Off-road mid-pipe or bust?
 

For those that saw my Vortech question over at the power adder section, I'm simply trying to get a feel for where my car can go in the next couple of years. But my next plan is to change the mid-pipe; only makes sense since I just installed a Borla Stinger kit. I would like to wrap the exhaust up and be done with it and from what I understand, longtubes are not a necessity for a mildly-modded GT. For the concerns of this thread, my car is going to stay N/A and mildly-modded at best.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can spend $1,000 that I'd be putting down towards longtubes on something a lot better. Hell, I can properly lower the car and be done with that for that price.

So, on to the mid-pipe. I've been looking at the Bassani X-pipe but I can't decide between the O/R and catted. Feel free to throw out any other brands. From what I've read, an X-pipe is best suited with a straight-through resonator and gives a "NASCAR sound" where the H-pipe gives more of an old-truck/muscle sound and hooks up with a chambered muffler better. What I'm stuck on though is cats or no cats. I believe Spike always said O/R and obviously it is cheaper, but I did some reading and Red said go with a catted version.

I'm not concerned with emissions; NY is not too strict and I know the right people. Will fumes be too much of a pain in the ass? If I'm taking the old lady out I want to keep it practical too. But what kills me is the ~$510 price tag of the catted Bassani pipe. Seems like I can spend that money on something better than a little change in sound, weight reduction, and power. Hell, the power increase can't be worth that.

Insight? I will not get a UPR product. I've heard VRS but I think they're in the same boat as UPR. BBK, Pypes, Magnaflow and SLP don't do much better for me. Ideas guy? I want to get a mid-pipe and be done with it, or do I?

Fumes aren't bad IMO. If your shit is sealed right, then there are rarely fumes (been running a Bassani O/R X and Borla Stingers for years now and never smelt any fumes other than after letting off at WOT).

IMO I would never have anything other than an O/R X. I don't think mustangs fit the suit of "muscle car" very well, or at least compared to all of the other V8s out there. I think an x-pipe fits the mustangs natural sound a lot more.

I would stay away from longtubes unless you go with a centri. No real big gains there, unless you have a big cam/head setup or some type of boost. Money would be much better spent on wrapping up the exhaust and then maybe work on getting some exterior/"show" mods if you're not wanting to go real crazy with it.

Any idea where I can get *just* the Bassani cats that come with the X-pipe in the event that I would want to go catted? I can't seem to find them anywhere...

Bassani themselves probably. Maybe Jegs. I don't like the idea of "bolt-in" cats. Just sounds like a tragedy.

I'd never do Headers again IMHO. They're a massive PITA to install and I've had probelms with the bolts backing out since day freakin' one. Stock Manifolds are fine on these cars and there's just not much to be gained with Shorties or LT's.

Get a catted Bassani X. Still sounds great and flows a shit-ton better than stock. Done.

I've taken everything into consideration and I know for a fact headers are out of the question. Return on investment is absolutely shitty for my application and the work involved... no. But I still have two issues:

1. How loud will an O/R pipe actually be? I can be heard down the road when I stomp on it, but the Borlas have a nice tone and aren't just noise. I *don't* want my car to be obnoxious. Loud is ok, but raspy as shit and just plain loud noise is not.

2. Price? ~$500 for a catted Bassani pipe seems a bit ridiculous. If you think it's worth it Evan say so. Just seems like I can do more with that money, but I know my exhaust will flow better, last longer than my life, and correct me if I'm wrong, but shed some pounds. I think Spikey mentioned that at one point or another.

I just came back from a cruise night and I heard a GT with Flowmasters and an O/R Prochamber. Granted those are not the best options, it was raspy even for an H and simply sounded like shit. Sounded tiny, but just loud. I'm just putting all my thoughts on the table here; just like to do my homework as do you.

A catted x-pipe will sound better with stingers. I currently run a bassani O/R modular x-pipe on my car and it woke up my normally silent magnaflows. Got a nice rumble to just enough rasp at WOT. I will be adding cats and removing the straight pipes from the x-pipe though because I get too much attention from the Police.

It took some time but I found the bassani mid-pipe on ebay and paid around 200 bucks for it shipped but that was like 5 years ago. Its still in amazing shape too. I just removed my O/R pipe today to pass emissions testing here in CA. The car is so quiet I find myself speeding on the highway waiting to get to the drone at 75 mph but it never happens. Will be reinstalling when I get the new motor put in.

All flowmasters sound like tin cans. I dont like them at all.

Just about to pull the plug on a new hi-flow Bassani pipe and want to know how similar a Terminator Stinger/Catted Bassani pipe combination will sound compared to my 2v. I've learned you have to take Youtube videos with a grain of salt because almost all don't pick up sound good and they are also compressed upon uploading *but* I found a nice Cobra video that sounds just right. Borla Stingers and a Catted Bassani X-pipe. Just curious how the translation from 4v to 2v will sound... raspier? I want to avoid that, which is one reason why I want to go the hi-flow route.

Hate to be a pain, but I like to do my homework!

The Terminator I am referring to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD_D3jHIE8k

2Vs are more raspy. I don't really care for Stingers on a 2V to be honest. Or any straight-through canister muffler for that matter.

4Vs have that deep flub by nature, and even then with my Stingers its raspy at certain RPMs. I'd probably have to say no on the Stingers and go for a different muffler.

EDIT: Point proven. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8TTpmey2G0