Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

I bought it off ebay on sale(40 off after shipping), and it ended up coming straight from Mac, i guess the guy i bought from was just a middle man but he was very nice to deal with and has alot of great Mac parts for our cars at good prices

So far i have taken the whole system out of the box just to look and inspect, the quality is great(which is expected from MAC)



Excuse the mess in the background, lots of car parts and baby toys lol

the pipes coming out of the muffler are polished(but i left the wrap on them)

the tips have those Resonators in there that nobody seems to like, but im going to leave them on and if i want it louder i will cut them out

Anyways, i will post my experience with the install and a video with what it looks and sounds like on the RS

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

next time i can work on my car will be next Wednesday(its gonna be raining every day), but im getting my tattoo(you guys would either love my tattoo or think im severely stupid) touched up early that day so it will be a few days after that probably

budget350

keep us updated. Im switching to edelbrock headers and ypipe with a 3inch flowmaster catback now, but i really want mac also so let us know and post a sound clip

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

Will do, my buddy has full mac on his 92 Gt and it sounds amazing, but its what most fox bodies run so its nothing new, i cantwait to here this on the 305 tbi

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

ok guys, sorry its been taking so long for me to install this exhaust, i dug into it today and got the stock(replacement) off the car,

unfortunately i broke both bolts trying to unbolt the pipe at the cat, so i have to get those out before i can continue

on the bright side here is what an 89 RS with the 305 TBI sounds like with the muffler cut off, just for the guys/gals who haven't heard one before

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5UfKbgX094

xX89RSXx

iTrader: (1)

Start it with just the manifolds and y pipe when you get to that point lol. I fired mine up when I replaced the cat and everything back. If your cat is toast then honey comb pieces will shoot out of the y pipe as mine did.

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

im thinking about registering my car Historic so i dont have to go through emissions and i can delete the cat,i know my cat was good or atleast working properly 3 years ago when it went through emissions, i passed with flying colors, but i cant wait till i can get the rest of my exhaust, i ran out of money for this year though so it will have to wait till next tax season

one question for the exhaust experts though, the top part of my cat is just sitting there, i guess its the heat shield? should i just take it off or what, its litterally just chilling like a hat on top of the converter

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

I don't know why i didnt think of this earlier, but Mac's website is misleading on the True fit series, they advertise there are no slip joints clamps or gaskets to mess with, when in fact the TKC691(which is the best they offer for thirdgens) has a slip joint on the intermediate pipe where you have to clamp it, i contacted MAC and they said that yes the 86-92 systems have a slip joint, i was a little disappointed when i actually sat back and looked at the system and noticed the slip joint for the pipe

as long as it sounds good i dont really care though

im still working on drilling out those Cat bolts though

Guest

You'll love the MAC flowpath tone, I had them on my old 1990 Mustang GT and i loved them!!

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

I already agree with you completely, my buddy has full mac exhaust on his 92 GT, his car sounds amazing, in case anybody was wondering, i like both thirdgens and fox bodies, lol, im just more partial to the F-body so its what i bought

danziger

I've had good experience with MAC stuff. From mid-length headers/Y-pipe on a 2000 Z28 to a set of mufflers on a 1992 5.0 GT, their stuff has always fit well and held up to abuse. I'm actually surprised that MAC isn't more popular...

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

i know they are very popular with Ford cars and trucks, i guess thats why alot of Chevy guys dont really look into them, but ive never heard a bad thing about MAC(i hang out with a lot of Mustang guys) and even they wanted to hear what my car would sound like with the Catback lol

im hoping that Chevy guys get more interested in MAC so they will start to produce more for the F-body's(they make a ton of stuff for Mustangs)

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

oh, forgot to add, i don't go into work today, so ill be trying to get those bolts out again, gotta run and get a new set of drill bits(my old ones were too dull and its cheaper to buy a new set for $10 then waste my time sharpening them)

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

got the rest of the bolts out today, im gonna have to do a Bolt through Job to connect the intermediate pipe to the converter

i ended the day happy, and will be bolting the system on in no time now

danziger

I've owned a couple 5.0 Stangs and while MAC does do a little better with that market, it still is no Edelbrock or even Hooker.
MAC really should advertise a little more and maybe do some promo pricing...

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

yeah, MAC definitely is not on the same level as the other major companies when it comes to being well known

I should be getting around to bolting up the new system in the next few days guys, thanks for being patient on the sound clips and pics

budget350

i cant wait to hear it on a chevy. I got longtubes, h pipe and mac catback goin on my mustang mext week.

