Ok i have a 2001 gt with flowmasters... dont get me wrong they sound great, but I want them to be a lot louder and still as deep as they are now.I'm thinking of having a full exhuast setup. Car is a daily driver.
Should I get headers, an h-pipe, or both? And what brands? Something decent quality but still decent pricing.

 

If u want decent pricing, stay away from headers. Long tubes are VERY expensive if you pay to ahve them installed; about 400-500 for the part and about the same for the labor = @ $1000 for approximately 15hp. Shorties are a little cheaper, but you will only net about 5hp from them so throw that idea out the window. For about $100 - $350 (depending on if you want to run catted or cattless), you can get a mid pipe that will bolt to your stock manifolds. Ive heard that aftermarket H pipes have a deeper tone, but Ive always used X pipes on all of my stangs simply because they net more HP due to better design characteristics. X pipes have a higher, slightly more raspy pitch, but are LOUD, and VERY AGGRESSIVE. I decided to go with a UPR offroad X on my current car, and it only set me back about $150 w/ shipping, and only took me about 45 minutes to install on my garage floor with a friend. Power gains were noticable, and with the flowmasters I have the sound causes passing motorists to break their necks at me!

 

full slp w/ the loudmouth 1's. can't beat 'em

 

Why is an LT installation so expensive? I hear they're a PitA, but that's a lot of labor cost right there.

Also, while I don't distrust what anyone on here says, can anyone confirm the less HP, deeper tone of the H-pipe vs. the X-pipe?

 

Its only about 1-2 HP less, not even enough to feel. I can completly confirm that a H is deeper though, although IMO the X sounds better..

LT's are so expensive because there is alot of labor involved, and sometimes they dont always fit right and it takes some tweaking. Not to mention the fact that it is a complete PITA to acsess the bolts.

OP, dont worry about headers right now. Get yourself an O/R X and call it a day, you will be more than happy.

 

WOW! $1000 for install then you are not looking around. I got my longtubes and H pipe installed for 200 all together. I searched for 1 week until i was satisfied. took the guy all day but they are so worth it. If you say LT are not worth it, then u do not know what your talking about. LT o/r X or H will really wake the car up and will be so loud that you cannot immagine. Many people on here have LT and H or X and end up taking them off because they are sick of how loud the car is. My car is louder than my bestfriends Trans Am who has LT Y pipe and cut out. Plus the horsepower is very noticable with LT since that is the most restrictive part of your exhaust.

 

I just read my last post and i sounded angry. I didntmean to sound offensive.

 

WOW! 200 for everything? AND IT TOOK HIM ALL DAY?!? Sounds like he lost his ***, or he just works for extremly cheap. The odds are that your not going to find that kind of deal everywhere you go.

L/T's ARE worth it if you can do the install yourself or find a place that is willing to do it cheap. Trust me I know what I'm talking about.

For your last quote that is highlighted, do you have some solid proof for that? I'm willing to bet that the stock H and stock heads are fairly more restrictive than the manifolds. If your running stock heads and L/T's then your not even getting close to the full potential of them, you'll be lucky if you gained 7-10 HP.

 

GTRACER88 did you take it to like a muffler shop instead of like a mustang place to install?

 

I have Flow 40s and am getting my X-pipe put on Monday. Trust me, your car will be loud enough. You won't be sorry.