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Nice write up on Sam, I just did drive shaft shop 1 piece drive shaft & Bassani catback getting rid of 80 lbs. My stock mufflers were 40 lbs each and the 1 piece saved me 20 lbs. The Bassani both weigh only 30 lbs. Getting ss lines and Hawk pads soon. Thanks for the write-up. Enjoy the twisty's.
Ooooh man. just did some research on the bassani system, and I think I much rather would've had that. I like the resonators in the mid pipes. If the price wasn't so much higher than what I paid for the SW system I have coming, I would switch to the Bassani system and keep the stock H pipe. if I can find a good deal, or a used system, I may switch to Bassani in the future.
Originally Posted by Chad@Amp’D
Nice setup.
Originally Posted by movielover40
Great reading about your car.
Thanks guys! I'll do a post on my seat install if I ever get the right resistor to kill the airbag light I have on right now.
Got My SW catback in the mail yesterday, so I figured I'd throw up some info on it for any who were curious. First impressions? F@^& that piping is huge! the 3in pipes are enormous, I don't think most NA coyotes will ever NEED that much cross sectional area(though I have no real data to confirm this). Im almost positive that I will have clearance issues with the rear axle in full bump travel, and very nervous that the exhaust won't clear my swaybar hangers. On stock style bars, the hanger more or less hangs straight down:
My swaybar brackets are pretty heavily angled:
I have since flipped the bracket to the front side of the swaybar to reduce the angle, but I am still nervous about the fitment. The stock system piping enters the muffler inboard of the hanger brackets, and snakes outboard through the muffler to exit through the tips.
The Stainless Works system uses a straight through design, which necessitates that the exhaust pipe snakes further outboard initially.
I plan to install the exhaust today, so I will know soon if the system fits. If it comes down to keeping either the SW catback or the swaybars, the SW catback will be for sale...
Other than probable fitment issues, the exhaust looks very nice. Everything was very neatly labelled by Stainless Works to avoid confusion, even the exhaust hanger brackets were marked.
Last thing I noticed were how small the ID of the mufflers was. I have heard that this exhaust is a bit restrictive on higher HP cars, but again, so long as the car is NA, I think this will provide enough exhaust flow. I don't plan on my motor past the Ford Racing Trackey tune that I have now, so I am pretty confident that this exhaust will be fine.
I have read a few more reviews on the exhaust, most say that the system is VERY loud, so this whole idea may be short-lived anyways. I may end up just putting the stock system on, and selling the SW if it proves to be too much hassle. The ONLY thing I am really looking forward to is the weight loss. I haven't felt the stock stuff yet, but this system definitely feels heavier than I thought it would've. i will try to weigh both systems before, but everything I have read so far says Ill drop 30-40lbs of the car with this exhaust. I plan on installing the exhaust today, and I will report back after I take a swing at fitting the system up. Bonus shots of my car below! I took these with my phone, so they are less than stellar.
I spent most of my time fiddling around with the stock over axle pipes to get them out. To anyone considering removing the factory mid/over axle pipes, I would suggest using a lift. Being able to rotate the mid pipes straight downwards would make removal a breeze. It can be done using jack and a few jack stands, but it is rather unpleasant(ask me how I know). I couldn't find a way to maneuver the mid pipes out with everything else in place, so I ended up removing the shocks, springs, swaybar, panhard bar, panhard bar brace, and swaybar bracket.
Not only did that make the install much easier, but it also allowed me to jack the rear axle up and see if the suspension would contact the exhaust in full bump travel. Installing the SW kit was very easy when compared to what it took to get the stock one off. That said, it is very easy to see how one could make a mistake putting this system on. I ended up having to re-adjust my exhaust several times before getting where I wanted it.
