Captain Morgan

I'm installing the true dual exhaust from Mid America on my 79 and I was wondering if I need a crossover. I was checking out the flowmaster site and they say an H-pipe is "strongly recommended". I wanted to wait and go with an x-pipe after I do the suspension but that won't be for at least a year.
Will I be okay without a crossover?

Alwyn678

I have delta force 40's and no x pipe...straight thru and it sounds awesome on my 74 roadster

JYD69_427

Picking nits- I believe it is called a balance tube. The crossover is up in the intake manifold...

It's not *absolutely* necessary but does provide some performance improvements and will affect the exhaust sound.

Captain Morgan

So I could probably live without it for a year or so? That would be nice but if it's a huge difference in performance, I may have to see what I can do.

Captain Morgan

Do you have the delta force 40's or the delta flow 40's? I was on their website and I saw both names but they didn't say anything about series number (i.e. 30, 40, 50, etc.) in the force section, just that they were a race muffler.

UKPaul

I've got Mid America duals fitted without a crossover/balance pipe & it runs fine. I've apparently lost a couple of horses by not having one, but who cares? It sounds good. If noise levels are a problem then a balance pipe will help, as each pot will be breathing through 2 mufflers rather than just the one.
:cheers:
Paul

SteveG75

I had a balance tube installed after about a year. Did not seem to make a power increase but did mellow out the tone and reduce the resonance in the car. Not dramatically of course and the car still roars when I step on it but enough that it is much more comfortable on long drives.

Alwyn678

I have the race mufflers (DELTA FORCE 40's) installed and they are quite loud......My buddie owns a shop and he put them on for me...They sound quite nice

Biker

From my experience, a cross over makes minimal difference in performance.

Speaking of cross overs, my kid's got a pretty good move when driving the lane.

Captain Morgan

I just called flowmaster and they said that a SBC without a balance tube sounds like it needs a tuneup. They also said that an X-pipe doesn't give any performance benefits and gives a "whistle" tone to the exhaust. Have any of you had these problems? As far as the X-pipe, I've read (and seen dyno results from exhaust changes only) that it tends to increase performance more in the higher RPM's and the H-pipe helps more in the low-mid range. I know the tech at Flowmaster works for an exhaust company, but I almost got the feeling he didn't know what he was talking about. I'm going to call a performance shop later today and see what I can find out.

71roadster

I put the X pipe in and it made a definite difference in seat of the pants and sound. One of the car mags (car craft I think) did a comparo and the x pipe came out ahead in all catagories. Most other folks with the x pipe have said the same in the past. But at the very least, an H type sould be really cheap.