'93 LX 5.0 Cat-Back Suggestions

The LX has started sounding more obnoxious these days, so I decided to
take a look underneath. Alas, nothing but swiss cheese except for the
Flows and the tips. The Flows might last a bit more, but there are a
bunch of soft spots so I figure it's time to do a full cat-back.

So what are some of your favorites? Prices? Sound? Drone? TIA.

Joe
Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies
Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

Joe wrote:
> The LX has started sounding more obnoxious these days, so I decided to
> take a look underneath. Alas, nothing but swiss cheese except for the
> Flows and the tips. The Flows might last a bit more, but there are a
> bunch of soft spots so I figure it's time to do a full cat-back.

> So what are some of your favorites? Prices? Sound? Drone? TIA.

Joe,

I had Dynomax on my old LX. They were just a little louder than stock,
but they did drone at about 2,200 rpm. They were a bit quieter when I
added a catted X-pipe.

My '93 is still running the stock set-up... 103,000 and counting.

Patrick
'93 Cobra

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Joe wrote:
>> The LX has started sounding more obnoxious these days, so I decided to
>> take a look underneath. Alas, nothing but swiss cheese except for the
>> Flows and the tips. The Flows might last a bit more, but there are a
>> bunch of soft spots so I figure it's time to do a full cat-back.
>
>> So what are some of your favorites? Prices? Sound? Drone? TIA.
>
> Joe,
>
> I had Dynomax on my old LX. They were just a little louder than stock,
> but they did drone at about 2,200 rpm. They were a bit quieter when I
> added a catted X-pipe.
>
> My '93 is still running the stock set-up... 103,000 and counting.
>
> Patrick
> '93 Cobra

Double Dynomax here. The LX has the UltraFlows, really like the sound. For
the GT, with the turn-downs, I have the SuperTurbos - a bit louder, but
still more "dignified".

Besides - I AM an old fart, and I can't be running around with Flowmasters.

dwight

Joe wrote:
> The LX has started sounding more obnoxious these days, so I decided to
> take a look underneath. Alas, nothing but swiss cheese except for the
> Flows and the tips. The Flows might last a bit more, but there are a
> bunch of soft spots so I figure it's time to do a full cat-back.
>
> So what are some of your favorites? Prices? Sound? Drone? TIA.

As I get older I like things quieter. The Dynomax Ultraflows on the car
now are good until you put your foot in it. Then they sound like
straight pipes. One of the best sounding systems I had on the car was
the Motorsport stainless steel catback. It had no drone but the
inlet/outlets on the mufflers necked down to 2.25" while the tubing was
2.5". If you aren't looked to squeeze ever last hp out of the engine it
is a very affordable alternative that will give a somewhat unique sound.
I got many compliments on the sound of my car when it was installed.

I wound up with about the same setup when I was trying to recover from the
mistake of adding Flowmasters. My final & still current configuration is 2
1/2 inch pipes from the cats to a set of staggered length 2 1/4 Midas turbos
back to 2 1/2 pipes going to a set of 10 inch long glass packs set up in a
resonator configuration before dumping out the back. I know I picked up a
lot of bottom end torque when I added the narrower mufflers. Based on my
experience I would recommend going with 2 1/4 pipes going into a nice set of
turbo mufflers. They don't have to be the Midas brand but they do carry a
mustang specific set of staggered length turbos complete with heat shields
and brackets. Works for me.


"Michael Johnson, PE" > wrote in message
...
> Joe wrote:
> > The LX has started sounding more obnoxious these days, so I decided to
> > take a look underneath. Alas, nothing but swiss cheese except for the
> > Flows and the tips. The Flows might last a bit more, but there are a
> > bunch of soft spots so I figure it's time to do a full cat-back.
> >
> > So what are some of your favorites? Prices? Sound? Drone? TIA.
>
> As I get older I like things quieter. The Dynomax Ultraflows on the car
> now are good until you put your foot in it. Then they sound like
> straight pipes. One of the best sounding systems I had on the car was
> the Motorsport stainless steel catback. It had no drone but the
> inlet/outlets on the mufflers necked down to 2.25" while the tubing was
> 2.5". If you aren't looked to squeeze ever last hp out of the engine it
> is a very affordable alternative that will give a somewhat unique sound.
> I got many compliments on the sound of my car when it was installed.

I have the bbk offroad with 3 chamber flows and love em no cats...aod 373's
gt40 upper/lower gt40 heads (worked) tfs stage 1 cam bbk equal length
shorties 88 notch with 59K miles LOVE IT!!!!!!

"dwight" > wrote in
:

> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> Joe wrote:
>>> The LX has started sounding more obnoxious these days, so I
>>> decided to take a look underneath. Alas, nothing but swiss cheese
>>> except for the Flows and the tips. The Flows might last a bit
>>> more, but there are a bunch of soft spots so I figure it's time to
>>> do a full cat-back.
>>
>>> So what are some of your favorites? Prices? Sound? Drone? TIA.
>>
>> Joe,
>>
>> I had Dynomax on my old LX. They were just a little louder than
>> stock, but they did drone at about 2,200 rpm. They were a bit
>> quieter when I added a catted X-pipe.
>>
>> My '93 is still running the stock set-up... 103,000 and counting.
>>
>> Patrick
>> '93 Cobra

I did check out some of the more common systems, i.e., Dynomax,
Flowmaster, Borla, Bassani, etc. Amazingly, one of the least
expensive systems I found was from Ford Racing:

http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts...tKeyField=4903

One thing I'm looking for here is a system with mandrel bent pipes.
I know it's a case of 'you get what you pay for', but that's why I
asked you guys.