I never got an exact figure, but the SW system is indeed lighter than my standard system. I weighed the driver side of my stock system, and got 34lb. I weighted the passenger side of the SW system, and came up with 23lb. Based on this, I would say that a 30lb weigh reduction is definitely in the realm of possibilities, though 42lb seems like a bit of a stretch. The exhaust is louder than my gt500 ab's, but not as loud as I was thinking it would be. Reading reviews/ watching videos on the SW system leads one to believe that the exhaust would make a DEEP old school pushrod muscle car sound at a volume that would easily set off car alarms and startle grandmas. I think its possible to rattle a few grannies, but again, the car alarm seems like a major stretch to me. Also, the sound(from the drivers seat) sounds much more like an x piped system to me. I do like the sound, but its just different that what I was expecting. I only have about 30 miles on the system so far, so ill give it a month or so to break in and see where I am at with the exhaust note.
Speaking of exhaust noise, this exhaust does have a bit of drone. By a bit of drone, I mean a LOT of drone. To me it is nearly unbearable(but keep in mind i am coming from factory mufflers), and I'm hoping that the Drone at 2000rpm will lessen as the system is heat cycles. Overall I am happy with it. For What I paid for it, and the amount of weight it shaved, I am satisfied. Would I ever pay current retail pricing for a stainless works retro chambered 3in catback? Probably not.
Last edited by middieman147; 12-12-2015 at 02:03 AM.
After giving the exhaust about a week to settle in, the exhaust is MUCH better. The drone is much less intense now, and I can hardly notice it. I still stand by the fact that the exhaust is not THAT loud. If you want the car to be quiet, just short/skip shift a few gears, and it settles right down. People seem to really respond to the sound the exhaust makes. Normally, I only get comments on my car every once in a while, and even then its pretty much only when I'm running my race wheels. The first 2-3 days I had the SW exhaust on, it seemed like every other time I would park, someone would walk up and talk to me about my car. Most of those times, people wanted to know what I had done to the motor. Pretty much all of them seemed disappointed when I told them all the motor has is a K&N drop in filter and a factory Ford Racing tune! To be fair, I had my race wheels on at the time as well(was getting the winter tires mounted on my street wheels), so it wasn't just exhaust noise alone.
The passenger side tail-end (not the tip-end) muffler hanger is a bit oversized, and has allowed the muffler to migrate. The muffler hangs a bit crooked now. I can't tighten the clamp any harder without stripping the threads, so I will contact SW about getting a replacement hanger and see if that solves the issue.
The exhaust has made contact with the axle once so far, but that was when I had my street wheels(with old tires still mounted), and 3 of my winter tires jammed into the back of the car. With just me in the car driving at minivan speeds, the exhaust has yet to hit. Once it warms up again, I will see what the clearance is like on the autocross course.
I still don't think I would pay $900 for the exhaut, but considering the deal I got, the weight it saves, and the nice sound. I wouldn't trade this catback for any other. Gotta give a thumbs up to SW on this product! Full disclosure, I am not affiliated with SW in any way, and do not plan to buy any more of their products. If I ever buy long tubes, I still want an H pipe, so the SW long tubes are a no go for me.
Last edited by middieman147; 04-01-2016 at 08:18 AM.
Been a while, but I have a few updates for you all.
I'm not sure If I mentioned before that I was having issues with the rear brake calipers not retracting all the way, which prevented me from installing new pads. I ended up just buying new OEM calipers and rotors to replace everything. Got everything installed, bled the brakes, bedded the pads, and thought all was well. I went to drive the car the next day, and realized that the driver side rear caliper was sticking, and I had smoked a brand new rotor and pads.
After trying everything I could think of, I talked to a ford tech, and was told it was either the ABS module, or that I had a collapsed brake line. The car wasn't throwing any codes, so I decided to reinstall the factory brake line on that corner. Guess it was the brake line, as I haven't had an issue since.
In an attempt to get ahead of the curve, YES everything was installed properly with the stainless lines. The line that came off was a Russell braided stainless line, so I guess that just goes to show that even quality parts sometimes have issues. I think I'm going to just swap back to a new set of Boss 302 lines and be done with it.
Last edited by middieman147; 04-01-2016 at 07:33 PM.
Finally got my Fays2 watts link installed, autocrossed with it a fair amount, and absolutely love it. Rear end bite on corner exit was TOO good when I first installed everything, I ended up adjusting the roll center to make the car rotate a bit better on throttle. VERY happy with the performance of this piece, but it does make a bit of noise going over bumps. Not a big deal for me, but could be to those considering installing one.
