OneGearhead

alright. heres the setup im gonna run....1 5/8" shorties from BBK, Flowmaster 2 1/2" American Thunder catback and i cant decide if i want a hi-flo h- or x-pipe from BBK. is there a sound difference ? is there a DRASTIC hp difference or just a "few"(less than 5-7) ? and which ones more expensive or are they both relatively close(within $30) ? thanks.

and btw, when i say hi-flo, they WILL be catted.....i hate VA's laws[:@]

wildstang87

in general, the 5.0s like the h pipes, and the 4.6s like the x pipe. the x pipe will give a higher pitch, while the h pipe will give lower and deeper pitch, the price differance is usually only about $10 (with the x being more). and power wise the x makes more HP but not until the very high rpm range (5000) and up, but you will loose a few ft/lbs of torque on the low end with the x. the h pipe will give almost no gain across the board on a relitively stock motor. and maybe a few on a highly modified motor. i have a mac o/r h pipe with 40 series flowmasters, and dumps. i am about to switch to borla mufflers. to sum it up, its all a matter of your opinion, if you like the european sound go with the x pipe, if you like american hotrods stay with an h pipe. hope this helps.

stanglx2002

the h pipe will give you a deeper tone
the x pipe will give you a raspy tone

OneGearhead

alright..........thanks guys. ill get the h-pipe. i want the American muscle sound, as opposed to the "european sound"

settled4automatic

i'm glad you decided on h-pipe. offroad would be SOOO much better, but i guess if you're stuck by laws then so are all the other stangs in your area :P

anyways, i would choose the great sound of the h-pipe over the extra couple hp you'd get from x-pipe.

i've got offroad x on my 87 and offroad h on my 95. h>x

wildstang87

another quick note, the cats on a smog legal h or x pipe arent restrictive at all. you wont notice but at the most 2hp differance with no cats on a car with the stock heads. also if you get some factory headers back on there you will gain a little torque, but if you plan on putting heads on it keep the 1 5/8.

OneGearhead

yeah. i plan on doin a built(balanced & blueprinted) 306 with full TFS top end. so, im gonna need the headers. figured id go ahead and get them on now, then when i get the good engine, ill just get new header gaskets and swap 'em over. thanks again for the opinions everybody

5.0sTheWayToGo

just get an off road h pipe with no cats and when its time to get emissions done then take like 20 minutes and swap the stock h pipe on there for the emissions test. thats what im going to do. i live in virgina to and havnt had any trouble. i was going to do the same thing you did. but when i saw the price difference i got the off road h pipe with no cats. the no cats is like 160 bucks and the high flow h pipe is like 400 bucks. so i figured i would just save money but have to do a little work when the time came to get it emissions tested.

vfast

or slip your fav mechanic a 20

OneGearhead

haha. im workin at a dealership now, so that wouldnt be a problem and if i get my inspection license, i REALLY wont have to worry about it, but, i doubt ill be able to since ill be hopefully doing performance cars in a couple of years after i graduate(i want to own my own shop). but thanks for the replies guys. appreciate it