BTW, The LX pipes were fine way back at 103k miles. But now that
I'm up to 143k, things have gotten pretty nasty. I'm sure dwight
knows what I mean...

> Double Dynomax here. The LX has the UltraFlows, really like the
> sound. For the GT, with the turn-downs, I have the SuperTurbos - a
> bit louder, but still more "dignified".
>
> Besides - I AM an old fart, and I can't be running around with
> Flowmasters.
>
> dwight

Now, froggy, we are both old farts, but the Flows were never that
bad. Unless, (like Michael is also saying about the UltraFlows)
you put your foot into it, the old Flowmasters I have (had?) are
fairly mellow.

I kind of like the idea of staying mellow until you punch it,
especially because my son will be driving the LX for the most part
now. Even though the car sticks out on the road because of its
color (the only other Calypso Green cars out there are a few old
Rangers, Probes, and Tracers/Escorts), I'd much rather it didn't
draw attention due to excessive noise.

Joe
Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies
Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

"Michael Johnson, PE" > wrote in
:

> Joe wrote:
>> The LX has started sounding more obnoxious these days, so I decided
>> to take a look underneath. Alas, nothing but swiss cheese except
>> for the Flows and the tips. The Flows might last a bit more, but
>> there are a bunch of soft spots so I figure it's time to do a full
>> cat-back.
>>
>> So what are some of your favorites? Prices? Sound? Drone? TIA.
>
> As I get older I like things quieter.

Things seem that way to me already. Could be because I'm going
deaf...

> The Dynomax Ultraflows on the
> car now are good until you put your foot in it. Then they sound
> like straight pipes.

This is a good thing. See comments in my reply to Patrick and dwight.

> One of the best sounding systems I had on the
> car was the Motorsport stainless steel catback. It had no drone but
> the inlet/outlets on the mufflers necked down to 2.25" while the
> tubing was 2.5". If you aren't looked to squeeze ever last hp out
> of the engine it is a very affordable alternative that will give a
> somewhat unique sound.
> I got many compliments on the sound of my car when it was
> installed.

Now that's interesting. Is it the same system in the link in the
reply to Patrick and dwight? As my son will be driving the car
mostly, I'm not too concerned about squeezing every last bit of power
out of it. In fact, I'm taking the underdrives off to give it better
driveability. It's going through a battery a year now.

So far, it looks like the Ford and Dynomax systems are contenders.

Joe
Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies
Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

I think this is similar to the Ford setup. More torque certainly
wouldn't hurt, as the car's got an AOD.

Joe
Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies
Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC


"ironrod" > wrote in
:

> I wound up with about the same setup when I was trying to recover
> from the mistake of adding Flowmasters. My final & still current
> configuration is 2 1/2 inch pipes from the cats to a set of
> staggered length 2 1/4 Midas turbos back to 2 1/2 pipes going to a
> set of 10 inch long glass packs set up in a resonator configuration
> before dumping out the back. I know I picked up a lot of bottom end
> torque when I added the narrower mufflers. Based on my experience I
> would recommend going with 2 1/4 pipes going into a nice set of
> turbo mufflers. They don't have to be the Midas brand but they do
> carry a mustang specific set of staggered length turbos complete
> with heat shields and brackets. Works for me.
>
>
> "Michael Johnson, PE" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Joe wrote:
>> > The LX has started sounding more obnoxious these days, so I
>> > decided to take a look underneath. Alas, nothing but swiss
>> > cheese except for the Flows and the tips. The Flows might last a
>> > bit more, but there are a bunch of soft spots so I figure it's
>> > time to do a full cat-back.
>> >
>> > So what are some of your favorites? Prices? Sound? Drone?
>> > TIA.
>>
>> As I get older I like things quieter. The Dynomax Ultraflows on
>> the car now are good until you put your foot in it. Then they
>> sound like straight pipes. One of the best sounding systems I had
>> on the car was the Motorsport stainless steel catback. It had no
>> drone but the inlet/outlets on the mufflers necked down to 2.25"
>> while the tubing was 2.5". If you aren't looked to squeeze ever
>> last hp out of the engine it is a very affordable alternative that
>> will give a somewhat unique sound.
>> I got many compliments on the sound of my car when it was
>> installed.
>
>

"IsellJeeps" > wrote in
:

> I have the bbk offroad with 3 chamber flows and love em no
> cats...aod 373's gt40 upper/lower gt40 heads (worked) tfs stage 1
> cam bbk equal length shorties 88 notch with 59K miles LOVE IT!!!!!!

That's a bit over the top for what I'm looking for. Don't want to
deal with the cats, h-pipe, or headers either. As is dwight, I'm an
old fart.

Joe
Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies
Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC