has anyone bought either of the summit racing exhaust systems for the 04-08 f150? and if so has anyone swapped out the muffler that comes with the kit with a flowmaster or any other brand muffler. i wanted to save some money on this kit and just put a super 44 muffler in place of the one it comes with. seems easy enough....any thoughts?

heres the 2 kits i was looking at. one is a single other is a dual:

 

What are your intentions here?

If you truly wanted to save money ( and yer original SS piping is healthy ), simply cut out your stock muffler for a unit of your sound preference's choice.

If it's for the dual 'look', go for it - or have a shop fab up fake duals ( 'Y' after the muffler ) - may be cheaper.

If it's performance - don't bother - none to be had regardless of what you do.

MGD

 

i was actually thinking about welding a muffler in place with the stock pipe but the tail pipe bends very soon after the muffler. almost no room to work with to get it to slide into the outlet of the aftermarket muffler. it'd be easier to work with a straight piece of pipe into the muffler outlet.



heres a better angle of how quickly the tailpipe starts its bend after the muffler outlet (exhaust on top obviously)

 

Obviously the stock muffler is longer than an aftermarket muffler. So you would need to weld in a section of pipe as well, but weld that pipe to the tail pipe, then you can slip in your muffler.

 

alright thanks ill have to give that some consideration. i have a feeling if i go that route it will look a little frankenstein-ish though. might just buy the summit and go for it its only $200. i'm having trouble justifying spending almost $600 on some shiny namebrand pipes with chrome tips....

 

You get what you pay for. No offense but that summit kit is garage. No rubber isolators, cheap clamps. The factory system is better.

 

This is what I'd do also. Definitely the cheapest way to go about it and still have a solid system.

That kit is aluminized steel though, isn't it? That may rust really quickly, and NC gets a good amount of snow (right? I assume you do). "Name brand" contributes to some of the cost, but it's mostly quality of materials. I'd want 409 SS. And those "chrome" tips are generally polished 304 SS, which can be hit with steel wool and look brand new (worth EVERY penny), whereas any other material or grade of stainless will oxidize and look gross after a while. Dynomax is a good value and all of their stuff is 409 SS.

 

we don't get much snow but when we do they put a ton of salt down in a panic. being from up north its actually pretty funny to watch. but thats a good point i checked out the dynomax stuff they are definitely priced a more reasonably than some other brands im going to look into them. thanks kmac

 

why is the dual dynomax ultra flo welded (stainless) cheaper than the single dynomax ultra flo welded (aluminized)? that doesn't make any sense. i checked other sites as well its no mistake. there is also a $122 jump in price from the same dual kit with just a quieter muffler. their prices are strange.....heres the links for the 3 systems....

single with ultra flo welded muffler (aluminized) $354.00
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-19387

dual with ultra flo welded muffler (stainless) $336.00
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-39450

dual with vt muffler (stainless) $458.00
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-38450

 

You should see how Texans react to 1/30" of ice :laughing:

We use Dynomax a lot at my dealership when trade-ins have excessively loud or illegal exhausts, so I like 'em. I have one of those $600 cat-backs, and while I like it and just had to have it, I agree that it isn't worth the money at all from a value standpoint. Lots of Dynomax kits are cheaper than I could even make one if I bought pipe and bends and made it myself.

Only differences I can think of are the case lengths of the mufflers. Some must be significantly larger than the other, driving the cost up. But even then . . .

This one definitely looks like what I'd get:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-39450

 

i really like the price of that dynomax. i would probably swap the muffler i have a super 44 on my truck now but it dumps under the cab (why im switching to dual) and i like the sound of the 44. i read that the dynomax uses lower quality ss than the other companies but that could just be bad forum info. is there any truth to that? and will this kit fit my reg cab long bed it doesnt really specify? i read the instructions and there is no modification of the mid pipe for different models like there is on the flowmaster kits. theres a lot of nice kits out there but that dynomax dual is a 2.5" which seems like it would be better for my 4.6 anyways. other systems out there seem to all have 3" intermediate pipes which i think is a little on the big side for my motor

 

Most kits fit supercrew 5.5', scab 6.5', and regular cab 8' because all of those frames are the same length. The oddballs are the regular cab 6.5', scab 5.5', and supercrew 6.5'. Yours looks like it has the 8 foot bed, so you should be fine. This says all wheelbases, which I'm assuming is because the straight pipe leading into the muffler is long enough to accommodate all of them and then you cut it down to the length your specific truck needs.

http://www.dynomax.com/dual-2-5-cat-...d-muffler.html

I'd assume the quality is lower, which is why the price is lower. My exhaust is all 304 SS, so it meets some sort of standards for 304 SS, but my headers and mid pipe are of lower quality than my catback. The headers and mid pipe are caramel colored versus the catback just being dirty, but otherwise exactly the same as it used to be, and the catback is even older too.

A 3" main pipe splitting to 2.5" duals is fine. 3" duals are too big. I have 2.5" coming off of each bank, meeting into a single 2.5", then splitting out to 2.25" duals.

Lastly, the Dynomax (also Borla/Roush, Magnaflow, Corsa, etc.) mufflers have a straight-through design, which theoretically improves exhaust flow. Whereas chambered mufflers, like Flowmaster, make the exhaust travel through a maze. But, I have a Borla and didn't notice any difference, so I'd just slap the FM on this new kit if you already like how that sounds. Sound is what's important to me, and a muffler doesn't do crap for performance on these big trucks. I have no idea what the smaller Dynomaxes sound like.

 

that was another thing, i was on magnaflow website because i heard good stuff about them but it seems like they only make one kit for my truck which is a dump down towards the ground right before the axle, exactly what i have now. the hunt continues. thanks for all the info

 

Really? Dumps are technically illegal and I've never seen a kit that does that. Magnaflow makes plenty of exhausts for our wheelbase.

 

yeah its in the "offroad" pro series so I dont think its road legal either. but anyways I wasn't finding anything I liked in the lower price ranges so i just bit the bullet and picked up a flowmaster system. I know everyone seems to be magnaflow guys on here but I'm a big fan of the sound of flowmasters.