FiremansGT

Has anyone istalled an off-road x pipe on their 05?? Thinking of going with shorty headers and an off-road cat-less x pipe. Current mods are: Motive 4:10s, JBA axle-back, C&L intake w/diablo tuner.

F1Fan

Hi FiremansGT,

My '05 GT is a 5-speed with JBA shortys, a Magnaflow Tru-X Pipe with OBDII cats and JBA axle backs. I went with Steeda's CAI and Diablo tuner but we're close equipment wise. The Magnaflow Tru-X Pipe with cats really worked out well and added a very noticeable punch to the car which was already working pretty well with the Steeda CAI 93 octane tune.

The new sound with the Magnaflow Tru-X Pipe w/cats is very different than with the stock Ford H pipe and cats, much less boomy, more crisp, slightly sharper sounding and also oddly quieter (later on this). I should also tell you that there is a bit of a howl when the pipe is cold, sort of like a late '60's air cooled Porsche 911 when they were wound up or a 68-70 Plymouth 383 Police interceptor when the auto trans kicked down, no actual snarl but a howl. It's not bad sounding and it goes away once the exhaust is up to temp. but I though I'd mention it. It could also have something to do with the hard Steeda motor mounts I used that make it seem louder than it is. The car has a strong sound when you get on it and it's positively ferocious sounding in a good way. I can really hear the headers now because the car is slightly quieter when my foot goes into cruise mode. Around town is a much smoother less boomy sound at moderate throttle openings and at full throttle I'm pretty sure it's just a few decibels lower too but it's less boomy, smoother sounding somehow. It's hard to explain, you kind of have to hear it.

Speaking of headers, you should consider the JBA shorty headers, they are the longest shortys on the market and are the only CARB (California Air Resources Board, good guys that have been mislead), approved header on the market. Yes they are expensive when ceramic coated (I got the Ti color), but wait until Kook's releases their headers, then you'll see expensive, these are simply the best. Unlike the all other shortys I looked at for the '05 GT (Ford Racing, Bassani, MAC etc.), JBA's shortys are not simply tubular replacements for the stock cast SS manifolds. The JBA design is the only one that actually adds length and comes close to equalizing the primary tube lengths before dumping into the anti-reversion collector, these are proven to work well.

The '05 GT without cats is really loud no matter which after market exhaust system you buy! Be careful because you may regret going catless because of the noise and then there are those unpleasant emissions issues to deal with.

FiremansGT

F1Fan,

Thanks for the info. I wanted to stay with the full JBA system but I will look into the Magnaflow x pipe. Any info on where I could get a decent price for the headers and the x-pipe?

RICVA05

Listen to the sound of magnaflow through this website http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/s...merican&id=360
When I bought mine I got through www.completeexhaust.com/index.php/cPath=34
they were about $120 cheaper than anybody else I could find.

F1Fan

Hi Fireman,

I'm in SoCal so I just went down to JBA and had them do the install of the equipment I called and ordere. I had considerd the JBA H-pipe but I wanted to get an X-Pipe for the slightly better torque and HP they can offer, the fact that the Tru-X Pipe came with OBDII compliant cats was a BIG plus to me. The reason is that I want to aviod any problems with the Ford engine computer and all the check engine light problems that everybody has when removing their cats or using designs wih the cats relocated down stream in the X or H pipe. The Magnaflow Tru-X Pipe with cats was the best choice and was proven to make more power than the Ford supplied catted "H" pipe.

JBA sold the stuff at fair prices, not the lowest I could find on the internet but they are a store front performance shop and have a shop full of good people so the small 5% difference didn't bother me. I bought the Magnaflow Tru-X Pipe with cats from Brother's Performance Wharehouse where the price was again not the lowest but I'm in SoCal so again I just hopped in the pony and showed up on their doorstep, negociated a better price that made the cost about the same as any other internet store once the cost of delivery cost of this heavy, large, oversized box was considered. Then I just had a local muffler shop install the Tru-X Pipe, just poped it on once the car was cooled down. Four header bolts, four O2 sensors, two clamps and BAM, instant Torque and HP increase.

My '05 GT's got a date with the SoCal Tunning dyno pros on Tuesday morning for a baseline and then custom Diablo tune. Then we are going to remove the JBA rear cans and install the stock Ford mufflers and and make a few more pulls. I want to see if there is any real reason to buy aftermarket rear mufflers or if the stock Ford pieces are capable of keeping up with the best of the bolt-on parts available, which are on my car allready. This will answer a question that nobody has answered yet, are the axel backs just sound or do they actually contribute any improvements to power? My thinking is that if you have only bolt-on parts that improve breathing without a blower, is there any reason other than sound to buy axle back systems or are they a waste of money? A lot of people (like me), want to stay naturally asperated but still want more power, my guess is that without going very far you can build a 400HP+ (crank HP, 350-360RWHP), 4.6L motor and I'm going to do it.

Will post next week with results.