jwgroovin

I've been very pleased with the sound my Mac axlebacks and Bassani catted xpipe provide for warm weather tooling around. They're loud, aggressive, and scream at WOT. With my window down and the radio OFF, I love just prowling around making the motor do its thing.

Problem is, any lengthy driving, especially with the windows up, got on my nerves as the dreaded 1800-2000rpm drone just about rattled my teeth loose whenever cruising speed in 5th got under load at that rpm range. This has been reported over and over across forums, and various combos of midpipe and muffler have been purported to increase or reduce the drone. My combo has always been reported to have great sound but intrusive drone at 2000rpm.

Anyhow, one writer on a forum with the same midpipe and muffler as me mentioned that his drone became manageable after getting JBA headers. I thought that was a bit much money for sound improvement, as the performance gains haven't exactly screamed bang for the buck in the magazines. But the other week, my son and I installed BBK shorties on his '86 Mustang GT. He has an xpipe and Flowmasters, which sounded great, but the BBK mufflers deepened the tone, clearly added some low and midrange punch, and really improved sound at WOT. I figured what the heck and ordered the BBK shorties for the 05-06 Mustang. They just got installed.

The first impression is that any hint of raspiness is about eliminated, with a healthy idle. Pushing on the gas elicits a nice growl, but it's not as manic or loud--the sound IN THE CABIN is very much reduced!! It's weird, and I got really bummed out that my signature exhaust sound had got tempered a bit. Curious how it sounded outside the car, I had my son get in the drivers seat and I watched him go about 100 yards up the street, and then do the same thing going the other way. Not WOT but just a bit of gas for fun. Ah-ha! Big difference. Outside the car the sound is awesome, and improved, and still very much as loud. Somehow the headers have removed the irritating frequencies and even reduced the drone to very manageable levels, and it doesn't translate into the cabin.

Now, I have no way to prove it unless dynoed, but I think mid-range punch is way up. Third and forth feel "stronger" and have more pull.

I'm detailing the car today as there will be a large cruise-in in our area tomorrow if the weather holds, and if it does, I'll take some film/audio to have you compare with earlier video of just the xpipe and Mac axleback alone. I'm pretty satisfied, and heck, it will add some spice to our car shows when the hood is up.

Thought I'd pass on the info, as few S197 drivers seem to be getting the shorties nowadays...

John

jwgroovin

I've a got a quick video/audio of the car running around in front of the house. No loud open throttle, but if you set your computer system's equalizer to show off the lows, the sound comes through pretty good even at fairly low speeds, and you can hear the deeper tones not heard in the other two. Note this was with a digital still camera with video function, and it picks up EVERYTHING--wind, birds, and mumbling. It also seems to emphasize the highs, but hopefully this gives some perspective. I'm very pleased with the overall sound.

http://www.ballisticsoftware.com/images/macaxleback.mov
http://www.ballisticsoftware.com/ima...csaxleback.mov
http://www.ballisticsoftware.com/ima...acaxleback.mov

John

757GT

You like the BBK shorties. I am thinking about getting them. Did you need a tune? I was told the car has to be tuned once you install headers.

IEATSRT

if your looking for any significant hp gains stay away from shorties. long tubes are more expensive but offer more in return. i don't think you need a tune with shorties unless you go with an off road h or x pipe upone which you will need to turn of the rear O2 sensor via a tune

jwgroovin

It's not necessary (unless you want the o2 sensors off) but I will be getting a custom tune because I don't anticipate any further mods to the intake or exhaust, and a custom tune will squeeze the last bit of available performance out of the car with the current setup. After that, my handheld tuner will allow changes for gears or alternate tire heights, should they appear in the future.

I'll post the dyno figures but I'm not expecting more than 5hp from these shorties (although BBK is claiming twice that). I was really after a certain sound, and the shorties, Bassani catted xpipe and Mac axlebacks gave me what I wanted.

John

chevykiller

Congrats and it sounds like you know what you want. Just remember all you other guys that the shorties are what's on your car now and the only people claiming gains from aftermarket shorties are the people selling them. (to steal a phrase from hawgman...)

757GT

I was not looking for any gains with them, just a little bit more noise. I figure I will get a little bit over the stock manifolds, they are very restrictive. I am also going to get the tb spacer. I have not been tuned for a while. Once I get the headers and the spacer I will get it tuned for the additons of the ud pullies, the x pipe, the headers, and the tb spacer. I figure I should see something more than the last time I had it dynoed.