Question about 550 X-pipe exhaust mods

I have Phil's x pipe w/ silencers and 1st gen. Tubi and it sounds great, loud but not uncomfortable. I also have his springs on my car, huge improvement over stock.

Stan

 

HI Gary, I have the 2nd gen tubi's and Phil's X Pipe with the silencers. I went for them with the silencers as I was trying to reduce boom in the cabin on a different exhaust, and the x pipe helped big time on that front but I went 2nd gen tubi's in the end (as this resolved the boom issue) and then pairing with the Phil's X pipe gives it a great sound, so you will be very pleased with the difference I think. Not much difference at idle but gives it a much more racey note as it revs which is what folks moan about without the x pipe, as they claim good at idle but std when rev'd. It's not a 355 tubi or capristo screamer but it does make it sound fantastic to me comapred to std. I think it could handle either silenced or unsilenced personally on 2nd gen tubis, if you have 1st gen i would probably go silenced as the 1st gen tubi's are more prone to cabin resonance at certain rev bands. At cruise speeds my combo is little different to std, so very easy to live with but achieve the magic you are after. Plus side is Phil is a top bloke as well.

You'll have shaved a fair bit of weight as well and folks have reported up to 50bhp improvement on rolling road comparisons when running these with bmc air filters.

If you pm me an email address that can handle a 20Mb or so file, I can send you an mpeg of mine with them on and a comparison of what the X pipe did with a similar exhaust with and without. It made both mufflers sound great but I do like the tubi/ferrari fixer X pipe combo. I haven't heard other X pipes though in fairness but i paid a fair price from Phil and the finish is cracking (6 months on including a track day and they don't look much different!)

Jon

 

Sorry to divert slightly off post Gary, but Stan, you mentioned re Phil's springs. How much did they drop the ride height by and what did it do with the comfort and handling side of things if you don't mind me asking? Also how do you drive the car i.e. types of driving, funeral procession or escaping from a nuclear bomb etc!!??!! Curious to know if your experiences were all good or if you now have a few comfort or road clearance issues etc at times?

cheers Jon

 

Jon,

I believe the platform is adjustable, but Phil recommends a 15mm drop. I also added spacers to the front and rear which reduced the under steer and it made the car more stable. The result of the combo of the springs and spacers is a better ride and a sharper feel, the car handles more like a sports car. Last week I had the car at the dealership for the 30K service and when I picked it up the service manager commented on the car feeling more solid. I also have had the car on the track and the benefit there was even more obvious. The other benefit is that the car looks better, more aggressive without looking modified.

Stan

 

good write up.... I'm pretty sure I need one now.

 

Thanks Stan for the info, always handy to know if I get bored one weekend!!!

 

Mark, for your 456 I'm afraid I don't know how the X pipe will fair, there should hopefully be little difference between the 456 and 550 on this but again, alas I have no direct experience I'm afraid however as I understand it the rear boxes are the same for the 456/550/575, barring what's stamped on the tin. If you have the X Ost's I would probably go silenced X Pipe as it should help a tiny bit to mute any in cabin resonance if present between 1200-2000rpm. It's unlikely to change the idle much though but simply make it slightly/fair bit racier and more free rev'ing when worked. IMHO. It's subjective of course but I liked the difference the X pipe made, it will never sound like a 355 with mid engine wail, it does to me sound how the v12 should though.

 

Gary, go with the silenced x pipe unless you are looking for a divorce. if you get them and want more noise, I will trade you my straight thru x pipes.

 

Not sure I like that X design as pictured but the picture could be off. Welds look funny and the junction is an odd shape perhaps upsetting flow? Look at this generic x pipe you can buy right now off the shelf. It is for custom applications and if you don't go with the propietary resonators then it would be much cheaper to have an random shop fab the center section using this generic X. Of course it will not be pretty and coated but when was the last time you looked at the center section of your exhaust? http://www.drgas.net/category.php?cid=10&catid=1

 

IMHO mine was nicely made and fits the car superbly, with the X where the car allows it to be. I haven't got personal experience of it but others have reported good back to back rolling road performance gains when used with the bmc filters...I think the posts are on ferrarichat a little while back relating to this. So this seems to go a fair way to confirming they do make a difference, and I can 100% confirm they improve the acoustic when rev'd in my experience.