Ended up switching to ST XTA coilovers/shocks/springs as well, and so far I am quite happy. I really did love the Koni/Ultralite spring setup, but I wanted ride height adjustability, and the ability to easily switch spring rates should I ever feel the need to. Rebound adjustment is also much easier for me to deal with on the ST coils. The ST setup also saved right around 20 lbs, which was a nice surprise too!
Finally got another set of street wheels, so I can leave the factory wheels as a dedicated winter setup. New street wheels are a set of 19" Forgestar f14s wrapped in bfg gforce comp2 tires. Done maybe 2-3000 miles so far(lots of road trips to autocross events), and the tires seem to be holding up beautifully. Pretty happy with their wear rate considering that I am running -2.5 degrees of camber, and a bit of toe out.
Swapped out my stock front rotors/HP+ pads for a set of lightly used DBA 5000 series rotors and new Ferodo DS2500 pads. The DBA rotors save a bit over 4 lbs(2 lbs per side), and the Ferodo pads are said to have better modulation than my old HP+ pads. The Ferodo pads don't scream bloody murder at low speed/pedal pressure stops, but other than that I much prefer my old setup. I will autocross with this setup at least once before passing final judgement, but I have a feeling that my stock rotors and HP+ pads will be going back on in the near future.
New Ford racing Boss 302 brake lines are on order, but for right now I am still running with 3 stainless lines and 1 OEM line.
A Ford Racing catch can is also on the way, as I started getting detonation on a particularly warm day autocrossing recently. Really looking forward to seeing how much oil this piece will knock out of suspension.
I've also been dealing with an exhaust leak for while, and finally got fed up with it last week. I ordered a set of ARH longtubes/catted H pipe, and a Lund tune to go with them. Bit nervous about this as the car doesn't really need any more power(for autocross anyways), is already way loud, and already has a pretty excellent tune in it(Ford Racing), but I figured what the heck. I've been wanting a new tune to raise the redline anyways, and it didn't make sense to buy/install another set of bone stock headers. If the power ends up really unsettling the car, I'll just have them dial the tune back, and wait to turn it back up until I switch to ESP(Hoosiers). Thats all for now! I'll try to remember to grab a few pictures of the catch can and header installs when I get around to doing them!
Finally got the long tubes and got them installed. Not the most fun I've ever had working on my car, but they're in!
Quality seemed pretty good, and I had no fitment issues whatsoever. The long tubes actually got rid of the drone that I had(a pleasant surprise), but do sound a bit more raspy than the stock headers. Noise level went waaay up at WOT, but at part throttle it's not TOO bad.
The Lund tune I have in the car now is buttery smooth, but still needs a tweak or two to make the car engine brake a bit more aggressively. Contacted Lund about making the changes, and they have been wonderful so far. Sent quite a few emails back and forth about what specifically I am looking for the car to do, and I am looking forward tho the revised tune!
Got the FRPP oil separator installed as well. Fitment was flawless, and total install time was less than 10 minutes. If it wasn't the only clean part in the engine bay, I'd probably forget that it was even in there.
Stock boss 302 brake lines arrived, but I have yet to install them. Probably going to wait, and swap back to the HP+ pads at the same time, as I much prefer them to the Ferodos. To be fair to the Ferodos, I did glaze them pretty good when I broke them in, but I did the same procedure on my HP+ pads, and they work great. The Ferodos are much easier to modulate than the HP+s, but I like the "just hit a tree" feeling that the Hawks give you when you get on the brakes hard.
Last but not least, a few pictures I took on my phone(so definitely not the highest quality) in the fog a few mornings ago. The fog was really heavy, which is why everything looks a bit out of focus. Let me know what you think!
. . . but do sound a bit more raspy than the stock headers.
I'm not too surprised. The location of the crossover tube (and likely its diameter as well) is going to promote a greater volume of balancing flow through it, which tends to suppress the 'rumble'. You might even say it's an H-pipe that's trying to be an X-pipe.
11-30-2015, 05:41 PM
