Maverick04GT

Ok guys, here goes. I've got an '04 GT Convertible, and I'm lookin at doing my first real modification on it sometime fairly soon. I've already decided that it's going to be exhaust, and I'm fairly sure I know what I want. I'm lookin at a MAC H-pipe and Borla Stingers for the catback. Now, here I go with the questions...

1. What's the big difference between catted and O/R? From what I understand, O/R tends to be louder, but also a little raspier, while catted is quieter, but also a little deeper-sounding. Also, what about their Prochambers? What kind of difference will those make?

2. If I'm willing to spend the money on something I (hopefully) will be happy with for as long as I have my car, should I go ahead and save a little extra and do headers at the same time? If I do, should I go with long headers? About how much will that add to the cost of this?

3. When I've got all that straightened out, is this an install that would be fairly easy for me to do myself? I'm a noob when it comes to all this stuff, so I'm basically asking if this is something that a person with little experience workin on cars could do without too much trouble?

I think that's about it....

Cornbread01

if you plan on doing headers then do it all at the same time would be best youll feel the biggest difference, headers will not be easy though doing mine the week of the sixteenth im in cali so im going with bbk shortie's

dsg04gt

Cats do smooth out the tone of any exhaust, and your right about o/r pipes generally being louder, and usually more raspy. I personally have Stingers sitting in my living room right now, and my MRT Catted H Pipe is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I've heard clips of Stingers with an O/R H, and i think its personally a bit to raw for my taste. Since your set on an H pipe, which is a good choice to go with for Stingers, look into the MRT H Pipes on ninosport.com for your car. They come catted and o/r, catted being $525 and O/r $425.. expensive> yes. Worth it, i think so. But, if your choosing to do headers as well, and you dont live in the great state of California, then definately do long tubes. They also make shorties, which are stock size, but flow a bit better. SOme say they are a waste, but if you want full exhaust done and cant do long tubes, only way to go. Shorties are generally $300, and will fit any regular size aftermarket x/h pipe. If you get Longtubes, buy the x/h pipe that the company sells. By the way, ANY headers are a bitch to do in your driveway. Your choices for Long tubes with matching midpipes are Bassani, SLP, BBK, and Mac, Hooker, and Kooks i think. BBK and MAC will be the cheapest, followed by SLP, then you start getting pretty expensive. Midpipe and catback are easy install in the driveway, but consider getting help for the headers. Hope that helped you.

Maverick04GT

Ok guys, thanks for the help so far. I think I've sorta-kinda figured out what I'm gonna do...just want to see what you guys think? I was lookin at BBK longtube headers, a MAC O/R shorty H-pipe, and the Borla Stingers for catbacks...is mixing and matching brands going to be a problem? Will these parts fit together without a lot of fuss? If it helps, here are the links to the headers and H-pipe I was talking about....

http://www.mustangtuning.com/bbk-ful...ers-99-04.html
http://www.mustangtuning.com/9904gt-...d-sh-pipe.html

72MachOne99GT

IF you can afford the LT's and the $500ish install, then by all means, do it, and save some money by going with the MAC H pipe like you've mentioned.

As for the sound, yes, it is going to be LOUD, but also very deep, and the tone under accelration (especially just slightly less than WOT) will be second to none.

And as others mentioned, any exhaust with an o/r mid pipe will have a bit of rasp.
Myself having Stingers with an O/R MAC H has some raspish sound at WOT from about 2500-3500 or so, but it sounds soo awesome the other 99% of the time when im not WOT

(dont get me wrong, the WOT sounds sweet too, but alot of people want 0 rasp whatsoever)

if you have any questions about the sound or anything like that, let me know
(if you dont mine, why'd you choose o/r H and Stingers by the way)

Maverick04GT

Actually.....I think it was your sound clip in the exhaust clips thread in Pipes, Boost and Juice that got me hooked on them After I heard that, and started looking around and saw that just about everyone agreed on the fact that the Stingers were a quality exhaust, I decided that's what I was lookin for in my car. My biggest question so far is what's going to be the biggest difference between going with an O/R H and a catted H? It seems to be the general consensus that the catted's are a little quieter and without the rasp, which really doesn't bother me at all. That's why I thought I was going to go with the O/R.

EDIT:

Another question....I've been talking to one of my techie buddies, and he says that we could probably do the headers ourselves, which would be great, considering that a $XXX install is going to hurt when piled on top of this nice exhaust. How feasible do you think it is that we would be able to do the headers and exhaust ourselves, and save me a lot of money (at the cost of blood, sweat and tears )

72MachOne99GT

cool, was just wondering if my vid played a roll

if you want o/r H ,, then you'll freaking LOVE it all the time, its so damn loud and it sounds amazing,, there is no sacrifice of tone for volume on this set up


as for the install,, ive heard people say it is the most difficult external engine fix/bolt on...
if neither of you have done it before or know what youre doing,, then I would expect your car to be down for at least a week just learning and getting familiar with what youre doing

If i had confidence in myself/if i had tools, i'd do it for sure, it'd be fun

Maverick04GT

Ok, cool, I'm pretty sure he's done them before, but every car's different...I'll talk to him some more, and decide whether I want to try to do it or not. I'm thinkin so, I'd a lot rather be involved in what's happening to my baby than some random shop But yeah, your video was what turned me on to the Stingers and the H, so thanks for that.