I want to put a good exhaust system on my 96 Cobra. Right now its all stock except for some flow masters which I dont know what series they are (and they aint loud enough damn it!) and I put some 4inch tips on it. It sounds ok but I wont it loud. Like a deep loud sound. I heard long tube headers are a must but if i lower it they will bottom out bad? What is the best bang for my buck when it comes to exhaust systems on the 96 cobra's? Im talkin headers all the way back to tail pipe. Any help would be great.

 

well i wouldnt go with long tubes if your going to lower, im sure youll end up bottoming out some but thats just my opinion, im putting shortys on mine, longs will give you more power though. shortys are louder, ive seen it with a DB meter on the same car. now as far as midpipe it depends what you want, x will give you like 2 more hp, h is more deeper, x is raspier. catback? flowmasters give you about the least amount of hp, and there not as loud as mac, mac = more hp & louder, slp = loudest your going to get with most HP gain, best sounding exhaust system will probably be the bassani. tail size really doesnt help you as far as sound, 4" might look a little ricey on a 96 cobra, id stick with 2.5 - 3". if your going to go with an h-pipe go with the prochamber, if your going to go with an x-pipe go with the bassani. and if not bassani then bbk, bbk & bassani are gonna be louder then the other x-pipes, dr.gas is probably your loudest one but its a pain to install as it comes in 5 pieces. hope ive helped you.

 

I've talked to a guy I know who has a 97 cobra and he said go with shorty headers. So thats probably what i will do. Plus they are cheaper? I will probably go with an xpipe for sure. I've heard of the catback systems but dont know what they include or what they are exactly. Whatever gets me a great sound and gains me some hp i will be happy. The exhaust right now is hidden underneath the car. I put on some 4inch tips that you cant see. It did make it deeper in sound. Sounds better than when i first bought the car. I'll probably keep the exhaust hidden under the car cause it makes it look cleaner or I might make it exit out the sides or somethin.

 

I have a 96 cobra swap in my 97gt. I have BBk LT headers (ceramic coated) O/R BBK midpipe, Magnaflow Magnapcks for mufflers (straight through) They come with 3.5" tips and they don't look ricey at all. If I had any sense in my mind I would keep my mouth shut, but you've gotta get this set-up. It sounds real deep and throaty at idle and at cruising speeds and when I mash the throttle....right about 2800rpms she starts screaming murder...lol It sounds awesome even at WOT. SLP's sound too loud and mine is as loud as I would ever want. SLP's also sound like crap at idle, very spitty and sputtery almost as if you had no muffler sound! I wouldn't go x-pipe as I had one and with my h-pipe I don't get the poppity-pop on the decel like the x-pipe which also sounds like there aren't any mufflers. Bassani catbacks are deep toned, but very meelow and quite quiet. Shorty headers WILL NOT give you anywhere the deep tone as LT's will. I PROMISE!!! Just think that you will pay more for shorty mid-pipe than LT mid-pipe. That's more money you could put towards LT headers!..?????? If I did it all over again I would get the exact same set-up!!! My bro has same set-up with slp's and it sounds like crap! He had an x-pipe and then tried an h-pipe after he heard my set-up and now he's buying some Borla stingers which are very comparable to magnacks!

 

I think right now my cobra has 40 series flowmasters. Its not very loud at all. I mean you can tell its got a loud muffler on it but I've heard around town a couple mustangs like the fox bodies and the 94 or newers and they have an awesome deep sound to them. Like almost a dragster sound to them. I also want header dumps too cause i plan on hittin the drags sometimes. I defintely heard of going with long tube headers with the power gains and stuff. I want to go as cheap as possible but you get what you paid for you know? So yall think magnaflow is louder than any of the magnaflows? What about Mac?

 

Alright man here it is. I do bottom out sometimes cuz it's lowered, but you learn to be careful with it. I have a 96 cobra also, not sure what series flows are on mine either (on the car when I bought it), but also on it are long tube headers with a basanni off road x pipe no cats. The car not only is deep, but it's mean, and once it gets warmed up, I've been told from my friends and girlfriend that they hear my car coming when I'm about a mile away, at least a half mile away. And you gotta go with basanni too, the price is more expensive for a reason. You could probably get away with shorty headers too, not too sure how much of a diff they have, but I have heard long tube are louder with bigger gains.

 

this it what mine sounds like.
http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/f...Jan07_0001.flv

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/f...Jan07_0002.flv

http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/f...Jan07_0003.flv

 

My LT's are actually higher off the ground than my MAC O/R H-pipe was with my shorties. I have 1.5" drop and there is plenty of room. The passenger side muffler bend is the closest to the ground at 3" of clearance. The headers are way above that! Also, those Bassani's sound too much like flowmaster for me. My magnapacks are so much louder than that. The deep tone is about the same. Shorties are a waste of money, your better off just keeping factory manifolds.

 

My friend has longtubes on his lowered 98 Cobra and it scrapes on everything. They sound great but if you plan on lowering your car then I would go with Shorties or mid length. JBA shorties are probably 1 of the best but are about 616.00 for our cars. BBK makes some pretty good ones for alot less. Either one will make it sound deeper. I would also go with x pipes, no cats and (SLP Loudmouth if you want really loud exhaust). SLP makes a Loudmouth I, II, and Powerflo's with I's being the loudest and Powerflo's being the quietest out of the three. Youtube has tons of exhaust compilations, just type in which exhaust you're interested in and I am sure somone has uploaded a video with several different combinations. I personally plan on getting the JBA shorties w/ x pipes which I already have and the SLP Powerflo's. I thinkthat setup will sound mean as hell not to mention there are obviouslyhp and torque gains.

 

I just took some pics. As you can see the back of the h-pipe is the lowest. I have tried everything I can to raise that part up and that just seems to be where it wants to stay. Check out the clearance of the headers! BBK LT's and 1.5" drop