I love the sound of my set-up (especially, when it actually ran the first time I fired it up
).Oh trust me, my car is going to have a lot of character. You can see what my plans are on my build post/thread. Here is the URL to the thread if you want to read.I love the sound of my set-up (especially, when it actually ran the first time I fired it up
The weirdest thing I heard for the first time was a late-90s/early-2000s 4.6 Mustang with an 'H' pipe and Flowmasters. That truly sounded weird to me (at the time... now I just think, "late model Mustang with an 'H-pipe.')
Whatever you go with will be awesome, and give your car a lot of it's character.
Yes, technology does move forward...OHC and variable cams. You can buy them. But for the engines that WE own, the best testing determined that the H pipe worked best. These guys had all the testing equip they wanted, and the notion that current mfgs of exhaust parts can improve on what 1971-73 engineers designed for the engines THEY built is just laughable. or am i being disrespectful to magnaflow and flowmaster...who dont seem to recognize that Ford even MADE MUSTANGS AFTER 1970?
I believe that is a valid statement wwhite72. Some people didn't believe my '73 Mach 1 was a mustang until I showed them that it was. Most people over look the last years of the classic Mustangs just because they "weren't demanded" as the others. It is a sad fact but it is true. Our Mustangs take an acquired taste to want, and that is something we have in common. Even through the disagreements.
I already respect the road. My first car is my 2011 Camaro, but I can say the first car I bought myself and worked on was my '73 Mach 1 Mustang. Whenever the cops pass me they wave because they know who son I am, and my cousin gives me an update on what the cops are currently driving before they are on the road, whenever the county gets new squad cars. So no matter what I'm doing, I'm careful, especially when I have someone with me. I plan on owning both my cars throughout my life and add a few here and there. Once you start a collection, you can't stop.
I'm pretty sure the extent of what the factory tested would've been along the lines of, "To H-pipe, or not To H-pipe... that is the question."
I don't know that X-pipes were even thought-up yet at that point in time. I might be wrong, though. They also had design parameter constraints to work within - back in the day, the thought of a 2.5" stainless exhaust system was the stuff the racing guys used... not so much the average consumer. These days, you're seeing 2" and up exhaust systems coming from the factory - I wonder where they got that idea from. :huh: 
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:
Yes - the lengths were about 18" in length, and I think I wound up trimming roughly 7" or so off, and bending about 10 degrees into them to match up with the departure angles of the Hooker headers. They were also the only things I had to trim or alter in any way - it all bolted right up.
Is the Pypes system for staggered shocks?
I don't know that it's for 'staggered shocks' specifically. It seems to me that the driver-side pipe might be in the way of a staggered set-up. My old-school Lakewood traction bars have the lower staggered mount, but the car itself does not have the upper mount.
That, and I typically get willing participants at our local AFB car show for an inpropmtu 'crank it up' contest (which usually weeds out the posers from the hot rods). Nothing quite like hearing one hot rod after another fire up and blip the throttle a few times, all the way up and down the line. A nice exhaust system is very cool... but straight-pipes get the most attention. 
