Alright, ive scored a set of pacies from ebay and am now in the process of putting together a complete exhaust sytem from the engine right to the tips.



Firstly, ill explain whats done to the car and what i have planned.

atm all i have is a:

- ba turbo intake snorkel

- K&N panel filter

- de-ribbed upper and lower airbox

- AU 75mm MAF Housing w/ EF Hotwire

- 3" Mandrel Bent Intake Tube

- 65mm AU Throttle Body w/ Matching EGR spacer


Future Plans Include: These will more than likely happen within the next 2months

- GT40P Cast Iron Heads

- Explorer Manifold

- 1/2" Phenolic Spacer

- Will Prolly have the lower port matched to the heads if that counts for anything

- Might Go A Cam in the future possibly 3 - 4months time


In a couple of years i want to build a fresh 331 or possibly 347 with alloy heads but this is a while away

The exhaust i have in mind will be twin 2 1/2" mild steel from the cats to the diff and then twin 2 1/4" over the diff and out the back all mandrel bends

im now on the hunt for a pair of catalytic converters and a pair of mufflers


Im unsure of which cats to go for. ive rang a few exhaust places and they seem to recommend magnaflow cats. what works and what dosent on the 302w. or are they all pretty much the same.



mufflers, im almost certain im gonna go with a pair of flowmasters, but am undecided as to either go for the 50 series delta flow triple chamber or the 40 series delta flow twin chamber.

I would like to eliminate some of the drone at freeway speed that i have atm but still want the deep note every V8 should have

With the 50 series triple chamber back pressure will be increased as opposed to the 40 but im thinking there might be to much back pressure once it hits the 2 1/4 pipes

The 40 series twin chambers will allow more flow but also increase noise through the cabin (by how much i dont know)

again i dont mind it being loud, i just dont want a s**t migrane inducing drone through the cabin like i had with my ed 6 (single 2 1/2" single muffler) setup

Questions:

What exhaust are you V8 boys/girls running?

Should i get 3" cats and have the collectors on the pacies modded to suit or will 2 1/2" inlet/outlet be fine

has anybody used flowmaster mufflers? if so what are your experiences?

I heard good things about hooker aerochambers but ive also heard equally s**t things about them so yeh. What are your recommendations.

i will try and get a sound file of my current setup which consists of factory headers, factory cats and twin 2 1/2" pipes with 2 unknown mufflers from the cats back

cheers for any responses

Di-filippo 1 3/4" 4-1 headers. Twin 3" X-force metal core s/steel 200cpi cats, twin 2 1/2" s/steel mandrel bent system, with x-pipe and two Magnaflow mufflers.
Went with the larger 4-1 headers and larger 2 1/2" pipes ready for the blower, if i had no intention of fitting the blower i would have left my old system alone, which IMO is the best suited system for a mild to heavily worked 5.0L. That system was;
Pacemaker 1 5/8" Tri-Y headers, twin 2 1/4" X-force metal core s/steel 200cpi cats, twin 2 1/4" s/steel mandrel bent system with x-pipe and two Hooker Aerochamber mufflers.



For your combo the std 2 1/4" collector on the pacies will be fine, i wouldnt go to 3" unless it was supercharged or a 347ci.



No i havent used them but havent heard any good things about them either.
They definately wont give you that V8 "rumble", it will give you that more old-school "american" type sound which is sort of an empty hollow note. If you want the deep rumble you'll want to look at Lukey Race mufflers or Magnaflows are nice and deep but still give that hint of that "american" sound.
Hooker Aerochambers have a much similiar note to the flowmaster but i believe they are a much better muffler and had absolutely no drone on my old system.

Have a listen to Micks (NCIILANE) system on his NC, i'm highly considering going this way, but i need to find out what mufflers exactly he is using, and how much drone does he get.

What he is using is 2 1/4" (?) stainless pipes with 3 hot dog mufflers on each side, 6 in total. 2 after the cats, 2 in the middle and 2 at the back before the pipes stick out the bumper. Sounds nice and deep on idle and has a nice bark to it when given the boot, but it's hard to tell from a youtube type vid, so i will have to pm him.

You could consider that sort of system?

thanks for the replies guys

ive spoken to a few exhaust shops all of which have mixed oppinions.

i tell them the same thing that i told the last basicaly stating that im after a complete exhaust incl cats and all pipes back. 2 1/2 cat to diff then 2 1/4 over the diff but asking them to recomend a typw of muffler.

one guy told me he gets good results using the glass packed redback mufflers and they are the closest match to the lukey race muffler (im told lukey is no more and that they were bought out by proex and even though the lukey brand is still around they are prox-ex mufflers branded as lukey's. im also told prox-ex mufflers where rubbish to begin with). the same guy told me that if there is too much resonence that 2x 2 1/2 hotdogs (one on each pipe) will reduce resonence whilst deepeing the overall note.

This guy wanted $800 to do pipes from cat's back

the next guy i speak to tells me to do the reverse of what i ask for. twin 2 1/4 cats to diff then 2 1/2 over the diff. he tells me that this will keep the exhaust speed up providng me with more torque. Also he recomends using 2 twin inlet berklee mufflers (one before the diff and one just before the exhaust finishes near the tips).

This guy wanted $1000 to install his preffered system

i reckon at this point in time im more confused than when i first started

there was another guy the sounded like a complete knob telling me the combo i had in mind was perfect for my application but couldnt recomend a muffler as he has "1000's" on the shelf and he will chop and change untill i like the sound. The way this guy was talking on the phone basically sounded like he was blowing smoke up my a** just to get me in the door and spend cash with him

im gonna call a few more places and see what they have to say