jf713jf

I think I'll be converting my sixxer to an X-pipe soon, and I'm not sure whether I want to cut my stock bumper or get and paint a GT one. Cutting seems cheaper, but might produce a shoddy look in the long run. The downside of the gt bumper is the cost of both the bumper and painting, which could be spent on performance instead...

Regardless, I haven't been able to find any 2005-2009 GT bumpers online and I was wondering if anybody new where I could find one.

JimC

I originally cut my rear bumper and thought it looked great. The only reason I changed to the GT bumper was courtesy of a pick up driver who was texting on his cell phone in the construction zone and hit me. It was cheaper to buy a take off and put it on myself (and then let him pay to paint my stripes).
Before the accident:



Now:


I painted the mufflers black so they would blend in better

jf713jf

Wow, the way you cut it looks reaallyy good. I wish i had cutting skill like that. I found the template from pypes (the one that looks like its hand drawn and scanned) but I don't have any of the neccecary tools. (I think they reccomended a jigsaw) Is there some place I can take it and have it done for me? I would be so afraid to attempt to cut it with a reciprocating saw... But to save 300 bucks and not have to repaint, its a no brainer. The only downside is that while it looks really good when done right(yours for example), I have seen a couple pictures of sixxers who messed up.

JimC

I cut it using the Pypes template and a box cutter. The bumper is really soft and easy to cut. I then took a wine bottle (after empting it of course) and used it with sand paper wrapped around it to smooth it out.

jf713jf

HAHA that sounds almost too simple to be true... but also extremely brilliant.

Just a question, how do you know where to lay the stencil? And do you have to remove the bumper to cut it using the boxcutter/winebottle method?

jf713jf

Also i was just wondering if you could link me to the cutout you used to make sure it's the same one I have. It would be a shame to use the wrong one.

JimC

I used the template off the Pypes website, so it is probably the one that you have. When you print it make sure that your printer is set to "full size" and not "shrink to fit". If you don't print it full size your cut will be off. The bumper stays on the car and there are fold lines on the template and you measure to certain marks on the bumper (it has been awhile since I did it) and tape it down. I covered the area with painter masking tape, traced the outline, and I remember now that I used a drill with a small bit to make a series of holes along the cut line - then just "connect the dots" and smooth and shape it with your sand paper.

There isn't anything behind the bumper where you cut that you can hit, just empty space until you mount your muffler.

tx_zstang

I cut mine out with a coping saw, then uses rough sandpaper to clean it up. Looks quite natural.
But I did get ahold of a GT take-off rear bumper that I might put on or sell locally.

jf713jf

Your success stories are getting me psyched lol!

Did you guys really feel any performance difference after getting your duals hooked up?

I'm just wondering, what's the difference between these two pypes kits, besides the large price difference? I've heard that x-pipes are better and these are the two that i've found so far. Just to be clear, i'm really more into performance than sound for now.

http://www.newtakeoff.com/mustang_V6...05-2009-1.aspx

http://www.americanmuscle.com/pypes-...l-catback.html

It doesn't seem like the american muscle one even comes with hardware.

JimC

There really isn't much of a performance difference as I recall, just changing to a less restrictive muffler is giving a couple of HP.
As far as X or H there are a lot of threads about it. Basically, the X is said to give more power, but the H better tone. I don't really notice much difference between my car with the X and another one with the H, but then I've never heard my car from outside at the track runnning WOT.