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Anyone with Kooks side pipes? Need help!

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Today a friend of mine and I tried bolting on the Kooks side pipes with a QTP cutout in place of the OEM spacer. The 15mm bolt that goes into the body is about 3/4"-1" off it's intended location.

I called Kooks and explained it alignment issue and they recommended that I loosen all the clamps attached to the h-pipe to adjust them. We did that but still no luck. There was only about 1/4" of play leaving another 1/2"-3/4" off. Kooks asked for photos of the current set-up since it is hard to picture what's going on over the phone. I emailed him some photos and will see what they have to say tomorrow. I sold my OEM Boss h-pipe w/side pipes so I can't do anything but borrow a pair of OEM Boss restrictor plates for now :mad:

I'm running all kooks exhaust until the over the axle pipes. Kooks 1-7/8" long tube headers, Kooks 3" off road quad h-pipe and attempting to install the side pipes from Kooks. I know of only a few members with the Kooks side pipes. Could you guys shed some light? My friend and I are wondering if you need to take out the OEM flex-piping and bolt it on too? Or maybe OEM spacers PLUS the QTP cutouts? It is very frustrating because I assumed it was a direct bolt-on part. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome. Thanks
 
I cant help you there.. hope it gets fixed. but curious what you think of the fact that I believe the kooks tapers down to a 2.5 or 2.75 at some point so that it could work with "oem stuff"
 
Daisuke149 said:
I cant help you there.. hope it gets fixed. but curious what you think of the fact that I believe the kooks tapers down to a 2.5 or 2.75 at some point so that it could work with "oem stuff"

I technically dont have Kooks full exhuast, just from the headers to h-pipe. The h-pipe tapers down to a 2.75 to fit OEM or most aftermarket over the axle pipes. I'm not sure of the Kooks system is a full 3" I like it this way though so I can run many different cat back set-ups
 
How the does car sound with the Kooks Headers? Is there allot of "Sound Difference" verses stock Headers? Did you get a tune when you put on the headers? I have been thinking about getting Kooks Headers (since they are local here in NC), and everyone says "You will need to tune the car if you put them on"... I talked to my tuner (who is one of the top 5 in the country when it comes to tuning mustangs, has all sorts of awards, certificates, etc). He said that while you can get by without a tune, the car will be doing adjustments all the time which is not the "Greatest" on the engine. and he Highly suggests a tune with Headers.

I want to get a louder "Growl" and hence the reason I am thinking of Kooks Headers... I have Borla TrakAtak axel backs already, so that is the only thing I would really change. I want it barley street legal loud... cause eventually I will get an aggressive lopey idle tune like Lund or AED or something.

A buddy of mine put "Mother Thumper Cams" into his 3V 2011 GT and it sounds AMAZING. I know with our Engines and VVT we can get extremely close to his "Mother Thumper Sound" without switching out the cam, but you have to have Headers and tune to get more flow...

Thoughts?

Here is the video of my buddies GT:
https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10152938897675099
 
rpm3dinc said:
How the does car sound with the Kooks Headers? Is there allot of "Sound Difference" verses stock Headers? Did you get a tune when you put on the headers? I have been thinking about getting Kooks Headers (since they are local here in NC), and everyone says "You will need to tune the car if you put them on"... I talked to my tuner (who is one of the top 5 in the country when it comes to tuning mustangs, has all sorts of awards, certificates, etc). He said that while you can get by without a tune, the car will be doing adjustments all the time which is not the "Greatest" on the engine. and he Highly suggests a tune with Headers.

I want to get a louder "Growl" and hence the reason I am thinking of Kooks Headers... I have Borla TrakAtak axel backs already, so that is the only thing I would really change. I want it barley street legal loud... cause eventually I will get an aggressive lopey idle tune like Lund or AED or something.

A buddy of mine put "Mother Thumper Cams" into his 3V 2011 GT and it sounds AMAZING. I know with our Engines and VVT we can get extremely close to his "Mother Thumper Sound" without switching out the cam, but you have to have Headers and tune to get more flow...

Thoughts?

Here is the video of my buddies GT:
https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10152938897675099

Heres my build thread http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/pics-videos-buffet-149/955526-updates-my-13-pw-boss-302-01jun-01aug-pic-vid-heavy-get-comfortable.html

I'm on hold with Ford Racing right now, I'll get into more detail as soon as I'm off the phone
 
OK, now you are making me spend money on Headers.. LOL that is major sound difference... Those are the Kooks Long Tube headers right? and you also did the Kooks H-Pipe and Side Dumps, (Not sure I will do those, at that point you might as well get the entire BOSS 302 KOOKS system). But I should still get close to the same sound with just headers and my axel backs I would think... Or Not?
 
rpm3dinc said:
OK, now you are making me spend money on Headers.. LOL that is major sound difference... Those are the Kooks Long Tube headers right? and you also did the Kooks H-Pipe and Side Dumps, (Not sure I will do those, at that point you might as well get the entire BOSS 302 KOOKS system). But I should still get close to the same sound with just headers and my axel backs I would think... Or Not?

