I was thinking the same thing, but only if I was pulled over by a cop who decided to look under my car. I want some long tubes, but I heard they are a PITA so I don't want to try and switch anything when emissions come around.

 

LOL, yea like I said I have never heard of such a thing, LT's not passing emissions, but you are right on one thing... You DONT want to be changing your LT's every time emissions come around.. One hell of a hassle, headers in general, but LT's especially, heh.

 

I live in NY where they have the tailpipe sniffer as part of your yearly inspection. My '98 has a Magnaflow catback and everything else up front of that is stock.....all SIX cats....no problem with passing inspection. Quick question: If I go from my 6 cat stock set up to an "X" or "H" pipe with one each "hi-flow" cat right and left bank, my emissions will still test at a passing rate? Somehow it just doesn't seem likely.

By the way, NOISE does not = POWER. Why is everybody so hung up on just making noise? Aren't the ricers with their tennis ball launchers that run all over the streets enough of an annoying noise as it is? Some states (Massachusetts for one) have pending legislation when, if passed, will make it totally illegal to alter your stock exhaust system in ANY way without huge fines. I believe all those ricers have something to do with that situation. No need to give Mustang owners the "*******" rating along with those ricers. Bad, noisey, nasty exhausts are cool at the track and on race day but only attract every cops ear on the open road. I get tired of getting the evil eye from every cop I pass just because I drive a Mustang. There should be no need for this crap to constantly happen.

Someone talked about warranties being honored. If you have a special "X" or "H" set up with one each hi-flow cat, there is a very good likelihood that your warranty will disappear on you. No cats, forget it. The most radical car surgeries usually take place after the car's warranty is no longer an issue. I suppose it is WHO you know that counts in these situations. I have even had dealers tell me to take my K&N out of my air intake to avoid MAF and oxygen sensor contamination. They even showed me the Ford bulletin on the subject. Some dealers can be first class bastards when it comes to vehicle modification. I guess it is a crap shoot who you deal with.

Anyway, good luck with your rides out there and enjoy. Didn't really mean to blow smoke up your tailpipes on this subject as I love a "well tuned" car (Mustang) as much as anyone else. I used to only run long tube headers on all my cars and loved them for the performance increases. Today, with technology the way it is, there really isn't any need to do that kind of stuff anymore. Make some sound bolt-on changes to your engine, get a "power tune" of some kind and feel the difference. The latest power tuners now even take into consideration what exhaust, rear end ratio, auto shift rates, etc. your car is running to give you the absolute best tune for your set up. Saw a test with various shorty headers and "X" pipe with Bassani exhaust. The whole HP swing from the cheapest shorties to the most expensive only added a max of 5 HP (as dynoed) to the whole system. Not really worth your while for that kind of increase vs expense. I say "power tune" it and enjoy.

Everyone have a good Turkey Day!!

 

I couldn't agree more, noise does not equal power is right. However, some people like myself are never going to be racing my car, so why the hell would I put race oriented mods into my car, spend a lot of money.. for nothing? There are plenty others like me as well, I want the noise rather than the "performance." Lol, and I completely agree there are enough ricers out their with their tennis ball launchers, but you could put virtually anything on a Mustang and not have to worry about a bad sound... Mustang sound is NOT annoying, no matter what you put on their... Honda Civics with puertorican mufflers are.

I could garantee more than half the people on here will never race their car or even bring it to a track... Thats just not what all people do. Therefore, that is exactly why people love sound, because even if you don't have power.. It sure sounds like you do!
So for those who like sound and looks.. this explains your question, not everyone likes to spend useless money.

 

Here in VA we have to get our cars inspected every year. If you have no cats it is a $5000 fine. I had an SLP on road x-pipe on my '04 GT and I liked it. It made the car louder and it gave it about 10 more HP and it passed inspection fine.

 

That's what I was hoping to hear. Has anyone else heard of difficulty passing emissions with LT's or was I hi or something?LOL!

 

I was told LTs are fine as long as you have cats on the car it is legal. In VA we don't even have to have mufflers just cats.