Will this work?

[P72Ford]

OK, so I am doing quite a bit of "bench building" right about now. Its cold out, and I really can't work on my car; all I can do is gather parts.

After I hammer out my suspension upgrades/ spring maintenance/ 4 bbl swap, I will be redoing my exhaust. The old exhaust is falling apart as we speak, and it makes me sick. $400 poorly spent I guess. No more custom jobs for me.

I want to use the BBK 351 swap headers, and a mustang H pipe. The rest of the system will be a mish mosh/ Impala hybrid setup.

My question is this: can I buy an offroad h pipe, and then put my own cats in? I think I can buy aftermarket high flow cats, and the BBK h pipe, and make a catted h pipe for less than I can buy one for. I need the cats to pass emissions; not having them is not an option. I figure I'll cut up the h pipe and weld the cats in (well; I'll test everything, get it how I want it, and then have my friend weld it up). I hope I can make a way for the air tubes to hook up again as well.

Am I being stupid to try this; should I just buy a catted h pipe and be done with it? Just a though I've been having, and I'd like some input. Thanks guys.

[gadget73]

you can probably do it, however it may not be worth the expense and effort spent. I'd price it out either way, then figure how much time it will take to modify the parts to fit together, and see if its worth it to you. Also, I dont think a lot of the universal fit cats have air tubing. A catted direct replacement H pipe should have that provision already. You will probably need the pipe for a Fox car to use it, or you'll have to mod your stock one. I seem to recall the stock one not clearing the headers properly.

Honestly, I'd just buy a catted pipe and be done with it, but thats me.

[1987cp]

+1 Talk to torquelover ... he used 351 swap headers and says his Mustang H-pipe would not fit. He had some pipes welded up at an out-of-the way shop and still has no H-pipe. I guess my suggestion would be to get the female ball flanges from the Walker catalog and fab up the rest with available mandrel bends.

[gadget73]

seems to depend on the particular headers and H pipe. The stuff used on Natehawk's car fit up fine. I've heard other people have problems though, so who knows.

[mrltd]

Universal 2 and 3 way cats do have the air injection ports.

The added length of the cats in a offroad h or x would make it fit better. Should be able to make it cross over behind the trans crossmember...

It's way cheaper to buy the cats and a offroad H.... 100 bucks for a pair of cats, 110 for an offroad h..... 300+ for a good aftermarket catted H....

[P72Ford]

It's way cheaper to buy the cats and a offroad H.... 100 bucks for a pair of cats, 110 for an offroad h..... 300+ for a good aftermarket catted H....

Thats what I was thinking. But I can't manage to find an h pipe for 110. Is that for a new one?


What components were used on Natehawk's car? I am hoping if I use a uniform brand of components (BBK), I can make this work.

[1987cp]

Thats what I was thinking. But I can't manage to find an h pipe for 110. Is that for a new one?


What components were used on Natehawk's car? I am hoping if I use a uniform brand of components (BBK), I can make this work.

Summit Racing-brand H-pipe retails cheaper than others brands:

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM%2D640725&N=700+4294863086+4294908331+4294924929+115&autoview=sku

Pacesetter is the cheapest of the X-pipes available from Summit:

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=PSM%2D82%2D1140&N=700+4294863086+4294908331+4294924929+115&autoview=sku

Guess what two crossover pipes I own? If you guessed the two above, bingo! Ten points for Gryffindor!

[P72Ford]

Summit Racing-brand H-pipe retails cheaper than others brands:

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM%2D640725&N=700+4294863086+4294908331+4294924929+115&autoview=sku

Does this have to be welded together? Where is the crossover?

I like that paxce setter one, but I'd like to have it in one piece when I get it (why???). The Pacesetter piece is neat though, because the front portions of the pipe could be manipulated better.

How's the qquality on the pacesetter piece? I think that'd be pretty easy to mod. for me.

[1987cp]

The Summit H-pipe just has one side of the crossover slightly larger so it slides together and can be secured with the provided U-bolt, but you can weld it too if you like. The crossover part itself consists of the stubby pipe you see sticking out the side of each half. The air injection tube will of course have to be either hooked up or capped, and the hangers on mine had to be cut off to clear the tranny crossmember.



The X-pipe was kind of a tight fit for me, had to wrestle with it a bit to get it to clear the transmission. Ended up with it slightly off-level, but it's in and it works and doesn't drag! If it weren't for the "down" sections being separate pieces (held in place with muffler clamps, though they could be welded), I would possibly have had to cut and modify it. Had to remove the hangers on this piece as well. I think it'd be interesting to see how one would fit with a 351 and swap headers.

One annoyance I ran into on both cars is that the Mustang mid pipes aren't quite long enough, so I had to extend them a tad to work with stock-case-size mufflers in the stock locations.

[P72Ford]

Maybe I should buy one that is in one piece then. I really don't want this to be a pain in the ass. The pipe doesn't fit around the trans well? Hopefully the 351 headers at least bring the flange down to where it would be on a 302. If not, I'm screwed; it'll never clear the trans.

On the pacesetter pipe, I'm not sure where I'd put the cats in. The fact that the front portion is removable seems to make it difficult.

[1987cp]

That H-pipe was actually near zero trouble to install. I think it was 5.0 Mustang that did an article where they tested several different aftermarket crossover pipes on a single vehicle, and they complained that the one-piece jobs were actually harder to install because they're heavy and awkward, while the two-piecers were a breeze because you can slap each half into place separately.

Hadn't thought about cat clearance issues with the X-pipe .... of course, clearance in general is a big reason I want to build my own crossover next time.

[P72Ford]

Well, I had some custom exhaust work done on my car (2.5" mandrel bent cat back). It was nice at first, then it went to shit. The dampers were removed, and the new hangers don't dissipate the vibration, or allow room for the exhaust to move. The result is cracks and leaks popping up everwhere. The pipe is no good (bad quality) and it is welded right onto my existing cats (stepped down).

Since I don't weld (I should; we have a beautiful welder) I'd rather make my own from readily available pieces.

How's the quality of pipe on that summit h pipe?

[1987cp]

How's the quality of pipe on that summit h pipe?

It's reasonable; it's fairly heavy gauge with aluminized coating, just like most performance tubes I've dealt with (no thin-wall parts-store stuff here). You might want to give it a coat of high-temp paint just for good measure. I think the main difference with the more expensive units is (maybe) different fit and (I'm pretty sure) nicer flanges, etc. - but for new stuff, the price can't be beat.

[mrltd]

I've got the fisrt two feet of a summit h on my car. I'venever been impressed with pacesetter quiality...

The swap headers put the collector at the same location as a 5.0L would with shorties.

[1987cp]

I've got the fisrt two feet of a summit h on my car.

Remind me, what did you do behind those first two feet?