The kooks side pipes are not nessesary and if I were to do it all over again I wouldnt have spent the $500 on it. I'm having fitment issues with the Kooks side pipes because they are not made to use QTP side pipes or OEM side exhaust spacers. And without a QTP cutout the side exhaust would be wayyyyyy too loud. Honestly I bought the side pipes just for my 'cam' tune. The cam tune on and Kooks side pipes is crazy!The kooks pieces are quality but it just pisses me off that the side pipes are diffucult to work with. I might have to do some welding or make a braket for it to bolt in properly.
 
rpm3dinc said:
Do you have to do the Kooks HPipe with the headers or will the headers match up to the stock HPipe?

Honestly, I'm not too sure. This is my first time working with aftermarket headers. I do know that longtubes will not work with the stock h-pipe but maybe the kooks shortie headers will. I went with the kooks headers/h-pipe for fitment peace of mind and I got a good deal on them new. If I had to pay the full price as advertised there is no way I'd drop $2k+ just for headers/h-pipe/side pipes!
 

Justin

Save the dawn for your dishes!!!
There was a guy that bought those side pipes and it took a lot of rework to get them to fit. I would send them back if you can. If I remember correctly it also ended u melting his side skirts. Can't remember his screen name.

If they are the long tube kooks the stock h-pipe will not bolt up
 
Justin said:
There was a guy that bought those side pipes and it took a lot of rework to get them to fit. I would send them back if you can. If I remember correctly it also ended u melting his side skirts. Can't remember his screen name.

If they are the long tube kooks the stock h-pipe will not bolt up

I coated mine with high temp black spray paint and was actually planning on powder coating them until the fitment issues popped up
 
I was the one that got these and had fitment issues. I was the first to try them and kooks gave me a great deal on the side pipes because I was the first and was to make a video and write a review for them. I'm running stock everything except for the side pipes. They are very loud but I like it like that. Anyway they did not bolt up the way they should. I told kooks they need the flex pipe like the factory ones have and the bend is wrong. They wouldn't believe me and wouldn't take them back either. Anyway I had to bend them a little. I don't have the qtp so used original spacers. I made them fit but they still rattled because couldn't flex like the oem pipes. Got some short flex pipe and fixed that issue. I'm still running them and love the sound but I don't recommend them because of all I went through to make them fit. Btw I have a friend that wanted a set of these for his boss. He called them last week and they told him they don't fit the factory h pipe and that you have to use the kooks h pipe. I hope that helps you. I posted here about my problems and do not recommend these. I do get alot of compliments on the sound but it was a biznitch to get them right.
 
Steve said:
I was the one that got these and had fitment issues. I was the first to try them and kooks gave me a great deal on the side pipes because I was the first and was to make a video and write a review for them. I'm running stock everything except for the side pipes. They are very loud but I like it like that. Anyway they did not bolt up the way they should. I told kooks they need the flex pipe like the factory ones have and the bend is wrong. They wouldn't believe me and wouldn't take them back either. Anyway I had to bend them a little. I don't have the qtp so used original spacers. I made them fit but they still rattled because couldn't flex like the oem pipes. Got some short flex pipe and fixed that issue. I'm still running them and love the sound but I don't recommend them because of all I went through to make them fit. Btw I have a friend that wanted a set of these for his boss. He called them last week and they told him they don't fit the factory h pipe and that you have to use the kooks h pipe. I hope that helps you. I posted here about my problems and do not recommend these. I do get alot of compliments on the sound but it was a biznitch to get them right.

Funny thing is I am running kooks headers and kooks quad h-pipe and they still dont fit. I am giving it one last try before I toss them in the potomac river along with the QTP cutouts. They are kooks side pipes are currently in the shop getting the tips powder coated. It was real close to the bolt point without the QTP or spacer so ill try that out.
 
If you decide not to keep them or the qtp I'd like first shot at buying them from you. If I can get a deal on them I can fix them and maybe even start making some that actually fit. Btw I have a some videos on YouTube where you can hear these. They are so loud I can't imagine what they would be like with your setup. It worries me a little that all my friends can hear me coming long before I get there. So can the cops. I definitely could use the qtp cutouts
 

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