alexr

you have a couple options for tail lights. these are the options that I personally would consider. you can either go with the stock 96-98 tail lights, which are pretty sleek lookin, or you can do the stock 94-95 horizontal tail lights. i would do the 94-95 if you put big tires in the back, lower the car, and take off the spoiler. otherwise id just put the 96-98 tails on it. and either one you go with, you should tint them, especially with the color car yours is.

altezza and euro tail lights just dont look right on these cars. they dont follow the lines of the car at all, especially if theyre a one piece lens, with the random circles like yours has. if youre following what im sayin.

as for swapping the exhaust, when i did mine, i found a stock GT catback (any year from 94-98 will do) for sale by some guy for $40. that price will vary, depending on who's selling one, or especially if you want to go with an aftermarket set like Flowmaster or Magnaflow, etc.

to bolt up a GT exhaust system, you'll need to have a muffler shop hack up your midpipe (which is currently in a Y shape), and bolt on an H-Pipe adapter after the catalytic converters. you can get an H-pipe adapter from www.americanmuscle.com for $99. what i did, was take the car in its stock form, to the muffler shop, bring them the catback, and the h-pipe adapter, and told them i just wanted it converted to dual. they should know what to do from there. it cost me $125 for them to cut the old exhaust and install the new one.

Vovovovan

I prefer the 96-98 tail lights, just wanted to ask how to tint them the color of the car?
and bout the exhaust, the cheepest cat back is 470

alexr

cheapest catback is 470? where are you lookin? theres almost an endless list of options for exhaust work. the cheapest route is finding a stock GT catback on like Craigslist. people that put aftermarket exhaust systems on their GT are lookin to get rid of their stock system, usually you can pick it up fairly cheap.

for aftermarket systems, you can get a flowmaster catback for an sn95 GT for $330 shipped. i know this because i was looking at them last week.

as for tinting your tail lights, i wouldnt do them the color of the car. 1 thats too much work, its easy to screw it up messing with colored paint, and it will look kinda dumb. what I did, was i got VHT Niteshade, which is an aerosol tint, and painted them in light coats, wet sanded them with 1500 grit sandpaper, and used a 6" random orbit buffer and polishing compound to shine them.

this is how mine turned out:




but if youre still interested in tinting them the color of your car, i know someone that can do it PROFESSIONALLY, and i can point you his way if youre interested. ive seen some of his work, and you would have never thought the car had tail lights, or thought they were painted covers.

Vovovovan

first, can you gimme the phone of that someone who does the tail light work.
and second, what's the difference between a cat back and a regular dual exhaust and why do I need the H pipe adapter? If I'll buy the H adapter for $95 what else will I need to do the work?

alexr

catback refers to all of the exhaust after the catalytic converters. you have the headers/exhaust manifolds (same parts, but yes theres a difference... you either have one or the other), then you have the midpipe (which is between the headers and the pipes the mufflers are attached to, which may or may not have catalytic converters, and may or may not have a crossover pipe). then finally you have the catback, which is the pipes that are welded to the mufflers, the mufflers themselves, and the tail pipes.

since the v6 mustang is a balanced engine, meaning the firing order of the cylinders goes (reffering to the left cylinder bank and the right cylinder bank) left, right, left, right, left, right (as opposed to the unbalanced v8 mustang engine that goes left, left, right, left, right, right, left, right.... if youre still following what im saying at this point). what all this means is, v8's use an H or an X crossover in the midpipe to balance out the exhaust, since the engine itself is unbalanced. since the v6 engine is already self-balanced, there is no need to balance the exhaust.

what this means for you is, you have 3 options with your midpipe that deals with crossovers, as opposed to the v8's, which only have the option of an H pipe or an X pipe. that 3rd option for you is no crossover at all. besides balancing out the exhaust to create an even backpressure, the crossover (or lack of) affects the sound of the exhaust. the H pipe is the deepest sounding of the 3, next being the X pipe which is a little more raspier, and the straight pipes (no crossover) being the most raspy, with not much deep tone at all.

alexr

the H-pipe adapter is a pre-fabricated piece made specifically for the v6 exhaust, which requires the least amount of work to install. what it does, is when you cut the stock Y pipe, so that you have 2 seperate pipes coming from the headers into and out of the catalytic converters, you bolt up the H pipe adapter, turning what was a Y pipe to 1 muffler, into an H pipe that you can now bolt up 2 mufflers to. if you dont want an H-pipe, you can pay an extra fee at the muffler shop when having your exhaust installed, and have them just measure and weld in 2 straight pipes going from the cut midpipe to each muffler, and not using a crossover at all.

it sounds cheaper to have the shop weld up 2 straight pipes, but you may also have to consider that a shop may take an hour to do that, which could be about $80/hr labor, so its really not much of a difference to buy the H-pipe adapter and have a more mellow tone.

v6 owners dont really have the option to use an X-pipe with the cats, unless you buy an x crossover, and have the rest of the midpipe fabricated up at a shop, or unless you buy an Off-Road X midpipe.



and about the guy that does the tail lights, i dont have a phone number. ill contact him, tell him your interested, and if he'll do it for you, ill let you know.

Vovovovan

thanks a lot for everything
now i'm completely satisfied

alexr

satisfied?


what i like most about these cars is, im never satisfied.

Vovovovan

i'm satisfied with the answer, cuz I don't have anything else to ask
and why aren't you satisfied with mustangs?

by the way almost forgot, will it raise my horses?

alexr

im never satisfied with my car because theres always something (tasteful) that can be done to it, unlike a lot of other cars.


it all depends what you do to the exhaust, that will determine netting HP. with the v6, more so than with a lot of v8's, you have to choose if you want a "beefier" sound or the performance. the goal with dual exhaust on the v6 mustang is to relieve extra backpressure caused by a single exhaust setup. but too much of a free flowing (or better said, not enough backpressure) can cause a loss in performance, or cause the power band to shift in the RPM range to a range that is virtually useless.

that being said, your loudest exhaust setup is always going to be the one with the least restrictions. but loudest also doesnt translate into best sounding. from different inputs from different owners, the v6 mustang is said to have the best performance with a dual exhaust setup, WITH the catalytic converts, and just about any muffler choice. i would bank on that gaining you about 5hp, it could be more, but i wouldnt want you to expect to see more. now, with removing the catalytic converters, by installing an Off-Road midpipe, you will get a much louder tone, and hear more of the "tumbling" of the engine in the exhaust. but that comes as a byproduct of losing some performance in the lower RPM range, where most daily driving is done. the catalytic converters are what causes the most backpressure in the exhaust system, but for the v6 mustang, at least at somewhat stock hp numbers, it is the perfect amount of backpressure for optimal performance.

now you dont technically lose all that hp by installing the o/r midpipe. really what youre doing is losing low end torque, because these engines are weaker down low than they are up near the redline, and they could use that backpressure caused by the cats to help keep some torque in the lower end. since the engine is working harder up near the redline, it benefits from the lack of cats, allowing the exhaust to flow more freely, but unless youre drag racing your car, you really wont see that part of the powerband too often.