To say that there’s something new in the world of exhaust is a bold statement. However, that’s what X-Force exhaust is introducing to Mustang owners. X-Force has been building exhaust systems in Australia for quite some time, and now they’ve made the move to US shores, bringing with them quality, and technology not offered to the Mustang market previously.
We took a look at X-Force’s Varex exhaust last winter during the PRI show. The Varex muffler is bringing electronically controlled exhaust to the Mustang masses for the first time. Varex mufflers feature stainless steel construction -which is nothing new to the Mustang exhaust world. Where these mufflers are different is in the driver’s ability to manipulate the sound and volume of their mufflers, from the driver’s seat. Varex mufflers use an actuator located on the muffler to operate a butterfly valve contained within. The butterfly is controlled via a remote control key fob. The amount of adjustment is almost infinitely variable, with owners able to bump the mufflers open or closed to vary the sound level and tone.
When the butterflies are closed, the exhaust and sound waves pass through internal chambers and baffling, reducing noise outside and in the cabin. The sound is something more aggressive than stock, but quieter than what most of us expect from an aftermarket exhaust.
In sequence, closed to open.
It’s when you start to open up the Varex muffler butterfly that things begin to get rowdy. Opening the butterfly allows exhaust gasses to pass through a straight-through or more wide open path, taking most of the exhaust away from the baffled areas. This gives a deep tone, and significant increase in exterior sound level. Customers running these mufflers report however, that the noise level isn’t intrusive, or uncomfortable with the butterflies open, also known as “race mode”. If you’re looking for something in-between the race and street and race mode, tapping the control on the key fob to vary the degree of which the butterfly is open to something between opened and closed, allows owners to customize the muffler’s tone and sound level to their liking.
Our friends over at American Muscle recently performed an X-Force Varex install on their 2011 Mustang GT, which is featured in the video above. According to AM, the installs should take around 2 hours to complete. There’s a small amount of wiring involved, to route the control harness for the actuators from the mufflers, to a power supply inside the car. The cool part is, you won’t need to tap into anything in your car, outside of routing the harness, the control module plugs into the vehicle’s existing 12 volt power outlet.
We’ve also included one of X-Force’s demo videos of this system on a 2015 Mustang GT so S550 owners can find out what the system will sound like for them as well.
With exhaust being one of the key modifications for every Mustang owner, we expect to see more Mustangs wearing X-Force exhaust in the very near future.