grif62

kooks or ARH, both good, getting ARH when I recover from surgery

kweb288

trust me i learned the hard way! buy the good stuff that will last the first time around!

O and headers arnt that hard to install yourself

MTBer

Haha I can't tell you how many times I've bought crap first trying to save money and ended up buying the better stuff later

I have a cousin who is willing to port and polish my heads and port match them to headers if I decide to get them. Anyone have an idea of what gains I might see over just bolting on headers? Aside from that, I would be leaving the rest of the engine stock, and would have the following on the car when I consider it done-

port and polished heads port matched to Kooks longtube headers, PHP intake spacer, K&N intake, catted x-pipe, SLP catback exhaust, FRPP aluminum driveshaft, 3.73 gears, and SCT custom dyno tune. Maybe an Accufab throttle body. That would be it for power mods.

BRIAN67SHELBY

I waited and waited for the right price to pop up on ebay and I got a set of brand new SLP ceramic long tubes with matching off road x pipe for 600.00 shipped. I installed the x pipe with my original flowmaster 40's and it soundy a little too raspy for my taste. I went and purchased a new cat back system from magnaflow. It is the magnapack system which is a 2 1/2" mandrel bent pipes with straight thru design mufflers that are very simular to the Loud mouth II mufflers. That set up has a very deep tone to it which I liked very much until you really get on it above 3500 then it can get the neighborhood's attention very easily. I'm looking for the same sound that I had with my older 98GT(PI heads, custom cams, BBK LT, BBK O/R H-pipe, Flowmaster 40s w/turndowns), that setup was awsome in my opinion. It set off just about every car alarm within a 50 foot radius, because of the deep bass. I recently purchased a Pypes brand O/R H-pipe on ebay for around 110.00 shipped. I have a friend that works at a performance shop near the town that I live that is going to make a section of stainless pipe that we will use to mate the SLP long tubes to the Pypes H-pipe(H pipe is flared at the end and would require cutting to remove the flange mount). The SLP LT + O/R H pipe + magnapack will hopefully equal that ultimate sound that I've been striving for being a deep throaty muscle car sound. We will experiment with the setup to see if any increase or decrease in HP/Tq changes by switching the axle back pipes or going with dumps just behind the magnapacks. I've been told that the HP/torque numbers will increase at a lower rpm with H-pipes and that X-pipes will gain HP/tq numbers at higher rpms. Until I can get my cars weight down to 3200 lbs with me in it and a full tank, I believe that I will need the lower rpm HP/torque anyway.

BRIAN67SHELBY

I will have the car dynoed with x pipe then with the h pipe and keep you posted on the difference based on the mods that I have now. I will try to see what the differences are when the dumps are added to each as well.

JDraper

You can get there without the longtubes. I put down 302 hp/327 tq Standard corrected with a Borla Stinger cat back, C&L CAI, intake spacer, Meziere electric water pump, aluminum flywheel and a tune. My car is a 5 speed with a TMX2 computer code. I've added a Bassani catted X since the run, but haven't been back on the dyno yet.

BTW, dead stock I put down 269 hp/281 tq

Dyno sheet:

MTBer

Thanks, those are nice numbers.

Since I started this thread, my original Mach 1 was wrecked when an idiot in an F150 pulled out in front of me at a stop sign. I hit his front left tire doing 35mph. Both bags blew, but I walked away without a scratch.

Four days later, I bought another one though, and this one has Borla Stingers and a Bassani o/r X pipe. I plan on taking it to Livernois Motorsports next spring and getting Kooks longtubes, a catted X-pipe, 3.73 gears, and a tune. Before I take it down there I'll throw on an electric water pump and a FRPP aluminum driveshaft. I'm now aiming for 320hp/340ft-lbs at the wheels.

JDraper

I'd avoid the 3.73's. Not much of a shift from 3.55's. If you want to change gears, go to 4.10's. Personally, if it's a stick, I don't think I'd change gears. I have enough problems getting my car to hook with the 3.55's even when I had the 315's on the rear. I know the auto Machs definitely benefit from the 4.10's though.

Since you're in Michigan, how about checking out MRT (Mustang Racing Technologies) for your parts/tuning? Scott Hoag, the owner of the company, was the designer behind the Mach 1 and the Bullitt when he worked for Ford. He's a great guy and knows these cars inside and out.

mrtstang

+1...Scott did my gears, and i couldn't be happier! Good price and great customer service.

Mustang3GT07

I went with ARH longtubes over kooks because ARH have better ground clearance and are not a slip fit design like the kooks, which can leak at the collector sometimes.