Palm Springs SC Work~
Hi there, I haven't been on here in a while, but I noticed your post today.
First, a good local SC mechanic in the Coachella valley... They put in a PS rack, and 4-wheel alignment for me about a month ago, and when picking up my 95 SC, noticed a 91 SC that came in to replace the clutch,so they are familiar with SC's. They also did some brake work for me. They are fairly quick with reasonable prices, use mostly Motorcraft parts, and are Ford specialists. I've been happy with all the work they've done for me!
Tell the owner, the guy with the 95 pearl SC(Dave), referred you to him from the sccoa forum. He knows about the sccoa, too.
The business is Auto Worx, 760-202-9200. They are at 69-510 Ramon Rd in Cat City, behind Chucks Automotive, just east on Ramon from Date Palm, about 1 mile east of Date Palm on the North side of Ramon.
I think that you'll be pleased with them. They are so many places that don't even have a clue about SC's, so as far as local goes, they are about the best!
For an exhaust, heres what I'd reccomend, (of course it depends on what you want to spend), but for a system that will breathe, consider the following....For the first part, there may be a bit of down time. Have the manifolds removed, send them off to Texas Thunderbirds. You'll see Wynn's banner on here. Get them bored out(ported),and order the 2 1/2" downtubes along with the manifold work. From supercoupe performance, order the hi-flow cats in 2 1/2" and the Magnaflow resonator with dual 2 1/2 inlets, single 3" out. This way you'll have the durability of the cast iron manifolds(you know the high under-hood temps with the heat out here).
Of course, you can also install headers if you like, but I find them rather fragile....
Then using what you've ordered, have a custom exhaust made to fit your SC. Use the 2 1/2 downtubes(they will need to be shortened) then right after the bend, the hi-flow cats. Then dual bends into the Magnaflow Resonator, with a single 3'' tube down the middle, to split into two 2 1/2"(left and right side) to the mufflers. You want to keep it all tucked up close to the body as much as possible.
For mufflers you can go with a set of 2 1/2 " Magnaflows, which have a nice sound. Or you might also want to check out Spintech mufflers. Thay are at spintech.com, and are located over in Riverside.They are used in Outlaw racing and have 0 HP loss, as well as a slight vacumn(negative pressure) effect. One of the techs there, Dave, I think, has an older SC, and can help you out. Haven't been there yet myself, but I believe they not only have a full-on exhaust shop to do the actual bending and welding,, but you are also buying direct from the manufacturer, thereby eliminating the middlemen(the distributor and retail outlet).
If you are on a budget, or want less downtime, its possible to skip the manifold porting, but it is a point of a slight size constriction in the stock system. If you are planning on over 300 HP at your "end point", port them out.
Parts as above will be around 500.
All this is custom work, and you can expect to spend 500-850 all together on labor, depending on where you go. Once you do the exhaust system, your boost will drop because of loss of back pressure, then put on a 5% pulley on the blower to get your PSI back to stock levels. Supercoupe performace has this also, as well as a lower temp thermostsat, and an intercooler fan, which all helps when it goes over 110 degrees.
After that, you may want go with Magnum Powers Cold Air Intake kit, also from Bill at supercoupe, or Magnum Powers direct. Its the best because its straight, has a divider, and doesn't use a cheap filter.
Next step... a 75mm MAF and a larger Throttle body, and a dyno-tune, that bluetooth motorsports can probably help you with. Beyond that, you're looking at bigger $$ for a new blower,intake plenum, injectors, fuel pump, etc., as you'll be at the limit of the stockers..... Do the exhaust first though.
Hope this helps you out. We should get together sometime down at The River to compare our SC's! Have a great Sunday! ~Dave in DHS