Wish I would have done it sooner...

[DRKHORS]

First, a big thank you to @beefcake for hooking me up on my recent purchase. I asked for a quote and instead of just getting me pricing, they took the time to put an invoice together for me where all I had to do was click and pay. Pricing was great, response was fast (even on a weekend), and shipping was very prompt. Could not have been taken care of any better...

Dropped the belly pan and drained the radiator using a 3/8" ID hose attached to the petcock valve. Drained directly into clean 1 gallon water jugs. Removed the stock intake tube and then replaced the thermostat with a Reische 170*. I used a gallon zip-lock bag to catch what few drops came out after the stock thermostat was removed. No mess and no lost coolant. Both squeezing the radiator hoses and letting the car run with the heater on high and the coolant tank cap off still wouldn't get ALL of the air out. What little was left worked itself out promptly after a short drive. CHT's have been consistently in the 185 - 190 range...

I'm not completely sold on any CAI at this time due to high IAT. I have already removed the charcoal filter in the stock air box and have dropped in a K&N filter. I added to this combo the @Mishimoto induction hose.

Now to what I wish I would have done earlier - being Lund tuned. Brandon got my tune emailed to me quickly, along with a link to a PDF manual and how to do the crank relearn, if needed. Once I received the nGauge, I verified the firmware was up to date and dropped the tune Brandon sent into the custom tunes folder. Loading the tune went smoothly as well, and thanks to others, I knew to hook my battery up to a charger before beginning. No crank relearn was needed and car fired right up and idled smoothly, settling in at 750rpm once warmed up. While I haven't taken it to redline yet, I can tell you this thing pulls much better, and throttle response is on point. Once up to operating temp I would NEVER before drive in regular mode, but always sport mode. Now, regular mode is better than sport mode ever was! Track mode is a whole other thing too. Even with my 315 Extreme Contacts out back, I am going to have to learn to more judicious with the throttle to find the best acceleration without spinning through second.

The biggest part of the purchase was my ARH O/R LTH's, which have yet to be installed. I'm curious to see how much more they add after being tuned now. Once I have them installed I'll send some logs to Lund for any revisions needed. First have to find a shop that I trust to get these installed as I've read too many threads about what a pain they can be to try and tackle this in the garage on jack stands. I'm going to run them with my Ford Racing by Borla sport cat-back to get an idea of how nasty loud they are going to be before making the final decision on resonator(s). I'm concerned the MF11386 tru-x may quiet the system too much, but fear the 12" vibrant bottle-style resonators won't do much for volume but simply tame some of the rasp.

Exciting times! Almost like having a new car again...

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[Biggsy]

The biggest part of the purchase was my ARH O/R LTH's, which have yet to be installed. I'm curious to see how much more they add after being tuned now. Once I have them installed I'll send some logs to Lund for any revisions needed. First have to find a shop that I trust to get these installed as I've read too many threads about what a pain they can be to try and tackle this in the garage on jack stands. I'm going to run them with my Ford Racing by Borla sport cat-back to get an idea of how nasty loud they are going to be before making the final decision on resonator(s). I'm concerned the MF11386 tru-x may quiet the system too much, but fear the 12" vibrant bottle-style resonators won't do much for volume but simply tame some of the rasp.

Exciting times! Almost like having a new car again...

Why not consider the borla resonator?

 

[DRKHORS]

Why not consider the borla resonator?

I did but from what I understand the Borla resonator suppresses more volume than the Magnaflow. Maybe I'm wrong and someone can correct me on that?

 

[Biggsy]

I did but from what I understand the Borla resonator suppresses more volume than the Magnaflow. Maybe I'm wrong and someone can correct me on that?

Ahh okay. Because I have the sports as well but with an h pipe and plan on going OR long tubes. Just want to get rid of the rasp and maintain a deep tone so I'll be looking forward to your results lol.

 

[VooDooDaddy]

You would be wise to go with the Borla resonator. If you'll see my signature, you will notice I have MAK cat deletes (like having L/T's), Borla/Ford Performance resonator, and Roush AB's.

Before I put in the Borla/Ford Performance resonator I had an x-pipe in place, and my car was obnoxious to the point of being embarrassing! It was stupid loud, and the rasp, for me, was unbearable.

The Borla/FPP resonator was like having a nail removed from the bottom of your shoe. The Borla resonator made the car a joy to drive. I kept almost ALL of the volume when you want the volume (acceleration), but almost eliminated the ungodly rasp. When cruising at highway/freeway speeds on level ground, you can listen to music or have a conversation inside the car, no problemo.

But when you want to stand on the loud pedal, it is exactly what you get! Best of both worlds.

No matter what, you are going to want/need resonator(s) in place with your exhaust setup unless you are 20 year-old idiot who thinks louder is always better. It's not!

 

[Bluemustang]

Cheers on your new tune! The Lund tune is a huge upgrade.

 

[DRKHORS]

Ahh okay. Because I have the sports as well but with an h pipe and plan on going OR long tubes. Just want to get rid of the rasp and maintain a deep tone so I'll be looking forward to your results lol.

How do you like yours with the H pipe? Any regrets doing the H and not the X? Since you have the H, @BmacIL also recommended these as a possibility: https://www.americanmuscle.com/pypes-m80-muffler.html

You would be wise to go with the Borla resonator. If you'll see my signature, you will notice I have MAK cat deletes (like having L/T's), Borla/Ford Performance resonator, and Roush AB's.

Before I put in the Borla/Ford Performance resonator I had an X pipe in place, and my car was obnoxious to the point of being embarrassing! It was stupid loud, and the rasp, for me, was unbearable.

The Borla/FPP resonator was like having a nail removed from the bottom of your shoe. The Borla resonator made the car a joy to drive. I kept almost ALL of the volume when you want the volume (acceleration), but almost eliminated the ungodly rasp. When cruising at highway/freeway speeds on level ground, you can listen to music or have a conversation inside the car, no problemo.

But when you want to stand on the loud pedal, it is exactly what you get! Best of both worlds.

No matter what, you are going to want/need resonator(s) in place with your exhaust setup unless you are 20 year-old idiot who thinks louder is always better. It's not!

Did you have the same Roush A/B before you removed the cats? If so, how would you compare the normal driving volume before you removed the cats and had an x-pipe, to what the volume is now with the resonator? Louder, more quiet, same? I'm looking for the same or maybe just a touch more volume than I have now with the cats and x-pipe.

Yeah I don't want race car loud all of the time. But I also don't want to neuter the exhaust so much that I can't enjoy that deep tone while just cruising. I might even consider switching to the H and using the 18" Vibrants or the Pypes mentioned above.

Cheers on your new tune! The Lund tune is a huge upgrade.

Thank you! So far I am very pleased with the tune. Of course, not having one before I don't really have anything to compare to, but it certainly perked up the car. Can't wait to see how much more the LTH's make.

 

[VooDooDaddy]

Did you have the same Roush A/B before you removed the cats? If so, how would you compare the normal driving volume before you removed the cats and had an x-pipe, to what the volume is now with the resonator? Louder, more quiet, same? I'm looking for the same or maybe just a touch more volume than I have now with the cats and x-pipe.

Peeps don't realize how much the stock CATs muffle the exhaust.

I did have the Roush A/B's before and after I removed the CATs. Before I removed the CATs, the car was loud and raspy, no doubt; but when I removed them, the car became NASCAR loud. I am not kidding!

The cold-start after I removed the CATs was ridiculous. Wake the 'effing dead loud. There was no way I could start the car to go to work at 5:30 am on a Saturday morning with the car outside, or in the garage with the garage door open. I live in a very nice neighborhood, and I have a pretty good relationship with my neighbors. They are all decent people, and if I had tried to drive the Mustang to work (it's not my daily), they would have soon come after me with torches and pitchforks much like the peasants hunting down the Frankenstein monster!

LUND Racing helped me tone down the cold-start a bit with a tune revision, but it didn't do enough to help. I finally found a used Borla/FPP resonator here in the classifieds, and decided to give it a try. I'm glad because it did a really good job of toning down the cold-start and eliminating most of the rasp, otherwise I was considering quite seriously, putting the stock exhaust back on the car.

Removing the CATs is akin to removing the mufflers.

 

[DRKHORS]

Peeps don't realize how much the stock CATs muffle the exhaust.

I did have the Roush A/B's before and after I removed the CATs. Before I removed the CATs, the car was loud and raspy, no doubt; but when I removed them, the car became NASCAR loud. I am not kidding!

The cold-start after I removed the CATs was ridiculous. Wake the 'effing dead loud. There was no way I could start the car to go to work at 5:30 am on a Saturday morning with the car outside, or in the garage with the garage door open. I live in a very nice neighborhood, and I have a pretty good relationship with my neighbors. They are all decent people, and if I had tried to drive the Mustang to work (it's not my daily), they would have soon come after me with torches and pitchforks much like the peasants hunting down the Frankenstein monster!

