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I guess I never got back to this. I ended up just bending the lines out of the way and fabbing up an extension of the existing bracket to hold them out of the way. They were still close, so I wrapped the lines up good in header wrap. I had to notch the shock tower a little too clear the bracket extension. Altogether not a big deal.
The headers themselves are, well, interesting. They definitely increased power/torque - it takes noticeably less pedal to get the same acceleration. But the exhaust sound went to crap. The system was/is the stock cat followed by the biggest 3.5" oval body muffler Magnaflow makes, then a 4" mandrel bent universal tail pipe. With the manifolds and Ford y-pipe, this system was the bomb. Easily the best sounding Ford V10 I've ever heard. I was really proud of the sound. But now with the headers, the sound is so much worse somehow. The idle got a lot deeper, which is nice, but anything off idle just sounds like non-descript buzz. 4500 rpm WOT lost all it's bark and growl somehow. I also picked up a bad drone at 2400 rpm (which is highway rpms due to the 4.30 gears). I tried adding a 1/4 wave resonator to kill the drone but it didn't do much. So more experimenting to do there. I'd like to work a chambered muffler into the system to get the sound waves bouncing around and see if that does anything. Problem is chambereds are too loud by themselves and there's not much extra room with the giant magnaflow.
When I installed my Banks headers (only change at that time to stock exhaust) the tailpipe and driver seat sound actually got quieter, but performance improved across the board. I still have the factory cat and all stock piping but replaced the stock muffler with an Aeroturbine (same as the Jones) 3030XL (XL denotes with a resonator, regular 3030 is without), I like it, both sound and performance were improved. Here is a sound clip I made sampling the difference between the stock muffler and 3030XL both at idle and with a little power braking.
The banks are a 5 into 1 design, right? I'm wondering if the goofy sound I get is a product of the tri-Y (2 Y and a W?) design of the thorleys. I'd love to try different mufflers but each one takes an entire Saturday morning to install. Plus they're not exactly cheap just to try one after another lol.
Hate to resurrect an old thread but this is one of the best results from my Google search. Any luck getting the Thorley headers to deliver a better sound? I just installed a set on my 2000 6.8 Ex and it sounds like a suped up 98 Civic! Just wondering which exhaust system you settled on and how it sounds. TIA.
Hate to resurrect an old thread but this is one of the best results from my Google search. Any luck getting the Thorley headers to deliver a better sound? I just installed a set on my 2000 6.8 Ex and it sounds like a suped up 98 Civic! Just wondering which exhaust system you settled on and how it sounds. TIA.
any luck?
and has any one had to raise the passenger side of the motor to install these and/or remove anything? TIA
Sorry I don't check this thread often. No, I haven't gotten the thorleys to sounds right yet. I've been through several exhausts and even experimented with a 1/4 wave resonator. It's not a civic or 4/6 cylinder sound at all, but it's not particularly pleasing either. It's a very low frequency sound and at lower RPMs you can really hear the individual cylinder pulses. But I get a terrible reverberating drone at 2400 rpms, which with my 4.30 gears is exactly highway cruising speed. And that's with the factory cat and two mufflers in series (a flowmaster and a small magnaflow). I'm about done experimenting with it - it's a 4th vehicle and I don't drive it enough to get really annoyed with it. If I was going to go further my thought was true duals with no H or X pipe. That would at least cut the number of pulses through the system per engine revolution in half. Theoretically that should move the drone to 2x 2400 rpm = 4800 rpm and be more tolerable on the highway.
If I was going to do it over I'd stick with 5-into-1 headers. I think it's the goofy 5-2-1 *******ization of the tried-true 4-2-1 design for V8s that messes them up. If you look at the firing order of the V10 it's perfectly balanced side to side (unlike a typical V8), so 5-into-1 headers on each side make a lot more sense.
I just put a set of Gibson headers on. I did have to lift each side of the engine to get them on with most of the factory studs in place. As mine is an 04, I did not have any problems with the A/C lines. Driving the Ex with nothing but the change from manifolds to headers, I only noticed a slight exhaust tone change. I then had the factory "T" junction replaced with a "Y" pipe and still did not notice any major changes in the exhaust tone or level. I have only driven it momentarily up to speeds of 40MPH and will have to see how it sounds at expressway speeds. My goal in this change is to increase towing power by allowing the engine to breathe better. Drivers side. This was replaced with a "Y" pipe Side By side comparison Side By side comparison Muffler shop installed the Y pipe
Last edited by ShelbyHauler; Jun 30, 2020 at 10:47 AM.
Reason: Add Photo
Bell housing cover? It's a 4R100 with an integral bell, obviously. I'm not sure what you mean by bellhousing cover....?
Front side of lower bell housing, just between torque converter and engine oil pan there is a sheet metal cover held on by (I think) 4 s,all bolts. Sometimes that cover can pick up a harmonies vibration and give you a rattle/buzz at certain RPMs. Pull it off and give it a little bend then reinstall, the bend will help it stay seated better and should kill the rattle/buzz.
Front side of lower bell housing, just between torque converter and engine oil pan there is a sheet metal cover held on by (I think) 4 s,all bolts. Sometimes that cover can pick up a harmonies vibration and give you a rattle/buzz at certain RPMs. Pull it off and give it a little bend then reinstall, the bend will help it stay seated better and should kill the rattle/buzz.
Its actually 2 bolts. I just smeared silicone around both sides of the cover where it touches the bellhousing and that took care of it. Bending it a little bit didn't work for me.
Its actually 2 bolts. I just smeared silicone around both sides of the cover where it touches the bellhousing and that took care of it. Bending it a little bit didn't work for me.
Yeah, somewhere there's a thread where I made a new cover of thicker metal. Never had a problem after that, along with some foam between the top of the cover, and the engine separator plate.
Front side of lower bell housing, just between torque converter and engine oil pan there is a sheet metal cover held on by (I think) 4 s,all bolts. Sometimes that cover can pick up a harmonies vibration and give you a rattle/buzz at certain RPMs. Pull it off and give it a little bend then reinstall, the bend will help it stay seated better and should kill the rattle/buzz.
Oh ok I know the part. Yeah that's not my issue. My problem is an exhaust drone due to the headers, not a buzz from a loose piece of sheet metal.
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