97' mountaineer 5.0 special exhaust question

[kyle2008]

i have as of right now a single flowmaster 40 muffler after the stock flange. id really like to have more sound and power and iv noticed alot of ppl saying they have deleted the cats where the flange is. my question is can i cut these off and just put a dual in dual out muffler on this and still have it emissions legal?

 

[410Fortune]

the SECONDARY cat converters are not required in ALL STATES for emissions.
IN places like CO all they care about are the 2 primary cats and the 4 02 sensors, after that its up to you... of course the exhaust has to exit after the passenger cabin here in CO too so dumping under the bed is illegal, pipe must leave at rear of truck.

So IN MOST Cases you ditch the secondary cat converters, ryun a dual inlet single outlet muffler ( I suggest a 2.5" single outlet pipe for most stockish (not boosted) 5.0L's in these trucks), it will keep your low end torque.

You need to check with CT, your local exhaust expert should be able to tell you if its legal there, meaning if it is legal to ditch the 2ndary cats he will cut them off, if its not , he wont.

I vote ditch them, I did on both of my 5.0L trucks.

For more volume from your exhaust you should open up your intake
THEN
You should get some TM headers.....the stock manifolds on the 5.0L Explorer = SUCK job

 

[kyle2008]

thanks for the info. id love the headers but i cant afford 700 bucks just for headers. if they were 300 or under itd be fine but thats way out of my price range. i do already have an aftermarket intake that i made myself with basically just a cone filter off the maf flange thats is on there. im going to call tomorrow and if its legal bye bye cats haha. i hope it helps with sound and power a lil bit. just wish i could do the headers to cuz the stock manifolds bug the hell out of me sinc ei saw them while doing a tune up.

 

[410Fortune]

other option is keep the secondary cats and remove the muffler
then your secondary cats = muffler = louder

 

[kyle2008]

ya but i love how the flowmaster sounds and i already have cops following me cuz of how loud. i just want it to be deeper and have more power. im gunna cut thecats and put a y pipe into my 40 series that i already have. be cheapest for me.

 

[410Fortune]

you wont get any more power until you ditch the factory manifolds

 

[kyle2008]

it may not be noticable but i will get some cuz cats r restictive.

 

[Turdle]

The headers are the restriction. Sorry.

The stock manifold ports are less than 1" in diameter.

Your cats are of no concern at this point, trust me.

 

[410Fortune]

you are only as good as your smallest bottleneck, until you remove it all other breathing mods are just for sound

 

[kyle2008]

watever im not gunna argue. we all have our own opinions.

 

[410Fortune]

wow okay

not arguing here just trying to help with the information we have learned from the forums
its not an opinion its a dyno proven fact, TM headers simply bolted on gained something like 28 HP on a factory 5.0L truck

 

[X~FACTOR]

TM headers simply bolted on gained something like 28 HP on a factory 5.0L truck

Does anyone make headers for SOHC V6?

 

[techieman33]

Jtsmith, and 410fortune are right, without headers just about any other mod you do won't live up to it's full potential. A lot of people have complained about the price but I have yet to see one person here on the forum complain about the price after installing them. They're worth every penny.

 

[techieman33]

Does anyone make headers for SOHC V6?

There are headers available, though it's been decided that they aren't really good for much on a stockish v6 as the stock manifold are already pretty good.

 

[X~FACTOR]

^So Ford did a pretty good job on the SOHC V6 headers and did a ****ty job on the V8?

 

[rwenzing]

^So Ford did a pretty good job on the SOHC V6 headers and did a ****ty job on the V8?

Well, yeah, that's the bottom line.

The gen 2 Explorer engine bay was originally designed for a V6. The 302 V8 was scheduled to end production in the Mustang in 1995 and E, F and B trucks in 1996.

The Explorer had been hugely successful in the early 90's but Ford felt competitive pressure to match the max power and towing capabilities of other SUV's, especially the 5.2L V8 Grand Cherokee. Hence, the 302 V8 was given a temporary reprieve and modified in several ways to squeeze it into the existing Ex bay which was never intended for it.

The biggest compromise in the 302 Explorer V8 conversion was the exhaust manifold configuration which was very restrictive. A ton of design work and a lot of manufacturing expense have gone into making the Torque Monster tube headers fit into that same space - way more than any car manufacturer is going to invest in an exhaust manifold for anything but a high performance model.

I agree with what was said above. If you expect to get more exhaust flow from a 5.0 Ex, you have to start at the headers before you can make any significant gains farther back.

 

[kyle2008]

well if i planned on racing it or supercharging it then maybe 800 for headers would be worth it but since im not made of money and dont intend on doing that then ill just have to deal with the stock ones and find other ways of making the power i want.

 

[Turdle]

First you say they are 700 bux, then 800 bux

They are 624.00 shipped to you

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147452

And, until you fix the bottle neck all your efforts will be lost.

Sorry you didn't get the answer you wanted.

 

[kyle2008]

dude either way id be spending way too much and if u look on there site its 698$ believe me iv done my research in these thing. and i can say 800 cuz originally that wat they r before the 100 off.

 

[Turdle]

dude either way id be spending way too much and if u look on there site its 698$ believe me iv done my research in these thing. and i can say 800 cuz originally that wat they r before the 100 off.

Good luck Kyle-