hi all. I am looking at putting another exhaust on my XH XR8. I like the sound of the standard system but is way to quiet. I have had diferent opinions from the local exhaust shops. I have been told to get rid of the factory twin system by all the shops but 1 said to go from cats back. $280 roughly. 1 said replace the cats ans back from there. $600. the other shop said the Tickford extractors are terrible and to get rid of them and go for a full system. $1500. If I went for the full system what would be best ie Twin system. single system??? Brand of extractors??Size of the pipes??? Has any one done any of these things and Whats your thoughts on each??? thanks in advance

im running a set of pacemaker extractors, with twin 2.5's with a cross over, 1 muffler on each pipe then out the back. couldnt be happier..

i think the headers were about 600 and the exhaust was a custom made job for around 700 if memory serves..

I'm in the same dilemma.

Pacemakers PH4000 seem to be the fav with the eb-au v8's. from there HM/Perry's or even Di Fillipos but that depends on your budget.

Metal Cats are also a top choice for fitters but beware as some could charge you up to $400-500 each. Shop around. Even try and call some manufacturers. If you're good on the phone you could get them at a wholesale price. I picked up a pair of 3" Metal Cats from my local exhaust joint for $200 each. But thats coz I told him the guy down the road was giving them away for 250 each.

From there you can either go for a 2.5" or 3" twin system with some good semi/straight-through mufflers. Don't forget your x-balance-section. Some people say they're not worth it if you dont have BIG HP but others say it improves flow.

If you have a day off, I recommend spending the day at your exhaust fitter and try out a few mufflers to get under the legal limit and/or get that sound you like. Even get him to "flange" some sections for easy connection/diconnection of sections.

Personally, if you are going to replace the whole system, get the pacemaker headers, new metalcats and then a twin 2.25" system right through. You like the current note, so why change the basic setup?

XH5LTRWPN has a very nice system on his, using Hooker Aerochamber mufflers and mandrel bent stainless pipework.

I'm also running Hooker Aerochambers but with magnaflow resonaters at the back (I'm getting old).

If i was to stick with the twin which would be a very nice and likelly option where do you bring both pipes out past the bumper???

G'day Mate and welcome to the Forums, love the ute also .

If i was you i'd just go for a twin 2 1/4 system and just go with something like Lukey mufflers. Will give it a real nice note but still wont be "overly" loud. With this you would still run the pipes out the one side on the rear bumper. Although you may have to modify the bumper abit to allow for the two pipes next to each other. Unless you bring them back into one 3" like the std one.

With the Tickford(ELGT) headers i dont see them as being crap at all. They actually work quite well, give good low-mid range torque. My mate had an EL with pacemakers that he was about to sell and made an offer to swap his Paceys for my ELGT's before he sold the car if i done the work changing them over. So i agreed, fitted them both up and i only noticed a difference abit more at the top end, where as he said his whole car felt better all through the revs. So if i wasnt to get the Paceys for nothing i wouldnt have bothered paying the 700 or so dollars to upgrade to them from the ELGT ones. Just my 2c.

I'm running a full stainless, mandrel bent, twin 2 1/4" system with x-pipe and twin Hooker Aerochamber mufflers and cheap 2 1/2" "Hi-flow" cats. Very subtle when cruising, nice sound at idle and really barks when on the throttle.
I wouldnt bother goin to this extreme if your not aiming for maximum performance, i would also reccomend lukey mufflers if you want a nice sound.

I have just fitted up a lukey super system. I work at an exhaust shop and we generally don't use lukey so we thought we should try it on my car. Extractors, high flow cats (not a part of the kit) and it is 3" from the Y pipe, one straight thru muffler and a res in the tail pipe. I haven't taken it for a good run yet (still playing with other bits and pieces) but it sounds great!

Unless you are doing big mods the pacemakers are probably a bit over priced, hurricane or lukey would be better on the budget. If you decide on single system make sure you get a res in the tail pipe or it will resonate like buggery.

Magnaflows are a very very good muffler, last for ever and sound great.

[quote="XH5LWEPN"]G'day Mate and welcome to the Forums, love the ute also .

If i was you i'd just go for a twin 2 1/4 system and just go with something like Lukey mufflers. Will give it a real nice note but still wont be "overly" loud. With this you would still run the pipes out the one side on the rear bumper. Although you may have to modify the bumper abit to allow for the two pipes next to each other. Unless you bring them back into one 3" like the std one.

With the Tickford(ELGT) headers i dont see them as being crap at all. They actually work quite well, give good low-mid range torque. My mate had an EL with pacemakers that he was about to sell and made an offer to swap his Paceys for my ELGT's before he sold the car if i done the work changing them over. So i agreed, fitted them both up and i only noticed a difference abit more at the top end, where as he said his whole car felt better all through the revs. So if i wasnt to get the Paceys for nothing i wouldnt have bothered paying the 700 or so dollars to upgrade to them from the ELGT ones. Just my 2c.

I'm running a full stainless, mandrel bent, twin 2 1/4" system with x-pipe and twin Hooker Aerochamber mufflers and cheap 2 1/2" "Hi-flow" cats. Very subtle when cruising, nice sound at idle and really barks when on the throttle.
I wouldnt bother goin to this extreme if your not aiming for maximum performance, i would also reccomend lukey mufflers if you want a nice sound.[/quote

Thanks to everyone with great ideas. Its made things much easier for sure. Just on the topic of the standard headers. My mate has a AU 5litre 5 speed XLS and I was comparing his to my tickford ones and I would say that the ones on his car are terrible compared to my standard tickford ones. I dont plan on doing any mods to the engine at this stage so i might stick with my Standard headers and do the rest of the system. I just want a nice note for cruising. I dont want hi RPM. Hi RPM = High speeds or big skids and with only 3 points on my licence i better be good.

For what its worth, with standard Tseries headers and cats, twin 2.5" with hookers and magnaflow resonators I made 223rwhp. Thats with a standard 200kW TE50, not even a CAI or K&N filter.

Thats an impressive increase in HP. Are the Tseries headers any diferent to what mine would be??

theyre quite different physically.. (dunno about performance).. you cant put au headers in an el (ive tried) but im not sure about an xh, id assume not.

-mitch

Hi all, Im new here.

With my ute I went with the pacemaker headers, magna flow metal cats into a single 3 inch system. It runs through a red back muffler, hooks over and stops at the diff. It sounds good at idle and roars when I put the foot down. I am however considering changing the red back muffler with a magna flow muffler. Since the exhaust has been done Ive been pulled over twice and they didnt care about the noise. One cop even told me it sounded good much to my suprise.