Hey guys, can anyone explain to me exactly what an X Pipe is? I want to run true duals and always hear this brought up.

Anyone running true duals, please chime in. What way did you guys go about doing this? I will do all the work myself and have a neighbor weld the finished product for me. Please give me some ideas for how you guys did yours and what your using (mufflers, headers etc etc)

ANy help would be greatly appreciated.

 

do a search for true duals. A little while ago, there were a ton of posts. you should be able to find most of the info your after...

 

An X pipe reduces backpressure and helps flow. They flow almost as well as open headers. There was a review on it in a magazine (Hot Rod?) floating around here not to long ago. Do a search for that and you'll get all the details you need.

 

The two exhaust pipes both feed into the x-pipe, which is just that, an x-shaped piece. The outlets of the x connect up to more exhaust pipe or to mufflers (x is usually in place of cats or after cats). The function of the x pipe is to equalize the pressure in the two exhaust pipes. This is accomplished by the union of the two pipes into one (as they cross) and then back into two. Other designs that accomplish the same thing are the h pipe and MAC's prochamber (search for MAC performance on google). In addition, someone had the great idea to use a dual inlet, dual outlet cat to function as an x so that you could easily use a cat in a dual setup on our cars (both pipes would run down the pass. side).

It has not really been resolved which is the best design, x or h. It is debated from time to time on Mustang forums. Every test I have seen says that the x is better (power, torque) by a narrow margin. However, x vs h is still debated. If you are looking to put duals on your f-body, then you need to use a universal x-pipe because no one make duals for our cars (except for the little 2 1/4" kit from dynomax). Dr. Gas makes very good universal x pipes, among other things. Check out their website (search for Dr. Gas plus exhaust or peformance on google). Many race teams (including many NASCAR teams) use Dr. Gas exhaust products.

Generally, x pipes quiet down the exhaust and add a "raspy" tone, while h pipes make the exhaust very loud and "throaty." Also, most mustang owners use straight-through type mufflers with x pipes and chambered mufflers with h pipes. This may be the reason for the raspy vs. throaty, but loud vs quiet seems to be caused by the design of the crossover (x or h). I don't know anything about the MAC prochamber.

For more info, I suggest searching at www.corral.net or maybe www.stangnet.com (I just haven't been to stangnet as much). They are both very good sites. Also, feel free to email me if you have more questions.

 

Thank you very much for the explination. Very interesting about the change in sound, wouldn't expect that. The general design of an x pipe seems like it would have the performance edge over an h pipe if you think about it, but I have no experiance with an x pipe. I have a 383 on the way, so my exhaust needs some serious help and fast. I saw a nice set up by someone on this board (saw it after I started this post) who had true duals and an x pipe dumping into two bullet mufflers. Looks good to me except I'm going to run my pipes back further.

Once again, thanks for the help.

 

X marks the spot, green jello says it's best!!!



:lala: :lala: :lala: :lala:

 

Running the pipes back further is possible, but quite a challenge. The suspension (panhard rod) gets in the way of the drivers side. I have seen people run both over the passenger. I think some have run pipe on the drivers side but I dont know how big of pipe you could get to run through there. I have also saw some people run the exhaust under the rear axles which I would think would suck being as duals already are liable to cut your ground clearance without doing that.

Ben

 

This is in the March issue of Car Craft. X-Pipe is the way to go.

 

Yeah and I just looked at the Dr. Gas website. (Their exhaust products are used in so many top level racing classes!) Anyway, they say that x-pipes help to scavenge the exhaust as well as equilize pressure in the pipes, whereas h-pipes only equilize pressure. For some reason, though, many mustang guys still go with h-pipes.

Oh, and since the Cobra has sidepipes, it has no crossover (no 180* headers for me ). Although the sound is obviously V8, it does resemble a Harley. A crossover would eliminate that.

Check out these headers
http://www.howeracing.com/exhaust/exhaust2/index180.htm