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

Alright guys, i got the Exhaust on the car, Clearance is definitely not an issue with stock ride height(with 21 years of sag/slouch)

i guess the ball connection at the cat is for a 3" out cat because its huge on the stock cat so ill just have to deal with whatever leak there is there until i do the rest of the exhaust next year

other than that i got the entire Exhaust on by myself with only help from a few jack stands and my jack to hold the muffler while i bolted everything up(my wife jacked the jack for me but you could do it yourself)

they give you a clamp to use on the slip joint for the intermediate pipe, but i went out and spent 10 bucks on a 3" Stainless band clamp, i also went and got a replacement hanger for the driver side tail pipe(mine was dry rotted)

other than that i have to go get a new bolt and nut for where the pass side tip mounts before i can throw that on

Fitment is a little weird when it comes to the tips and hangers, but its doable and adjustable so it shouldn't be a problem for anybody with experience working on their thirdgen

as far as sound goes, on the 305 its louder than stock at idle but not by much, you can definitely hear a nice tone out of it, Revving is smooth up and down RPM's not much louder than stock, i have not been out for a test drive yet to test it under WOT, but it should be fun

ill get a video up so you all can hear it soon

danziger

FWIW, I would ditch the ball-connectors...especially if it sounds like you have a fitment problem anyway. You can do this common "collector mod" with a Flowmaster merge-collector, which I pretty sure Summit still carries. I'd also check the interior welds to see if they need any Dremeling while you're in there.

Maybe next year when you finish the exhaust...

Anyways, good luck and be safe!

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

ill check into the merge collector, its just the ball end of the converter and the flange at Catback pipe

i started the car for a second just to hear it and couldn't hear a leak at the converter but that doesn't mean it wont happen when i drive it and everything settles

thanks for the advice, ill get pics and vid's up asap

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

i think ive been using the wrong term for the pipe after the cat, i called it the Intermediate pipe because that's what my buddies call it, but when i search intermediate pipes they are the pipes off the headers

the pipe im talking is after the Cat, it has a slip fit that Mac states on the description that it has no slip fits

and that is the pipe that butts up to the Converter and is too big for the stock converter ball conection

sorry for any misunderstanding if anyone thought i meant the pipe after the headers/Manifolds

92RSMoneypit

iTrader: (1)

Sound bite please

danziger

Aaaah. I thought your MAC headers had the ball-flange connector to the Y-pipe. You may disregard my post...well except for checking if the welds need any grinding. I had the ball-flanges on my 2000 Z28's MACs, so thought that was the case...

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

yup, i only have the Catback, I tried to get a sound bite/video for you all, but the Leak at the converter is a huge issue, i have to do a better job getting it bolted on tighter, there is a gap at the top so i have to adjust the converter hanger so it sits slightly lower so it lines up correctly, then it should be ok for now until i do the rest of the exhaust.

will keep you all updated and get a vid soon

also want to add, after letting it warm up, and the idle drops, it gets a much deeper tone at idle, i love the idle tone at low RPM's it sounds amazing, i dont think anybody would be disappointed in that

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

well i got it all straightened out, the gap is fixed at the cat, everything is looking and sounding really good

here are some pics of it on the car, i coated the muffler with matte black header paint, as well as the rest of the cat back except for the tail pipes

i have a sound clip(its very crappy but i will post it when i figure out how, its not a video)

i will get a better one, we are dropping the car off at my parents tomorrow because my dad and i will start body work soon, so i will have either my wife or dad video the exhaust will im playing with it

danziger

I don't know why I thought you were installing headers/Y-pipe...my bad. The install looks nice and I've never heard a MAC cat-back on a F-body, so I'll be staying tuned to your results.

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

i have free time tomorrow, or maybe when my wife goes to bed tonight, ill try to get one of the clips i have up so i can let you guys hear it, none of the ones i have are great, but i am going back down to my parents house on Saturday so ill try to get a better one when im there,

sorry for the delay, im working overnight now and been having some difficulties getting my body's clock to change lol

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

this was extremely delayed, and i apologize,

video description:

this was taken literally minutes after tightening the last bolt, but before "re tightening" the converter bolts so there was still a big leak at the converter after tightening it only got moved to a "slight" leak,so i still have to re fix that

it was also the first real start and idle(for more than 30 seconds) of the summer,

its not a great video because i never rev it, i only tap the throttle, i will get a much better video next time im at my parents house

A few days later i took the camaro down to MIR and i must say i love the sound of the exhaust while cruising and it sounds awesome when you get into it, the sound also got much better after driving it 80 or so miles down to MIR

NOTE: please ignore the goofy idiot walking to and from the car lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gt7SwWWZoI

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

After re watching that video, it really is horrible, i need to get a new video ASAP because i consider that video a waste of time

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

so, after 3 years, ill be posting what the exhaust sounds like sometime over the next few days(maybe the weekend) i had started body work on the car and all else was forgotten, now i'm back to driving it, got the leak all sealed up and it sounds excellent

stay tuned

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

Well, I guess I suck at staying up to date with my threads, i took another video as i lost all the other ones i had of the exhaust

here it is, sounds decent now that it's been broken in for a few hundred miles

SouthSide2

Thank you sharing your experience with the MAC system. I like the look and how it bolts together.
I'm am ready to go for it/buy it.

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

I love it, i will more than likely move this catback to my IROC once the body is finished being restored, and fabricate or have an exhaust fabricated for my LS build in the RS