new exhaust on my S197

I just got my exhaust worked on and I have to say I'm impressed with the outcome. I have the 4.0L V6 and previously I just had the single GT takeoff muffler passenger-side. Well a few days ago I made several calls and asked for an H-Pipe with true duals since I'd heard it had a better sound. To my surprise, none of the shops seemed to think the H-Pipe would make a difference at all and that all the work they had done was straight pipes with cats/mufflers. In fact, some said it would possibly hinder performance-completely opposite from what I've read online. They said, however, that if I didn't like it, they would cut the pipes and redo them with the H-pipe. Well, I got the work done, it took about 3 hours and I must honestly say I'm amazed. It sounds pretty much perfect to me, VERY deep/rumbly at low tone and only a very slight bit raspy at WOT, not ricey AT ALL. The small amount of throaty sound that was present when it was done is already settling into a comfortable, mellow sound. It really sounds proper for a mustang of any engine type. Can't expect much more from a V6. I'm willing to try to get a sound or video clip on here but I haven't been on lately and didn't know about the meet yesterday (Sorry, guys). I got chrome tail light trim put on too, not much of a mod but it looks good with the silver stripes. Pics and possibly video later if I can find a camera to use.

Nice, so do you still have cats?

yeah, it would be god-awful without them. they cut the pipes after the cats.

All rite, another noisy 6er, I got the single axle back MAC on mine, I would love to make it duals, just don’t have the scratch for it, maybe by summer, but it sounds pretty good with the single for now, Get up that video, Id like to hear it.

Hay PRO50SC, I think I got "'HEAR" in the rite place this time, LOL

Glad you like the sound of your new setup :D

Big Blue wrote:All rite, another noisy 6er, I got the single axle back MAC on mine, I would love to make it duals, just don’t have the scratch for it, maybe by summer, but it sounds pretty good with the single for now, Get up that video, Id like to hear it.

Hay PRO50SC, I think I got "'HEAR" in the rite place this time, LOL

Right???

Glad to hear it Jeff, gotta love those duals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V87UlGGBueA

should be up now.

Changed my mind with the setup a bit. The whole car, pretty much, actually. I'm taking the silver stripes off, the person that installed them did a good job, but stripes are just too much maintenance, at least the silver ones are. I never could seem to keep them clean and it's kinda killing the look, they were on the car when I bought it and I never had a reason to mess with them, but the vinyl is getting sun-marks melting into the ink or something. I'm gonna get an H-pipe put in to even the sound a little, the exhaust didn't really break-in the way I'd hoped and above 2500 RPM it still sounds a little ricey. I just bought a set of MAC ceramic longtube headers that are gonna help with that too. Adding a C&L intake and SCT tuner. Probably around a 25-30% tint, not legal, but not pushing it, either. Silverhorse flush-mount louvers and probably "FORD" on the hood with the OEM chrome letters and "MUSTANG" on the back, I've seen this done on a few S197's and it can really add a little class.


I'm gonna go for an overall old-school kinda look (which is what I've always really wanted). That's a lot to put on here. Hope to have it all done by mid-late spring. Anyway, what do you guys think?

optras wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V87UlGGBueA

should be up now.

Link no good

Def like the letters, John jut had that done and it looks sweet, louvers should look tight also, good luck.

Your mods sound like a great addition.

ndnboy wrote:Def like the letters, John jut had that done and it looks sweet, louvers should look tight also, good luck.

I have the SHR louvers on order to be painted and should be here in the next few weeks!

yeah, I took it down cause it wasn't really a good movie. The mic wasn't very good and it sounded worse than it really does cause all it picked up was mid-range treble (sounded more like rice). That being said, I'm still changing it in the next few weeks to hopefully make it just that much better, I'm hoping the long-tubes will give it some more bassy sound. I'm just hoping the install won't be that bad, I have a friend that works in cars, so hopefully he can kinda help and I'll reciprocate financially. After all, it is about a $500 install at a shop or one really long afternoon with a friend that's willing to work for a couple hundred.

Thats going to be nice

Just a little progress report so far...I got the stripes taken off the car so it looks MUCH cleaner and more streamlined without the glittery silver mess. It was pretty easy except for the roof, they REALLY had those stripes tucked into the windshields, I think that alone took me two hours to take off. The H-Pipe is in and the sound is much more reasonable, it sounds good through the whole RPM band now and it's as good as it was before but not as loud, cause it was a bit much. No popping at all anymore. I got the decklid MUSTANG letters put on pretty easily, the hood letters were on backorder from CJ's and should be here whenever. My friend (previous Ford mechanic) is going to be putting in the MAC LT headers later today, so that should be good to go. Trying to get her done in time for summer-it's just around the corner now. I'll get some pics/videos on here whenever I get my hands on a camera.

Glad to hear things are moving along, I went with the Mustang script emplem for the decklid, love the MUSTANG letters but with the 4.0 emplem they would be offset.

Youre gonna need a new sig now : ) , post those pics/vids when you can.

We have done a couple sn197 v6 duals at our shop. We always just do true duals. I personally don't know if an h will sound better or worse. The cars sound good at idle. One guy that comes in every once in a while has headers, h pipe and mac mufflers and it sounds a little ricey when he gets on it but idle and low rpms sound good.

well they definitely sound great at idle, that part I did like. They sound good for regular driving too, but especially when it's warmer and you step on it, above 3k, it sounds kinda bad to me. It may be good for some cars, but it just doesn't sound like a pony. The cars sound amazing at idle, but what's the point if it sounds awful with just regular driving? Most of the tuners also only create tunes for setups with a crossover pipe installed. That was the other reason for getting the H. With the H, it's not really better or worse, just muffled a bit more. Considering I went with the GT takeoffs to get the most conservative sound I could, you can probably tell how seriously I take this.

You got to remember, we're running V6's here, as much as I would like mine to sound like a GT, I know it's not going to happen, so get it as close as you can, and then just enjoy it, I like the sound mine has, but I know it doesn’t sound like a GT

I got kinda bored, so I went on ponybuilder.com and made a new wallpaper with what my car should look like when I'm done.


The only things that are different will be the dual exhaust and the louvers will be flush-mount. The grille overlay looks kinda screwed up too, but it's somewhat close. What do you guys think?

very nice.

Louvers look nice, I go back/forth on getting some, saw Magicc's/Redfire ones and they look sweet!

(Edit)
Does anyone know if a shop around here could put on a set of MAC Mufflers on, I checked the MAC Performance website and they either sell the whole duels kit or a single muffler. I dont need the whole kit. Or could i just get a set of GT axlebacks since i have a duel setup, or will that be a problem with fitting them and hanging.

(sorry if its a dumb question, not very good with mechanics)

whats on the car right now? yes a shop could do it...but you could do it yourself...or i'll give you a hand/do it.

since u have a gt exhaust you should look under the gt section of MAC....for an axleback
http://www.macperformance.com/store/category.cfm?SID=3&Category_ID=939

lets look at it, and make sure you get the right stuff. let me know when you free and we'll meet up.