Loud as F
 

So I installed my VRS offroad x pipe today and it is LOUD AS FLUCK!!! I am running Flowmasters and the thing is RASPY AS HELL...Is this normal?...stock manifolds by the way. It also feels like it made the car a tad slower. What's the deal here?

yup...o/r pipes will get raspy..x pips more than h pipes

You lose low end torque when you go catless. Not as much back pressure.

I mean it is "scare the crap outta the person walking down the sidewalk loud"

Also the driver's side pipe wont seal totally to the manifold because of the stupid stock manifold studs with their spacers in them...anyone else seen this issue? It leaks a little, a little too much cause any leak is bad...but it WONT seal with these stock studs in place...they dont let the seal ring push the pipe onto the manifold hard enough to meak a good seal. Also now have a loud woooshing sound on downshift deceleration....the leak to blame?

Anyone have any ideas about the driver's manifold studs having spacers built in that wont allow the pipe to seal to the manifold??

i didnt know that it wouldnt shut..i tried my hardest to get it to seal...i have the same problem.....some one please help us..im gonna try again

and zig, does it make a ticking sound really loud and fast when u start ur car buy the drivers side wheel well...thats whats going on w/ me

Yup, its from the exhaust leak at the drivers side manifold...how long have you been driving around with it leaking and whats your exhaust setup? I assume new exhaust studs w/out the spacers would be the remedy to allow the ring to push the pipe hard enough against the manifold to seal...I hope someone chimes in on this one... I just wanna know if its normal or not and if the Loudnes is normal. I might take the car to an exhaust shop while I am at work to install new studs(THAT job is a PITA) I might just put the stock pipe back on...it's a 20 minute thing.

I don't mean to seem impatient, but I have a hard time believing that NO ONE else has run into this same problem, please someone who has had this issue and knows the fix for it chime in ASAP, I gotta be running perfect by tomorrow or I cant go on vacation. Thanks in advance.

yea....the ticking is getting to me...and the smell of unburnt gasses in my cab starts to give me headaches when im sitting at at stop light...(windows are always down...)

and as for the loud ness..its supposed to be like that..you just elminated 4 cats...so its bassically saying u eliminated 4 mufflers....if u wanna make it a lil less raspy get some long tubes..some say it makes it more smooth...

I am worried that the real loudness is coming from the leak...maybe not I dunno...so how long have you been running the car with the leak? Also, did you notice any lessening of acceleration when you did yours? And any "wooshing" sounds on deceleration?

discribe the sound ur talking about more...cause im confused....as to the swooshing sound..it from the fact that you dont have cats....


and yes i did notice the lessened acceleration...its from the x pipe...it takes some low end tq and adds some high end HP

ive been running like this since may 22 cause i hadnt had the time to get under it again since school and work

On deceleration, off the gas but in gear I hear a sound like air escaping...like the backpressure from the motor is making the exhaust leak more.

if badfish pops his nose here he can tell you for sure...he has the same setup as you

Alright hold up a second. Quick question so I understand what you guys are talking about. Did you pull out the reducer inside the stock H pipe and put that in the driverside pipe of the X and then bolt it back up or did you just drop the H and bolt the X straight up?

As was said earlier, less back pressure is causing your acceleration to drop on take offs. When you are high up in the gears though, your top end picks up like crazy. When you add, you lose. You are sacraficing low end torque for top end power.

PureStang: Unburnt gas on the catless X will always be there. If you have a tune, it helps. Even with high flow cats on my Bassani I was getting the smell. I got it tuned and it has more or less corrected it.

Longtubes with deepen the sound but make it a hell of a lot louder! Get ready for a pain in the a** install though!

I saw no reducer in my stock h pipe any of the 3 times I installed and uninstalled it in the last 2 days. I guess there is supposed to be one there eh? I just dropped the H and bolted up the X

Check if you have a leak. When the metal heats up, it expands the tubes. When it cools, it shrinks them causing small leaks in new setups. I had to tighten mine in stages. Plus as you are breaking the pipes in, the metal will heat and eventually settle into whatever position it is going to settle into. I had to tighten mine after two weeks because things had shifted and changed.

Have a friend either rev the motor while you are under (for god sakes make sure it is in neutral or park). Feel along your seams (obviously don't touch the pipe) for any air escaping. When you find a leak, tighten it down. This can also be done with a rag in the tail pipe if you are a party of one.

Someone else jump in if I am wrong. Check your H pipe again on the driver side. The reducer sits inside the pipe and you may have to pry it up because ford used silicon to form a gasket around it. It should come up more or less easily.

I have seen at least 4 mustangs with this exact same thing so I am going to assume it is pretty common. Not only that but both mine and my buddy's were just like that.

Oh, its leaking at the manifold for sure,,,I had it running and up on my lift at work and could see the exhaust seeping out whe I would shine a light on it...also used a stethoscope on all joints and they all were leaking a tiny bit until I thightened them....all except for the driver's side manifold...no matter how tight..it leaks...its those stupid spacer things on the stock manifold's studs.

Double check that H because I have a feeling that missing reducer is why it is not tightening on there. I'll try to hunt down a picture or something.

I will look at it when I get to work tomorrow (the H is still at work) I hope it's in there...you will be a savior if it is! Thanks!

Sweet...you gonna do that tonight...I'll stay up if so..otherwise I gotta go to bed. Thanks!

Alright, this is a crappy example but will have to do. http://www.pypesexhaust.com/rpe631.jpg. There is an "optional collector reducer" in this picture. This piece actually sits inside your driverside stock H. I needs to go in your driverside X.

I'd drop it if I could to show you. I will keep hunting for a better pic. But that is the gist of it.

dude, I had the same **** to deal with for a year and a half with my o/r X. The I got LT's with an o/r X and it sounded worse. So I got an o/r H and i LOVE the sound. Not very loud, but the sound, matched with my borla...its awesome

That pic makes it look like I coudnt miss the thing...but really it hides inside the stock H?

Yeah, another one of fords brilliant designs (the melt on plastic bolts are my favorites though if anyone has tried to take a speaker cover off without first reading a how to). I found the reducer by mistake. I dropped the H on the ground and it popped out. I bolted the driverside of my X up (the bassani was modular) and it didn't sit right so we figured the reducer is probably suppose to go inside the X too. It fit right in and bolted right up. No problems since other than adjusting for the pipe settling.

Alright, cool...you have restored my hope in this situation..thanks a bunch! I HAVE to sleep...so I'll update the situation tomorrow and let you know what I found...thanks again!

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=493694

This is an X pipe install write up. I think the guy is talking about the driver side when he says passenger side, but the 1.5 inch piece of pipe inside the stock tubes is exactly what I am talking about.

His passenger side comment doesn't make sense because the pasenger side has an actual gasket. Copper if I recall which is reusable...Oh and check to make sure that the old copper gasket did not somehow how stick to your stock H. Sometimes that happens. It is reusable, but if it got all mashed up, you'll need a new on. Usually they stick pretty well to the exhaust manifold so most people don't have to worry!