The ceramic coating to me is important as whilst it does mean that a year on it still looks as new, there is a shed load of heat shielding on the standard boxes and pipes. Without any shielding I really wouldn't fancy all that heat under there when on full bore on a track etc. I think the ceramic coating does far more than just keeping things looking pretty in fairness, although that is hardly a bad thing as you will still have a very saleable item I suspect after a couple of years if you sell the car and it's not included in the deal. Equally it will look great on a ramp during a ppi, so win win. Just my humble based on seeing the underside of my car far more than I would want to!

Gary, hope you get it soon and it meets any expectations.

 

I understand Hyper-Flow's X pipe is real nice. Our 550 has new catalytic converters (Hyper-Flow) and notice more power in the mid to high range of the power band.
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Here's what I'm having done now at Classic Coach. As fatbillybob described, Burns Stainless (http://www.burnsstainless.com/index.htm) has supplied this crossover (the diameter at the junction, as well as the configuration and spacing of the inlets and outlets were specified; the picture below is for purposes of illustration) and mandrel-bent pipes in 321 Stainless Steel for final assembly and fitment to my 550. I'll post pictures as the installation progresses.

Barry
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Could someone post/upload a sound clip of 456/550, tubi with x-pipes?

 

With first generation Tubis, you'll appreciate the built in silencers on your X-pipes. I should have mentioned that I chose plain X-pipes because I have the second generation (575) Tubis which I plan on using. I'll be experimenting with different combinations of center and rear section assemblies.

 

Rik,

Wouldn't it be nice if it sounded like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe3Nvu2E-0g

Barry

 

Hi there FBB.

I'm Simon, and I work for Phil occasionally. He sent me this to post on his behalf. He'd post it himself if he weren't banned!

"Simon, can you post up a few tips on my )( pipe design. Note it's not an X but a )(. The exact shape is critical here. The deliberate misalignemnt of the )( is very important, as is the minimum diameter at the )(. Many off the shelf X pipes narrow down too much, and also have aligned crossover pipes. Neither of those are any good for the 550. I've done lots of research of my own, and also enlisted the help of a drag racing exhaust compnay to design and make the systems. They work very well indeed! I'm happy for people to see pics, and to copy them if they wish. But there's lots of trickery involved and room for problems in making one offs. Ask me how I know! I'm very pleased with all the feedback I receive and hear about"

 

VERY nice, that's the sound.

 

This is clip of my 550 with Phil's silenced x-pipes with Tubi straight through tail pipes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCwnWnU9WHY

 

I believe you and Phil. Too bad for the ban. I wish he was back on Fchat I never knew he got banned. Phil makes me think. Sure if he did the research and flowed the pipes he is right. Max HP and Torque production is a controversial black art with the emphasis on art. Phil likes to race and so do I. I understand and see his point and never thought of his pipes from a performance standpoint because IMO the 550 is just not a performance car as it comes from the factory. I bet 100% of those here with 550's are not racing them and HP gains and Torque are more for bragging rights than putting anyone's money where there mouth is. I am sure 90%+ of these cars have never even been on track in a high perf driving event either. I would also wager that if all things being equal the "sound" was more appealing in once exhaust over the other but the Hp was slightly better in the bad sounding exhaust the better sounding exhaust would be purchased. In general people are suckers for nice wheels and a great sound. I can bend, cut, and weld it myself better than stock in sound and performance with a generic x-pipe and some cheap exhaust tube. Grand total maybe $200?? I have not priced the generic X but the tube is like 20 bucks / 10 ft length and I can have it all shipped to my door in a few days. There will always be a premium for "plug and play" and the finest built and phil's pipes may be that unit.

 

As promised, photographs of the X-Pipes. They'll be installed next week.
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Ceramic coated in Chromex - great stuff.
I just had my Dino headers done in Grey Ice ceramic and love the look.

Let's hear about those "high RPM runs"...!