KR Muffler Polishing and Installation

[cheftjpeck]

awesome AD.....have pics?

[VaporDude]

How about the sound clips?

[gr8snkbite]

Nice job dude...looks great.

[6-Speed]

Originally Posted by VaporDude

How about the sound clips?

There are plenty of sound clips available on YouTube.

YouTube - Stock 2008 GT500 with Ford Racing (KR) Mufflers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teQ24...eature=related

[Carnut]

Any 1800 to 2000 rpm drone?

Sound at idle?

[HSURB]

I have my wife out on the garage floor now polishing mine.

HSURB®

[Carnut]

Originally Posted by HSURB

I have my wife out on the garage floor now polishing mine.

HSURB®

Sure.

[6-Speed]

Originally Posted by Carnut

Any 1800 to 2000 rpm drone?

Sound at idle?

Hmmm, not sure what drone sounds like. I don't hear anything really annoying at those RPMs. It sounds really good when you first fire up the engine especially when cold - you get a nice growl. Otherwise it's not too loud at idle once warmed up a little. Sounds great when you stomp on the throttle though.

[Carnut]

Thanks,

I can hardly wait till Saturday to put mine on.

[6-Speed]

You lose some weight when switching to these mufflers but not as much as I thought. With the questionable accuracy of my bathroom scale here's what I recorded:

Stock: 16 lbs + 17 lbs = 33 lbs
KR: 13 lbs + 13 lbs = 26 lbs

So you lose 7 lbs.

[Alloy Dave]

Originally Posted by cheftjpeck

awesome AD.....have pics?

Not very noticable...but I'll see if I can get some soon.

Originally Posted by VaporDude

How about the sound clips?

They won't go on the car until April...I don't drive it in winter and hate laying on cold concrete.

Originally Posted by Carnut

Any 1800 to 2000 rpm drone?

Sound at idle?

See above.

[Alloy Dave]

Not sure you can see the difference in these pics...admittedly it's relatively minor.

Before:


After:

[VaporDude]

How often do you suppose you will have to polish your mufflers?

[Alloy Dave]

Originally Posted by VaporDude

How often do you suppose you will have to polish your mufflers?

Never

[6-Speed]

Originally Posted by Carnut

Thanks,

I can hardly wait till Saturday to put mine on.

Saturday is just around the corner - let us know your impression of these mufflers once you get them installed.

[Carnut]

Originally Posted by 6-Speed

Saturday is just around the corner - let us know your impression of these mufflers once you get them installed.

Will do, I can hardly wait.

[SLB8SNK]

Originally Posted by 6-Speed

As requested here are step-by-step instructions that I followed to install the KR mufflers on my car.

The muffler I installed on the driver's side is the one on the top as shown in this photo - note the rear hanger pin is installed higher up on the pipe (closer to the inlet end). Everything fit and aligned properly so I assume this is correct.



Here are the tools & supplies I used to install the mufflers:
1. 13mm combination wrench with a ratcheting end (this will be your friend while removing stock mufflers - a very useful tool)
2. 16mm combination wrench
3. 3/8" ratchet wrench with 13mm (deep & std), 15mm & 16mm deep sockets and an extension.
4. 3/8" Torque wrench.
5. Anti-sieze (optional)

I backed up my car onto ramps to raise the rear end up allowing more room to work under the car. Apply the parking brake and block the front tires.

I started by removing/replacing the stock muffler on the passenger's side.

1. Loosen the muffler clamp with a 16mm deep socket or wrench.



2. Loosen and remove the two bolts on the front hanger/isolator. I used a 13mm ratcheting combination wrench which helps tremendously. The side bolt is not visible so you'll have to loosen it by feel.



3. Loosen the two bolts on the rear hanger/isolator and remove the side bolt leaving the bottom bolt attached (but loose) to support the muffler.



4. Make sure the muffler clamp is loose enough, then support the muffler body and remove the remaining rear hanger bolt and carefully wrestle the muffler out.

5. Transfer the two hanger/isolators to the new muffler - this is the passenger's side muffler.



6. This step is optional - I applied a small amount of anti-sieze to the threads of the four hanger/isolator bolts. I heard of one person breaking off a bolt while attempting to loosen it; this is to prevent that from happening.

7. Insert the intermediate pipe into the new muffler inlet and install the side bolt into the rear hanger; the side bolt is more difficult to align and is easier to do without the bottom bolt installed. Once the side bolt is started and finger tight, install the bottom bolt finger tight. This will hold the muffler in place. The KR muffler body is much smaller than the stock ones so there is more room to work when re-installing the hangers.



8. Install the side bolt into the front hanger. Once the side bolt is started and finger tight, install the bottom bolt finger tight. Tighten down all the bolts enough to secure the two hangers - I torqued these later.

9. The muffler inlet pipe must be mated to the intermediate pipe end such that the button bottoms out in the notch on the muffler end (see picture below). Then tighten the clamp with a 15mm socket. I torqued the clamp bolt to 40 lb-ft in a two-step increment - first to 35 lb-ft and then to 40 lb-ft.

You can see in the pictures below that there's much more room to work under there and access the hanger bolts with the smaller mufflers.



10. Finally I torqued the four hanger/isolator bolts to 18 lb-ft.

11. Repeat steps with driver's side muffler (photos below). I have heard that on some cars, one of the two driver's side muffler hanger/isolators is mounted with three bolts instead of two.





Make sure the tips do not come into contact with the plastic diffuser. The tips on my car centered up well so no tip alignment was neccessary on my part.

You'll notice the difference as soon as you fire up the engine. I am very happy with these mufflers!

Wow, I am not sure how to thank you, other than to say thank you! This is perfect as I will be doing mine this weekend. I was going to take it to the dealer to do, as I do not have ramps, but seeing this in so much detail, I think I can handle it on my back. I woul dnot have known to remove all the brackets as you indicated. Sure I woul dhave figured it out once I started, but nice to know beforehand. Great post!

[VaporDude]

I installed a set of SLP on my 05 Mustang GT without jacking up the car. It would have been a little easier if it were. It is not hard to do.

[SLB8SNK]

Originally Posted by VaporDude

I installed a set of SLP on my 05 Mustang GT without jacking up the car. It would have been a little easier if it were. It is not hard to do.

I have a pretty good slant to the driveway once outside or past the garage door, so I think I will back up to that point, and it should give me a little more room. Thanks,

[Carnut]

I installed the KR mufflers today, keeping the stock X pipe.

Easy install, very straightforward and no busted knuckles. I opted for the ramp installation since my lift was full and I didn't want to spend an hour moving stuff around.

Overall time was about 45 minutes, including coffee and smoke breaks.

Once I got the car down, I fired it up.

WHOA BABY.

Deep rich tone, it cackled a bit until it warmed up though.

Down the road I went and it sounds great. Kind of refined snarl without the tinny sound I have had with Borlas and Bassanis. It is fairly close to the stock mufflers at idle and no load cruise. NO cabin resonation, which was very important to me.

Stand it on it and its a whole different story. Mean and nasty sounding without the crackling.

All of the people who have listened to it from outside the car say they like the sound better than the "other" Mustangs they hear. Rich exhaust note is what most people describe.

It is not the loudest, but IMO the best and still keep your sanity on a long road trip.