Hey I'm getting ready to bolt on a new h-pipe on my 02 GT and I have a question. It came with 1 gasket for the passenger side and it also came with a flange. Where does this flange go? I've tried calling mac and brenspeed but nobody's answering. Thanks in advance.

 

The gasket is for the passenger side pipe. In fact it should be shaped to fit that side only. The flange that comes with it not sure about it. I installed mine without it and it fits fine. Good luck!

 

Hey thanks man. I went ahead and bolted it on without the flange. I don't know exactly what it was for. I just fired it up and took it around the block. I have a pretty nasty leak(s) though. I'm gettin ready to climb back under it and tighten everything. Hope I can find it.

 

Do you have a tuner? It will run rich without it which will also give you a strong gasoline smell out of the exhaust. It will not hurt you to bad to run rich but you not going to get the best perfomance out of it.

 

my x pipe uses a steel flange that fits inside the passengers side pipe. The gasket may go on the drivers side...

 

huh i think you have that backwards

 

no I dont have a tuner yet. I'm getting one though. Well I found the leaks. It's leaking where the old mac catback bolts up to the new h pipe. I'm lettin it cool for a couple minutes and i'm gonna reposition it. It seems to be sagging a bit. It's kinda hard when you don't have any help with these things. lol.. Yeah stanger00 you're right the gasket is for the passenger side. I still have no idea what that flange is for though. lol.. Maybe it fell in the box at the factory. lol..

 

if its saggin put a jack under the h pipe and jack it up a little bit and then tighten everything down.

 

Well I did the install today. I think I got all the major leaks sealed but one. I had an older MAC catback already on that's pretty rusty. The drivers side was dripping water where the catback meets the h pipe. I tried a couple times tightening and repositioning it. It's so tight the brackets are bending towards each other a little. Anyways how long do you guys think it will take for the rust to seal the leaks? Should I try something else? I don't want to weld them.
I gotta be honest it's not what I thought it would be. It's really loud but also tinny and raspy at around 2000-ish rpms. Is this normal? If so I may switch back. I was looking for loud and throaty but it just sounds loud and embarrassing. Any suggestions? Do any of you guys have the mac h pipe - mac catback setup on your cars and if so how does yours sound?

 

I have flowmaster mufflers on mine that came with the car when I bought it 2 1/2 yrs ago. It's throaty!!! Yeah loud too but I personally like it loud. Only problem I am having is that I have some issues with my catback rubbing which makes a rattlling noise once and awhile. You might want to change your catback out to something like a flowmaster if you want more of a throaty sound. Do not, do not go with a flow throught style muffler (slp,sss, or pipes) they are alot louder and more raspy. Good luck.

 

yea i know what you are talking about. I just put my mac o/r h about 3 weeks ago and when i first heard it i was like wtf But honestly, just have somebody drive your car by you because it sounds awesome outside of the car.

 

Well I like the loudness of it but I just hate when you hit around 2500 rpms and it starts bellowing out like an old pickup truck. heheh... I think someone referred to it as "trumpeting" or something like that. It's like it sounds throaty and then it hits a point and just starts sounding like crap. I want my wife to drive it and let me listen to it but she can't drive a stick. I had thought about putting on some flowmaster 40s. I have them on my ford truck and they sound good. I watched some vids on youtube with flows and the mac h pipe and they sounded more like what I am wanting. Sounds less tinny and raspy and more throaty.

 

Hey theycallmevirg, nice ride! I really gotta get me some springs on mine...

 

thanks dude! and yea gotta love the springs lol. I need an updated sig lol, that pic is about 8 months old

 

I'm pretty sure if it's anything like mine the metal sleeve part goes inside the drivers pipe so it seals up properly. Mac had MAJOR problems with their x and h pipes leaking because the bolt's weren't long enough to get it sealed up properly....that's where the sleeve comes into play. I used the sleeve and used a ford gasket and haven't had any problems.

 

Hey thanks for the reply jjtgiants. Can I ask where you got your ford oem gasket from? Did you just go to a dealer?
I think my main problem is that passenger side gasket. I'm gonna get the ford one. It sounds a lot better since I took the drivers side off the manifold and used the flange. It's still leaking I think but only from one side. lol.. After watching several youtube vids of my setup I think it's just that mine is leaking and making it sound bad. If an exhaust is leaking at the manifold will it make a loud ratty sound? I can't find the words to describe it. It's like a loud "bap bap bap bap!!!!!...." sound. Like if you drive past a house or something it echoes back at you. Does that make sense to anyone?

