AMAlexLazarus

^^^This! OP if you'd like for us to help piece together a system for you shoot my Customer Service Team a call directly at 1-866-727-1266 and they'll get you set up! We're open from 9-9 Eastern!

Alex

TfcCDR

Yeah, what HE said.

Pick your own priorities. Your coworker has decided to spend thousands of dollars on engine power which won't help him much on the street (unless his objective is to get so many citations that they give him his own parking space at the courthouse).

You can spend a fraction of the money and get a significant boost in performance. He'll have more power under the hood, but you'll have more money in your pocket (not just having not spent it on the car, but also not spending it on fines and boosted insurance rates).

My advice is always to spend money on the tires, brakes suspension and steering before spending much on power. The money spent here has a major effect on not only safety, but also how the car feels when you drive it.

Then go take a performance driving course (loyalty always has me suggest Bondurant). That's where you will learn that all having too much power does it let you get deeper into trouble before you notice that you have a problem.

When all that is done, you will have spent far less than your buddy, and get far more to show for it. If you go do an SCCA course with lots of slaloms and switchbacks, you will eat your buddy's "GT killer" for lunch!

So don't feel bad that you aren't pouring money into your car like your buddy is doing. Plan your upgrades (as you are doing now) and you will be far happier in the long run than he will be.

Matthew954

[QUOTE]Pick your own priorities. Your coworker has decided to spend thousands of dollars on engine power which won't help him much on the street (unless his objective is to get so many citations that they give him his own parking space at the courthouse).
/QUOTE]
Yeah we all figured about the same thing haha!

Thanks for the tips, I figured the exhaust would be a good place to start upgrading. I figured I'd upgrade and learn about the car as I go along. The biggest reason I joined the forum lol. If nothing else, I would like to give the car a nice grumble as I'm driving along.

PNYXPRESS

If you plan out the exhaust correctly you can do it piece by piece and not have to redo anything later on.

I would look for a GT take off dual exhaust setup. MIdpipe all the way to tailpipes as these can be found for ~$125 for everything.

Have your flowmasters installed in these tailpipes as you will have the exhaust flanges so you can unbolt the exhaust later on if needed.

have a muffler shop cut and match up your v6 y-pipe to the GT h-pipe and have the high flow cats welded in far enough down that IF you decide on LTs later you just have to shorten you midpipe to fit.

Matthew954

GT take off setup?

Matthew954

Ok, answered my own question. Now I'm seriously considering the GT takeoff. Would the mufflers have to come off of an 04 GT? Because I've been Ebaying a bit tonight, and noticed most of the GT mufflers I've been finding are from 2012 and up GT's....and a few Shelbys.

PNYXPRESS

You would need a 99-04 system.

Matthew954

Ok, well I've been thinking. If I get a pre-built exhaust system like the Flowmaster Force II, how difficult would it be to install it myself. My dad has metal ramps that I can use to roll the car up onto, and I can fit underneath. Pretty much I like the feeling of accomplishment that I did the work myself (dad thinks I should have it done professionally lol). In a perfect world, the exhaust system should be able to unbolt right? Atleast from what I've read anyway. And If I would want to upgrade from the stock Y-pipe to an X-pipe, can the pipes leading from the mufflers to the Y-pipe be removed? Or would they need to be cut? And would anything need welded at all? Sorry for all the questions, but I've never gotten into car upgrades at all before. This is the first car that has interested me in fixing up.

TfcCDR

Climb under there and look at the current exhaust system, after studying the assembly drawing for what you want to do.

Could you install the factory system? How is it different from installing the upgrade system? When you compare the two, you should get a good idea whether it's a good idea.

Get quotes from some muffler shops for the install costs. You might find one which can do everything for low enough that doing it yourself doesn't make any sense. While you're at it, ask if they have any suggestions for different components. They know exhaust systems, and know what works and doesn't.

PNYXPRESS

At minimum you will need the p/s exhaust hanger and the two rear bumper exhaust hangers

You will need to have the y-pipe cut and re-welded to match up to the tailpipes of your choice. The stock exhaust is basically three pieces bolted together

Exhaust manifolds
Catted mid pipe/y-pipe
Tailpipe

The the GT duals are similar except it has two tailpipe pieces and a catted mid pipe/h-pipe