performance exhaust they used an H pipe! Just go with it!