PonyPilot

I installed a set of Pypes Violator axle-back a couple weekends ago. I don’t believe that I would go this route again if I had it to do over again. I was looking for something a bit more aggressive sounding than stock, but not as loud as the Loudmouth, so after reading some of the posts decided (without hearing it in person first) that the Pypes Violator would be the way to go. The price factored into it as well…these were about half the price of Magnaflow or similar axle-back exhaust systems. Yeah, I know…I’m hearing a chorus of “you get what you pay for” coming at me ;-)

There were a couple issues with them from the beginning. First, the mufflers look ragged. Upon seeing them in the shipping box, one of my kids asked me if they were used. The tips looked great, but the muffler body’s had large weld lines and didn’t look all that clean or smooth.

Second, during installation the clamps didn’t want to seat correctly and were getting caught up on the split, thus wouldn’t clamp properly. After some tweaking, got them to work, but it added time and effort to the install.

Third, the hangers didn’t seem to be correct on the right side. I ended up taking it back down after installing it to twist on the bracket to keep the tips from touching the rear fascia. Finally got it installed but it was still too far over, so got on the side and muscled it over so it would align with the cutout of the rear fascia. The alignment on that right one still isn’t perfect, the angle of the muffler body is at a slight angle…probably not noticeable by most, but it’s my car and I notice it.

The drone on these at about 1800 to 2000 RPM is pretty bad and it seems the car is in that band quite a bit.

The plus side, is they definitely sound more aggressive than the stock and are not too loud when in the low RPM’s, like when I’m driving in my neighborhood, but when you put the throttle down, they really make some noise and let people know you are there. I also like how the 4” rolled chrome pipe fills out the cutout on the rear.

I like them enough to keep them on, but think I will eventually look for something else.

Philostang

Thanks for the review Pony.

Ok, (my) stupid question time: I've heard lots of folks worry/talk about the dreaded "drone," but what exactly is that? I mean, I've got a 72 Fastback with full flowing exhaust (race mufflers) that makes tons of noise, but that's to be expected...I thought. Am I missing something? Do you have an audio clip of the drone, or could you describe it a bit? Does the stock system have it to any degree, and I'm just missing it?

Thanks for any help and patience you can offer to an ignorant soul.
Best,
-j

757GT

Drone is when you can hear your exhaust while you are just cruising and not getting on it. Most muffler systems drone a little bit, the loud mouth does not drone simply beause it is straight pipes, there is nothing to resonate the sound. My car is loud when I get on it but when cruising you can not hear it in the car.

Philostang

Thanks for that757GT. Now I have a sense of what to listen for...although, my guess is that this is an "issue" depending on personal preference. I'm sure some folks just love to listen to their ride.

Best,
-j

PonyPilot

Hmm...difficult to define "drone" and really, I wasn't sure what people where talking about myself until I heard it with my current system. While I feel the stock exhaust has a tad of drone at about 1500 RPM, at least in my car, it isn't that bad and is a relative short duration most of the time...probably because I don't spend much time in the 1500 RPM band.

It's a different sound than the sweet exhaust note that we all love about the Mustang though...it's a rather annoying level of harmonics that just kind of buzzes/hums at fairly high decibels. Not knowing much about harmonics, I think it's not really the exhaust sound, but rather sound feedback bouncing off the various surfaces of the muffler and pipe. While the Pypes Violator is "straight through" in that it doesn't have baffles and such, there is a bend which likely is the culprit compared to the straight pipe of the SLP Loud Mouth.

Anyone knowing what's really going on with drone, please feel free to correct me!

sowaxeman

Drone is the harmonic "buzzing" or "vibration" that you feel in your brain It can be quite annoying, and even bothersome to some people, but it is usually only at certain frequencies caused at certain rpms. All depends on the system.