True duals ideas and questions June 01, 2006, 12:09:24 AM I am looking at getting my 1987 T-Bird LX true duals, since right now it has a fake dual setup. If you remember, its previous owner Aaron (nirvanagod) toyed with different ideas before settling on the current layout.The way it is right now is stock manifolds into pre-cats then a y-pipe into the main cat and then splits up to go into two dynomax lers. Well, I would really like to get rid of the pre-cats, main cat, and have a set of headers (what do you recommend for cheap ?) going into an H-pipe and then to the lers.Since I don't think I will be able to do this on my own, would a ler shop be able to do it ? How would they solve the problem of one main cat and me wanting true duals ? Would/Could they be able to say it's for "off-road usage only" or some other ?I'm in the process of gutting the cats, but all of the bolts/nuts are rusted together, so it's a pretty slow process getting them off - right now I've managed to disconnect the back end of the cat from the exhaust and it sounds hella mean, but I do want to maintain a semblance of legality, therefore my question about true duals. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #1 – June 01, 2006, 12:21:12 AM from my experience, i had a cat back installed with lers and tips ect... and sence they saw that it was an off road h pipe, they had me sign a paper saying it was for race use only to cover their ass's. now iv heard that other shops wount even touch them, or only work on after the cats. if i were you, the easiest thing would probley be getting an stock mustang h pipe with mustang stock headers and installing that by yourself, then drive it to a shop and have them set the rest up. sence u have lers already they could probley just weld on some ball and socket s and flow tubes to connect the h pipe to the dules out back pretty cheaply.i forgot to mension, did you modify the fuel lines? i rember something about the pre 87s having a fuel line running close to where the exhaust would be for dules. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #2 – June 01, 2006, 01:47:07 AM Yeah a lot of shops won't touch cats...won't remove them or do anything to them. Hell, when I took my Mustang to monro just to have some welding done on the exhaust (This was a 2.3, I had put on a long tube header which elimited the pre-cat) and the guy was making sure I still had a cat on the car before they would do any work at all. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #3 – June 01, 2006, 03:02:06 AM The shop I went to was reluctant to put dual exhaust on. The guy even said "Nope, Can't do it fuel pump is in the way." So I explained how easy it was to move the pump, or at least the filter (which is all they ended up needing to do to fit the lers on. Another guy put on my headman shorty headers, and they got so hot while he was working on them that the paint melted off! For all the work.-moving the filter-putting the headers on-custom made pipes with no catsIt all came out to be about $700 bucks.I think I have one of the best sounding Fox cars around. Also, the meanest sounding cougar I have ever heard (which includes a 69 302) It was well work the $700. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #4 – June 01, 2006, 03:34:59 AM cool I just did this on my car 2 days ago. Since you're in Joplin, there isn't really a strict emissions test unless they've passed it since I moved to Kansas 6 years ago. All the cars back there that had a custom exhaust seemed to get glass packs or just straight pipes and no one really complained. Anyway if you know someone with a tubing bender you could have them bend exhaust to the bends of the car which trust me there's alot of them especially on the pass. side where it wraps up past the starter. I know before anyone says anything what I did prolly wasn't right and they wouldn't do it and yadda yadda but I actually cut and welded different angled bends together until I had pipes that went in correctly I bolted them up and went straight back best I could on hugging the floor pan leaving enough clearance to no have the exhaust rattle on the underside of the car. when I hit the spot where the lers go I actually ended up getting a set of glass packs given to me.They went on so I have no issues what so ever on the fuel lines.I have almost a foot between my ler and the fuel lines at least. Basically I think it depends on the lers more then anything width wise and all. and on relocating them I would think it would be easier to just attach some heat shield over the spot where they are. The fuel pump doesn't interfere its in the gas tank unless you've added an in-line pump. the fuel filter is located outside the frame rails so there again no problem. the lines are far enough over I don't think they would get hot enough for it to hurt them last I looked the had metal inside them instead of just being solid plastic lines. It might save alot of headache to just get a fox body stang exhaust like coolcats lists and perform the tweaks to make it fit our cars. Honestly though I think Nate has the best idea on your situation Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #5 – June 06, 2006, 10:18:40 PM When I got mine done after the swap(true dual from manifolds, no cats, h-pipe, two flows), the shop I went to didn't have a problem with removing cats and I think it cost me around 550. And when I went to them with my truck they asked me if I wanted to leave the cat or take it off but I left it on regrettably. Of course the cougar probably wouldn't pass emissions but I got my ways to work around that. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #6 – June 14, 2006, 10:33:47 PM Thanks for the help guys, but I have decided to keep the Y-pipe on for the moment, and I have gutted the three cats, I'm looking forward to hearing the new sound. I will eventually go to a custom setup, but I want to do it right, and that means $$$$.I am now officially in the process of doing the T-5 swap, and there is no going back. I have a quick question, where exactly do I route the clutch cable through ? I have not found a hole/plug in the firewall and I was considering drilling one for it. Also, since I have the power driver's seat with the consolette, I figure I want to keep it, so I was wondering if I should either keep the consolette attached and just not move the seat forward too much, or saw the consolette off and attach it to the hump. This of course so I can cut out a hole for the shifter. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #7 – June 15, 2006, 08:00:05 AM their should be a plug somewhere near the mc booster, like to the left of it if you looking at it from the front of the car. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #8 – June 15, 2006, 08:08:16 AM actually im workin on the same set up with a srod 4 speed instead... i think the clutch cable is gonna come out of the hole WITH the throttle cable....not sure yet tho. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #9 – June 15, 2006, 10:28:26 AM Quote from: siscrewI will eventually go to a custom setup, but I want to do it right, and that means $$$$.I am now officially in the process of doing the T-5 swap, and there is no going back. Ok? Spend less than $200 bucks after your T-5 swap...Jeg's Off-road h-pipe and a used pair of tubular HO exhaust manifolds...done right and budget minded. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #10 – June 19, 2006, 04:06:56 AM I have an 84 tbird with the 5.0L motor. I just read that there are 2 precats before the cat. NOw if thats true then I dont have a cat becuase it goes from the exhuast manifold to the "precats" and then goes to my ler a little ways after. Would taking them off make my emissions fail? What was the usual setup for exhuast for my car? Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #11 – June 19, 2006, 09:00:34 AM According to the latest Walker exhaust webpage, those are the cats.Later versions used much smaller precats right up near the manifolds to help "light off" the main cat sooner.QuoteWould taking them off make my emissions fail? Aircare still looks under the car with a mirror, right?You'd fail for not having them in place.Whether you'd fail the sniffer is another matter. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #12 – June 24, 2006, 08:11:29 PM T-5 conversion is finished. I only need a shifter, as I now am shifting using a pair of vice grips :)) I did leave the column shifter in just for fun, so now if somebody tries to jack the car they'll have a hell of a time shifting the AOD :D :D :DOnly deal is, I think I need to put better octane gas in it, previously I didn't really hit the rev limiter but now I did a couple of times and it sounded like it was pinging a little. Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #13 – June 24, 2006, 10:13:41 PM I have the 2 1/2" Hooker Mustang kit that is at the top of this page, with Flowmaster three chamber lers. Not including the 1 5/8" BBK headers (which I already had), the whole system was less than $500(installed it myself, no welding but I had to fab some hangars.)... In fact the intermedate pipes are even too long for the Bird, had to trim them down a couple of inches. This system is a bit of overkill for a stock SO 5.0, but if your plannin upgrades.... http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?lang=-1&catalogId=10002&storeId=10001&categoryId=13899 Quote Selected
True duals ideas and questions Reply #14 – June 25, 2006, 05:02:07 PM IMHO if you want the cheapest true dual setup, I really think all you'll need are the headers and h-pipe out of either a junkyard mustang or a mark vii. You should not have a problem with length issues, as you can use the Y-pipe that is currently on there to make up the difference. You woud only need to cut them back to length and flare/expand them to match them up to the h-pipe. Also unless you wanted a deeeper tone, those dynomax's fiberglass should still give you a good sound now. Quote Selected
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