LUND Racing helped me tone down the cold-start a bit with a tune revision, but it didn't do enough to help. I finally found a used Borla/FPP resonator here in the classifieds, and decided to give it a try. I'm glad because it did a really good job of toning down the cold-start and eliminating most of the rasp, otherwise I was considering quite seriously, putting the stock exhaust back on the car.

Removing the CATs is akin to removing the mufflers.

So how does the volume now compare to when you had cat's and the X pipe?

 

[VooDooDaddy]

So how does the volume now compare to when you had cat's and the X pipe?

It was quieter with the CATs, and the x-pipe. Removing the factory resonator doesn't increase the volume much, but removing the CATs increases the volume more than you think it will.

 

[Biggsy]

How do you like yours with the H pipe? Any regrets doing the H and not the X? Since you have the H, @BmacIL also recommended these as a possibility: https://www.americanmuscle.com/pypes-m80-muffler.html

I love it with the H pipe. I dont know if there was something wrong with the x pipe i had being that I bought it second hand but it was unbearable inside the cabin. I only had it on for about 4 days then switched to H. sounds perfect to me. Wouldnt mind it being a tad bit louder but I plan on getting catted LTs so Im sure that will help with that. I am think about getting the borla resonator + catted tubes + frpp sport but will most likely switch out with ATAKs if its still too quiet

 

[DRKHORS]

It was quieter with the CATs, and the x-pipe. Removing the factory resonator doesn't increase the volume much, but removing the CATs increases the volume more than you think it will.

Thanks! That's good to know.

I love it with the H pipe. I dont know if there was something wrong with the x pipe i had being that I bought it second hand but it was unbearable inside the cabin. I only had it on for about 4 days then switched to H. sounds perfect to me. Wouldnt mind it being a tad bit louder but I plan on getting catted LTs so Im sure that will help with that. I am think about getting the borla resonator + catted tubes + frpp sport but will most likely switch out with ATAKs if its still too quiet

Sounds like you have a plan in place! I may go the Borla or Magnaflow route first as opposed to the bottle-style Vibrant's. At least then I'm not hacking up my system if I don't like it.

 

[DRKHORS]

Finally got my ARH O/R headers installed a few weeks ago and left the x-pipe in place without any resonators. I knew there was going to be a lot of rasp, but wanted to see what the volume level would be before I added any resonators. Anything below 2,500 RPM wasn't an issue and it wasn't too loud. After that, a completely different story. I know others have posted how loud and obnoxious the car gets, but until you hear it in person you don't have any idea. Like race car loud stuff... And not just at WOT, either. Merging onto a highway from a ramp produces about 90% of WOT throttle volume, even though you may be less than 1/2 throttle and are only around 3,500 RPM or so. Anyway, the more I drove it, the better the sound became, unless I was over 3,000 RPM.

Went today and had the MagnaFlow 11386 Tru-X installed. I wanted to test this route first as my goal was to have the exhaust slightly louder than when I was running stock manifolds, cats, and the same cat-back. I was hoping that not having cats would get me where I wanted. And it made more sense to install the MF in place of the X, just using clamps to connect to the mid-pipe and the cat-back. This way if I didn't like it I could just unbolt it and my cat-back would still be intact. If your goal for sound level sounds familiar to mine, don't go this route. The MF did a good job of getting rid of most of the rasp, and it sounds good outside of the vehicle. However, inside, it's too quiet. I can easily say with the ARH headers, O/R mid-pipes, and the MF in place, it is more quiet than my stock manifolds, x-pipe, and the same cat-back. So, if you are looking for a quiet exhaust, with a good tone outside, I found it for you!

I'll be ordering another x-pipe (replacing the one that came with the Ford Performance Sport system, which is stamped, not welded), and likely the Vibrant 1792's. While I don't like crazy loud and the unwanted attention when I decide I want to have a little fun, I would rather have to be a little more mindful of when and where this fun happens than feel like I'm basically back to an almost stock-sounding exhaust.

Hopefully this helps anyone else on the fence about a similar setup!

 

[Biggsy]

Damn. I was hoping you were gonna have some bolt on success and no welding. I’ll try with the Borla resonator and hopefully it won’t be too quiet. Like you I don’t want to be super loud but I do like hearing my exhaust from inside

 

[Louk]

I just had the borla resonator put on mine and i absolutely love it. i have bbk catted and ataks. the resonator made it much deeper but it is almost stock quiet on the inside now.

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