Headers without defening loudness?

[withanx]

I'm interested in the power gains from longtubes on my '16 GT, but my car is a street car and I don't want it deafening loud.


Now, that's not to say I want it quiet either. I have the Roush axel backs right now with the factory resonator, and I wouldn't mind going a little louder than that. I just don't want to scare the old ladies when I start my car at the grocery store.


Also, does anyone other than BBK make ceramics? Seems like Ceramic has a ton of benefits, but I've heard the fit and QC on BBK is questionable.



Should I give up on headers, or is there a solution? I'm in Michigan, which has 0 emissions testing, so I was thinking catless, but maybe if I went cats it wouldn't be quite so loud?

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[Stang8psi]

Yes BBK are available in ceramic in both the 1 3/4"
and 1 7/8". I had BBK 1 7/8" on My 11 and they fit from personal experience Perfect.
My Pypes I had on there before building my engine in my 11 needed clearance on the primary that ran next to the steering shaft.

This time around on my 16 I opted for SW.

 

[beefcake]

You can have long tubes and not be Obnoxiously loud. I would be happy to help you out.

 

[thehunterooo]

I have the same axle backs and had an H pipe for about three years and I didn't think it was loud (loved this setup so much). I went catless longtubes but the sound was too much even for me. The problem is I am trapped now because I don't want to take the headers off and had to put on the magnaflow x pipe. Now I do not like the sound as it is quieter than when I just had the AB and h pipe with a huge amount of rasp. Also catless smells a lot, I got some cats but it helped some but the smell is still there when the cats are not hot or you are sitting next to a wall, etc.

Honestly if you want a bit more sound check out getting an x/h pipe. The headers are nice but the sound increase is HUGE. Knowing what I know now I would never had put on headers myself but if you are looking for the power then you can deal with the sound but there are limited options. I ran muffler deletes for a bit but the drone was insane so I am just going to stick with the setup I have now.

 

[Joe 5.0]

Your car will be significantly louder with headers and Roush axlebacks. Quieting down the car is all in the catback.

Install the headers and see how the car sounds with the current setup. If it's too loud for your liking, install a resonator. Listen to sound clips on Youtube.

 

[withanx]

The problem is I am trapped now because I don't want to take the headers off and had to put on the magnaflow x pipe.

I heard someone on another form suggest buying weld-on resonators. I was considering that option.


Even with the cats the headers have a strong smell? I thought the cats would mostly eliminate that.

 

[Joe 5.0]

I heard someone on another form suggest buying weld-on resonators. I was considering that option.


Even with the cats the headers have a strong smell? I thought the cats would mostly eliminate that.

High flow cats definitely take away most of the smell, but it's still there.

 

[Jay159866]

I heard someone on another form suggest buying weld-on resonators. I was considering that option.


Even with the cats the headers have a strong smell? I thought the cats would mostly eliminate that.

Buy the cheap H or X from lethal.. cut it and weld in 2 SLP resonators.. It makes the sound more crisp and quieter.

 

[gameovergt]

I had a heartthrob h pipe from AM, welded in 2 resonators, didn't do it, installed steeda x, nope. Finally installed MagnaFlo Tru X from CJPP, you can't tell I have LT's anymore. Its still a lil too loud so changing out the SLP LM2's (just got the FRPP/Borla axleback). You can get the MF tru x muffler for $100 and have it welded in. That's what I would do. The tru x is $250.00. Its just the muffler with some exhaust piping.

 

[Roh92cp]

I just went through this, and loved the sound of my exhaust but had to ditch the cats as I was afraid of failure being over 750 wheel. My setup was stock headers and cats and welded in 5x9 oval straight through SS off ebay with 16" dual MBRP resonators after mid pipe. I went to Kooks 1 7/8" with green cats and it was much much louder and cold start was nasty. I then cut the cats out and welded in 12" resonators where the cats were and it was of course crazy loud. I would have never thought it would work but was recommended to use the Borla touring resonator 2 1/4" in and 2.5" outs and removed the MBRP resonators in that section. The sound is amazing deep tone at idle and cold starts are almost what it was before with stock headers and cats and the MBRP resonators. It's not loud until you hit it hard and even then not anything like with Kooks and cats and nothing like when I removed the cats. The Boral is an H design inside and amazing at reducing the overall sound level. Feel like I hit the jackpot. I'll post some pics later of what I did.

I thought I could never do headers let alone go catless without it being crazy loud, and boy was I wrong. Borla resonator is the real thing and fits in place well. I did all the fab work and welding myself to make this work. I love my car all over again sounds so dam nice with that distinctive Long tube header sound.

 

[torch2k]

I just went through this, and loved the sound of my exhaust but had to ditch the cats as I was afraid of failure being over 750 wheel.

....

I would have never thought it would work but was recommended to use the Borla touring resonator 2 1/4" in and 2.5" outs and removed the MBRP resonators in that section.

I was just starting to look into this, but was thrown off by the 2.25" inlets. Doesn't that affect you at 750whp?

 

[Roh92cp]

I was just starting to look into this, but was thrown off by the 2.25" inlets. Doesn't that affect you at 750whp?

I don't like that either, but I have 2 friends with identical Whipple E85 setups and both are catless Kooks and one has the Boral 2 1/4" inlet 2 1/2" outlet resonator and the other has 3" with no resonator and they both made almost the same power. The guy with the Borla resonator made 782/554 with stock manifolds, but catless and the guy with no resonator and Kooks catless made 797/615. I would have thought it would have made more HP with long tubes, but the TQ gain was significant .

EDIT: I was wrong both cars had the 2 1/4" neck down, Keep in mind of course different Dyno days can always produce different power levels.

 

[Roh92cp]

Here are a couple pics of how I cut out the Kooks green cats and welded in the 12” resonators and then the Borla tour resonator that made my catless Kooks setup perfect.

 

[torch2k]

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

Do the headers step down to 2.5" or 2.25"? And on the rear did you step it back up to 3"?

 

[Roh92cp]

Yeah it's something I don't like about my setup but it sounds soo good, not to loud at all. The Kooks mid pipe is 3" steps down to 2 1/4" to marry with stock exhaust setups, I do think they have a full 3" version though. On mine it steps down to 2 1/4 into the Borla inlet, but the Borla outlets is 2.5" then I had to use adapter that I welded in to expand back to my 3" exhaust pipes. Boral does not make a 3" resonator only 2 1/4 in to 2.5" out and a 2.5" in and out.

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