Hey guys, thanks for all of the info. I’ve seen it mentioned that it should only cost about $50 to cut out the H pipe by a muffler shop and weld the holes left after on the 2 pipes are open. Has anybody actually paid only $50 to do it?
I'm asking because I have plans on hitting the road this week. It has been in hibernation all winter.
Based upon what I have said I would like to maximize the only thing I am able to do under my circumstances.

Thanks AGAIN in advance for any input.

 

StevieB

I am really interested in hearing what your END RESULT is with this H pipe removal project.
PLEASE give us your HONEST opinion on what it did to satisfy you quest for more SUPER CAR SOUND.

IMHO, it only going to make a LITTLE more POP and GURGLE on decal.

As for getting it done for $50; It all depends on how hungry the muffler shop guy is and if he doesn't have cars stacked up out side waiting to have big dollar work done.

Some Shop owners just like laying hands on a unique car and are willing to do it for a few clams.

Good luck in your project.

Bill

 

The exhaust shop I had cut the H and weld in a new section charged $30.

 

Does Photo Bucket host video? I've used it for still pictures.
How do you guys make a video?
I don’t know how pricing may be compared to here in Chicago land by the bad economy to other parts of the country. $30 is incredibly low in my opinion. I have a GHL cat back system which I’m sure makes a difference from other brands. So when I have the ability to post video, you guys can be the judge.

 

Driving to Texas would cost a lot for gas. That $30 for the job may make it cost prohibitive

 

You can host videos on Photobucket, but I prefer YouTube as you can embed the video in the threads here on CF.

 

I use Vimeo for my video files.

 

OK guys, I'll figure out how to get the thing on here ASAP after the job has been done

 

My GHL may not be much of a comparison, if you are referring to mine.

I have basically no mods. Your car sounds outragous

 

outstanding
DID YOU EXCEED THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT?

 

 

GHL Bullets vs Borla Stringers

I have read that Borla stole the design from GHL

 

I put an after market exhaust on with out an x pipe not long after getting our car. The exhaust sounded great during acceleration. WOT could make you pee your pants. It was awesome! But...deceleration was a different story. The excessive popping was embarrassing. Adding an x pipe took care of 98% of the popping. We are still satisfied with the sound during acceleration. I hope this helps.

 

Yes, and thank you.
I guess it’s all a matter of personal preference.
I don’t recall any X or Y or H pipes in existence when I was 16 and started driving.

I'm 59 years old now.
My 2nd car was a Charger with a 426 HEMI, headers and duel quads.

That was a very fast car. My test drive;
It had very wide rear tires, a warm day on new pavement and warm tires, so it really hooked up. Then the 16 year old went WOT from a dead start. I don't remember what speed we got up to. At that moment I could hardly remember what just happened in those few seconds, for real.
That was true dual exhaust. My 3rd car was a Challenger/ 440 MAGNUM and one 4 barrel.

The Charger and Challenger were so loud you couldn’t hear any back firing.
My 3rd car was a TRANS AM, 400 CI with one 4 barrel, true dual exhaust.
Then another TRANS AM. Those cars were bought in that sequence starting off at the age of 16.
My parents were pretty liberal allowing a 16 year old driving a 426 HEMI and that Challenger.
They were all bought used, but no more than 2- 4 years old. They were probably beat to crap, but what does a 16 year old know. So like I said, never heard of those pipes.
That Charger and Challenger almost shook the house when the entered the driveway.

I just realized that this math doesn’t add up.

I bought and sold those cars before I got married the first time at 19. So if I’m 59 now and that 16 year old stuff took place that doesn’t add up, or I’m a little fuzzy in the head right now because I just got up. Don’t those #s make me 49 or 69?, not 59 or 75, whatever.

 

I will be experimenting with a double x-pipe setup this summer. I will install XS-power header that have a cross in their design right before the cats. Then I will adapt my current corsa x-pipe to back end of the exhaust. Im hoping to completely eliminate any backpopping and clean up that motorboat diesel idle sounds.

 

StevieB:

Are you sure your cars didn't have any X or H pipes? You are only 3 years older than I am and those things were around when I was 16.

Keep in mind a big reason (maybe only reason) why they are there is because of the uneven firing order. LS and SBC engines as well don't have a firing order that is always going from bank to bank because of our engines cross-plane crankshafts. The reason why our engines don't have flat-plane crankshafts is because until just recently (latest generation of Shelby Mustangs) there were significant vibration issues in flat-plane crank engines above 4 liters or so. Ferrari and others have used flat-plane cranks for years in their smaller displacement V8s but American manufacturers stayed with the cross-plane crank since our V8s were generally bigger than the Europeans.

Back to the H or X pipe though. True duals will work well on a cross-plane crank engine but are only better than the H/X if the headers are constructed such that the exhaust of a couple of cylinders (on each side) is routed over to the header on the other side of the engine. This makes the "headers" into a single header that is rather spaghetti looking. See pic below for an example. Do a search on cross-plane 180 header images for many more examples.

If you want true duals and run cross-plane 180 headers I say go for it! I'd like to see how you get them to fit under our cars.

 

I understand part of what you are saying. Some parts of it are over my head. I can’t say that every one of those cars didn’t have crossover pipe, except for the Charger with the HEMI.
The mufflers where called glass packs or something like that, no cats. That was it, headers and those mufflers, no cats.
No exhaust from there back. It was a little bit dangerous because the exhaust ended right under the passenger compartment. It wasn’t a good idea to sit in the same place stationary for very long.
I was just a kid that liked the way this or that sounded. I thought they were all duel exhaust.
Now that I look at those headers in the picture it shows all of the exhaust on left and right end in 1 pipe on each side.
It seems to me the only true single exhaust is like a dragster with 1 pipe per cylinder.

Whatever the case may be. The price I’m paying to get rid of the H pipe and only 1 pipe per side of the
exhaust may do nothing for sound. That’s the only reason I’m doing this. If there is any kind of problem, I’ll just have it welded back on.
To make an accurate comparison of sound is to make a video of before and after.

I really shouldn't complain. Just the way it is now is VERY GOOD sounding, as I will demonstrate.

 

BTW, I'm working on YOU TUBE.
That really seems like the way to go for this.

 

OK, I had the H pipe removed yesterday. It was a much bigger deal than I thought it would be because there isn't enough space to weld at the top part of the H pipe, they removed the entire section from the exhaust manifolds; I have no headers, to the cat backs. They cut the pipes in front and back. That required removal of all clamps and anything holding everything up and connected to those pipes. Then they inserted both left and right pipes into what I can only describe as sleeve type attachment that were the exact same size as the exhaust pipes. They welded those together and reconnected everything back up. I was checking on the work as the guy was doing the job which took over 2 solid hours.
Now I have true left and right duel exhaust.

I've made an account at YOU TUBE and I'll demonstrate the idle and WOT of the car on video. I have a safe place to make my run, ON SUNDAY only, long enough to hit 3rd gear and it runs out of road, so I need to lift and not end up like one of those morons that can't drive and smash into something.
OH BOY, I can't wait.

 

Hey Bill, are trying to ruin my fun?