SPF Performance Side Pipe upgrade selection

[poisonsnake]

I am absolutely sold on Firefly performance products! Besides being a great guy, Ron will set you up with headers that fit large port heads (designed specifically for them) and his ss sidepipes sound incredible not to mention look fantastic. I notch above the rest! Oh,Did I mention they flow better also? Clips do not do the pipes justice but check out..My friends new superformance cobra on you-tube and crank up the volume!!! Have a magical one!

[poisonsnake]

Pman 1961 I have a set of spf 402 double bolt pattern headers barely used for sale if you are interested

[Jake]

The common complaint is the popcorn machine sound out of the stock pipes. I understand that someone did some dyno tests and with a big block there was a 75 HP difference between the stock and free flowing 3" inside diameter pipes. I had a friend weld in some stainless specialty mufflers in place of the stock mufflers and they sound amazing! Much cheaper, at about $ 119.00 each ( Stainless Steel exhaust components• ) All said and done I think I was less than $500 with fresh ceramic black coating.

Jake

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by Jake

The common complaint is the popcorn machine sound out of the stock pipes. I understand that someone did some dyno tests and with a big block there was a 75 HP difference between the stock and free flowing 3" inside diameter pipes. I had a friend weld in some stainless specialty mufflers in place of the stock mufflers and they sound amazing! Much cheaper, at about $ 119.00 each ( Stainless Steel exhaust components• ) All said and done I think I was less than $500 with fresh ceramic black coating.

Jake

I put mine on a dyno before and after the Stainless Specialties pipes, and there was only 1 HP difference.

Now with that said, I did not re-jet it after the new pipes, and it was on the lean side, but still acceptable.

[Pman1961]

I was seriously considering the Firefly pipes. Great reviews from all that took the time out to speak with me who has or had a pair. At the end I elected to go with the 3" by Performance Engineering. Baffles are on order and my pipes went out Monday. Some reasons is that the most notable performance gains as I was told were on the big, big horsepower engines. So I figured why spend twice as much for the same performance gains. There were many other upgrades that I'm doing to my car while my motor is out such as radiator and oil cooler screens, Kirkham brake and clutch resevoirs, fan covers, 5 point harner, fire extinguisher. I wanted to stay with ceramic coating look instead of the stainless and did not want to coat stainless pipes. Most of all a very respected Superformance builder/dealer said I was just wasting money. I basically want the sound improvements and if I gain a few horsepower then that is just fine with me!

[craigayl]

"very respected Superformance builder/dealer said I was just wasting money"

DANG!!! Wish I had talked to that very respected dealer! Could have saved a bunch.... Of course on the other hand, I be short 50hp, the rusted out muflers would be banging around inside the pipes and the car would look like hell with the crap ceramic coating, but what the heck.. It would at least get the endorcement of a "very respected dealer".



Craig

[Jake]

Originally Posted by craigayl

"very respected Superformance builder/dealer said I was just wasting money"

DANG!!! Wish I had talked to that very respected dealer! Could have saved a bunch.... Of course on the other hand, I be short 50hp, the rusted out muflers would be banging around inside the pipes and the car would look like hell with the crap ceramic coating, but what the heck.. It would at least get the endorcement of a "very respected dealer".



Craig

Now that is funny!

Jake

[poisonsnake]

Originally Posted by craigayl

"very respected Superformance builder/dealer said I was just wasting money"

DANG!!! Wish I had talked to that very respected dealer! Could have saved a bunch.... Of course on the other hand, I be short 50hp, the rusted out muflers would be banging around inside the pipes and the car would look like hell with the crap ceramic coating, but what the heck.. It would at least get the endorcement of a "very respected dealer".



Craig

'
Difficult situation because the dealer's first obligation is to sell the vehicle and may not steer you in the right direction.(first hand experience) so I just listen to Dr. Craig!

[Pman1961]

I was told by Firefly to expect a 20 to 25 hp increase over stock SPF sidepipes with my engine combination as other pipe manufacturers or fabricators also claim through testing. No doubt in my mind I'm convinced Firefly sidepipes are the best money can buy. Yet, I have a lot of upgrades I'm doing this year and the money saved buying pipes from Performance Engineering at half the price with similar performance expectations sure helps the bank account.

[Pman1961]

I've had the car for almost 3 years now. I bought the car from an individual and not a dealer. The upgrades are a personal choice. Good thing I didn't tell the brand of scatter shield I just bought! I'm sure their would be a lot of disrespectful comments with the stupid smiley faces too.

[SPF1061]

HP is bragging rights. Torque is what makes these cars so much fun to drive.
With my 427R I added 3" stainless specialties mufflers. Lots of dyno tweaking gained me 7 hp at the top end. They are loud and sound bad asss though. Then I added the big port headers that wouldn't restrict the flow. Lots of dyno tweaking gained me no horsepower and lost @ 30lb ft torque down low. Also cost me .3 seconds on my ET at the dragstrip. A "respected dealer" (maybe the same one referred to above ) told me this is exactly what would happen.
I am always amazed a the threads claiming the big performance gains from exhaust mods. Sure didn't do much for me. Some guys are just lucky I guess?
On the other hand, these cars are all about the fun, plain and simple. If shiny loud mufflers make you feel like you're going faster, then they are worth every penny. No arguing that point! Enjoy.