 

yep thats an exhaust leak and makes it perform crappy and sound crappy. I just reused the stock ford one on the passenger side and i used some exhaust sealent on the driverside to make sure it wasnt gonna leak and its fantastic no leaks no nothing. Just sweet rumble form the h-pipe and dumps.

 

awesome! Thanks man. I'll tear back into it as soon as I get some time. This is probably a stupid question but any recommendations as to what I should use to seal it? What kind did you use spike?

 

well the stuff i have you wont find as its for marine diesel turbo housings to seal them up. However any autoparts store carrys some kind of exhaust copper sealent and that should work just fine too. I think there like 4-5bucks for a tube and just loosen the h up at the manifolds and put the stock for gasket on passenger side and then put some of the exhaust sealent up on the stock manifold where it connects to the H-pipe bolt it up then the passenger side and let the car sit for however long the sealer says. I had to let my car sit for 12hours with the hardcore stuff i used. It actully turns into ceramic after its heated up so i had to idle my engien for 15 mins then shut it off and let it sit.

 

awesome! lol.. there's no way yours would leak after that. I'm letting mine cool down a bit now. Just got home from work. I picked up some copper manifold sealer at autozone. Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.

 

Man I took the entire h pipe off last night and sealed each piece with the copper silicone. I put the stock passenger side gasket back on and used the silicone on both manifolds. I let it sit for 12 hours without starting to be sure the silicone could cure. The freakin thing still leaks just as bad as before if not worse. WTF!? Anybody else here have a lot of trouble getting their o/r h pipes to seal? Should I try a new ford oem gasket? I'm about ready to put the stock midpipe back on as bad as I hate to. This is really frustrating. I cant tell where it's leaking from exactly but to me it sounds like it's at the manifold. I can't tell if it's the drivers side or passenger side. I have the metal sleeve in the drivers side too btw.

 

the stock gasket is fine, but if you need another one go to the dealership. You might look into getting an exhaust manifold stud kit from napa auto parts. This is what people used to help seal the mac h pipes before they provided the metal sleeve. You might need to use both. I believe the stud kit provides a little longer bolts so you can get a good seal.

 

Ok thanks again man. I remember last night when I tightened the drivers side manifold bolts it seemed like it could have been a little off because one side seemed really tight but the other bolt never really seemed to snug up. Maybe I'll try shifting it around a little bit and see what happens. I sure hope I don't have to do the manifold bolt switch. I bet that would be a pita go do.

 

if you didnt get the flang on the driverside on nice and tight, i mean tight and wiggle it will tighting it up, it wont seal trust me. I fighted with this for a month then i got that hardcore sealent froma diesel freind who works on marine boats and that with the correct wiggle and tighting setup made it nice and quiet at the manifold. You should be able ot walk from the driver side to passenger side and hear which is leaking. i didnt use whatever this spacer thing is you are talking about.

 

Well it's sorta nice to know I'm not the only one who's had trouble with it. I've been fighting with mine for a week now. I managed to get one of the studs out tonight and grind the shoulder off so I can get a couple more threads tighter. The leak is still there but not as bad. You can hear the ticking at idle but it's less of a rattle when it's under load. I guess I'll jack the car up again tomorrow night and give it another try. I'll probably try to get that other stud out and grind the shoulder off of it too. I did a google search and found a product available called "pyro putty". It's supposed to be used to seal manifolds and other things. Wish I had some of that stuff.

 

yeah exhaust leaks are a bitch but once you get it fixed life is awsome, trust me i have the same setup but dumped and its the hotness.

 

Well after several more attempts I have finally managed to seal the drivers side pretty good. It still leaks a little but not terribly bad like before. I bought some stuff from auto zone called "thermosteel". You put it on and let it dry for 5 hours then let it heat for 15 minutes and it cures. I tried it last night and it sealed for a minute and then it must have blew it out cause it started leaking before I could get home with it. I pulled it off again late last night and gooped it all over the thing. I don't know how it could leak at all but it does a little. Hey spike africa if you don't mind me asking could you give me the name of the product you used. I'm just thinking I could buy some online or something. I'm sure your stuff is much better than any product autozone sells. lol... At any rate at least my car sounds a lot better. I can actually drive it now without being embarrassed. The ticking sound on the drivers side is annoying though and I still get a mild rattling-ratty sound around 2200-2500 rpms. It's very little though. I can live with it for now. Just wish I could find something to work better. Is it possible that over time it will just seal itself? I doubt it since it's at the manifold. Thanks for all the help guys...