[427supr]

Eric at Performance Engineering just did mine. I went to the stainless 3" exhaust. Eric said on the dyno it showed a 25-30hp gain. I don't know for sure how much you will feel it at the seat of your pants, but the car sure does sound better! It cost $1200 bucks out the door with the ceramic coating. I know the car is at least breathing better now. Performance Engineering is located in Ross, Ohio near Cincinnati.

[jhv48]

And people will now cover their ears when you drive by.

That's a big plus.

I got mine from Full Throttle about a year ago. 3" innards. Now the car sounds like a monster. Not sure, nor do I care, if there was any horsepower gain. Sounds 1000% better than stock.

Had an older guy pull up next to me while I was sitting at a stop light. He looked down from the cab of his truck and said, "Now that's what a car should sound like". And he's right!

Just get the pipes from someone and don't look back!

[Voyager]

Probably not what people want to hear, but…at what point is it loud enough & at what point do you have enough horsepower?

Finding that breakeven point between sound and performance is tough.

For me, the OEM SPF pipes are spot on. You’re louder than you think. I let my son drive mine around the neighborhood and I could hear him a couple miles away, loping around at 2000 rpm. My wife told me that she heard me jump on it on the local bypass road (about 5 miles away). Hard to keep your license in your wallet with that pronouncement!

Also – adding 20 hp to my 515 hp only means that I spin my crappy tires a tad sooner.

[Pman1961]

SPF 1061 and 427supr....all I can say is thanks my thoughts exactly!

[Pman1961]

Greg...I've watched your off-idle pass numerous times and I have read many of your posts or comments and it has been helpful. I appreciate you sharing the mods of your car and this also goes to others as well. We learn from others experiences whether good or bad. I understand chasing horsepower. I want to make the most of what I have and by the way your car sounded great..especially warming up the tires! I'll do the sticky tire thing maybe next winter! Voyager...I've been told my car can be heard for quite some distance. The idle with the SPF pipes is not up to par for my tastes. Seems as though the aftermarket sidepipes have a more crisp, defined pop and yes I want the car louder at idle and a little more all over. I drive short distances and not as frequent as I would like. Seems as though I work all the time. I hope not to have to wear ear plugs but we'll have to wait and see! JHV48...your comments is spot on to what I'm looking to achieve. Tomorrow it looks as though I can begin dialing in the bellhousing. After that in goes the motor!

[crASH]

Originally Posted by Pman1961

...and yes I want the car louder at idle and a little more all over.

LOUD is GOOD.

All my life, every time I get another vehicle, once I tell my brother, who is eight states away, he always asks me the same question, wearily, "So... did you take the mufflers off yet?"

He knows me well.

[Voyager]

I can see folks wanting more noise. You don’t buy a Cobra to blend in.

An advantage we have is our off idle sound is so good. Yesterday we went to a Ferrari show at a local winery. As incredible as the Ferraris sound “on the pipe”, everyone loved the Cobra’s sound as we loped around the winery grounds.

Good luck in your quest. As my pipe wears out (years from now), I’ll be interested in your find.

[Voyager]

Greg,

I hear you on the tires. As soon as I can put some wear on these BFGs, they’re gone. Problem is they squeal like pigs when you try to wear them out.

Bob

[PJS50]

I'll sell you my SPF pipes w/the 3"core Stainless Specialties mufflers for $1000...
They are already ceramic coated too, but you will probably want to polish them before installing...
BUT, you will have a wait a little while before I can send them to you... I have to get my Firefly Pipes installed before I can ship you my old ones...
For me, I think I got @40HP more doing this mod. myself (520 cube Big Block) but I can tell you one thing:
ANYONE that does JUST a muffler mod on SPF sidepipes WITHOUT doing some serious work inside the collector area isn't going to see ANY HP gains (maybe lose HP?)... PE charges more for this work/feature, so make sure THAT'S what you are getting!!! If not, you are paying $1200 for NOISE, nothing more... Also, I have seen some of the PE sidepipes, and personally, they look like they were welded back together with a STICK welder!!! Granted, the set I saw was a few years ago, so hopefully for your sake, they've gotten better! But, I think somebody who just left a job as an I-Beam welder on a construction sight put the PE pipes together that I saw!!! Mine were welder together by a prototype welder and they look as good as stock...

BTW, even though I saw decent HP increase with my own sidepipe jerry-rigging and collector mods, I am thinking that I'll get another 20-30 HP out of the Firefly pipes!!! They have a WAY better merge-type collector, and a propretary performance muffler that has a different core design than the Stain. Spec. muffler... Again, BB motor though, your mileage may vary...

Oh, you wanna hear the pipes I'll send you? I'm the first guy in this clip:

YouTube - London Cobra Show Burnouts

Trust me, they ARE louder than stock, and they have a nice ROAR at throttle... Nothing "stealth" about them... I often set off car-alarms in the neighborhood when I idle by them in 1st/2nd gear...
(BTW, I didn't lock up the brakes at the end of that run; it was an aggresssive downshift that's all. Afterall, I was going over 100MPH at the end of that run, and I had to slow it down somehow! LoL...)

Pat