If you like loud, then why not just have your stock muffler cut off and a straight pipe welded in? I kept the stock cats on the truck. It was loud but wasn't that bad. Sounded really sweet too. This was on the 4.6l engine but sure the 5.4l would sound similar since they're both mod motors.

 

Mainly because I like a deep smooth tone with some growl too it, and loud enough to tell you've got something other than stock but not annoyingly loud. My impression of no muffler is that it's going to be louder than stock and maybe a little deeper, but not much tone at all. What does yours sound like exactly?

 

I don't have any sound clips of a new 5.4l engine. I've seen vids w/ the 2v 5.4l engine and they don't sound much different than the 4.6.

It cost me $30 to have them remove the muffler and put just a pipe in there w/ the stock tip. Can always try it before spending a lot to have your exhaust moved around and what not. Or just have them cut the muffler off and then start it up for you. If you like the sound, have them finish up the exhaust. If not, then have them put the Flowmaster on there.

This is all I can find right now. It's a straight pipe, stock cats on an old 4.6L engine. http://goldenshinedetailing.com/othe...a/MOV00366.MPG

 

Hig couldn't really tell you the chamber count . Went to local IMCO near me and told them i wanted loud and installed .

 

Intel,

That clip has some pretty good sound to it for 4.6. I probably get them to start it up for me when I go to get exhaust done. A perfomance muffler will definitely give it some growl, but it does sound really good like that. So just taking off the muffler and running the stock 4 cats won't cause any check engine lights to come on or anything? I wonder if running 2 3" pipes from the cats back would make the flow any better or if that would be too big considering it would be true dual?

Bluestang, no prob. I bet you've got the 1 chamber if it sounds that good.

 

From the people I've seen do it there haven't been any codes thrown on the 2v 4.6 and the 5.4. I don't think it will since you are keeping the stock cats and the 02 sensors, etc. are way before the muffler. Pretty sure backpressure, etc. won't be affected that much. Exhaust will just help there be a more complete evacuation of the cylinder's exhaust gasses.

I haven't rolled under my truck yet to see how the exhaust is setup but I'm sure it's the same. On my old truck the exhaust went into a Y-pipe pretty far up and then a single pipe ran to the muffler and then out the truck. It would be some pretty extensive exhaust to get true duals done. You can always get a 3" exhaust run from the Y-pipe and out behind or before the rear wheel with a nice tip. I had a nice single magnaflow tip coming out right behind my rear tire and thought it looked good. Everyone's doing true dual straight out the back and I'm not sure I like how it directs the sound. It was just something about when you race someone and they're on the passenger side that exhaust sound gets to blow right at them. ;-)

Two 3" pipes to the rear sounds like it might open up the exhaust too much. More exhaust flow is good for HP but you can lose low end tq if you kill the backpressure too much. Maybe two smaller pipes?

Wonder if they could do one 3" pipe off the stock Y-pipe and then go into a reversed Y-pipe to split it into two tips if you really want dual exhaust. Not sure if that would work but just putting out ideas. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't though. I had a 3" pipe from the stock Y-pipe on my other truck as the last exhaust setup it had and it worked really nicely.

 

All this is simply just my opinion, backed with quite alot of research...

When somebody looks to buy an exhaust for sound... your gonna want to run duals no doubt.. I have a 40 Series Flowmaster on mine and it sounds great.. granted mine is SI/SO... still sounds great..
If you are looking into exhaust for performance... I would suggest not doing a dual set-up.... Think about it.. how much air does a 330 C.I., naturally aspirated engine actually pump out... not really enough to need dual exhaust... plus.. if you look at it from a drag racers point of view, dual exhaust is just added weight.

I personally went with a SI/SO flowmaster 40.... Sounds great and if it picked up a couble extra poinies.. maybe 5.. then that's great too.

Its not uncommon to hear people saying they feel like they lost power with a dual exhaust set-up... they prolly do down in the low RPS where they frequently drive.
Thats just my two cents....

 

Intel,

When I mentioned true duals I meant this: you said to get the stock muffler cut off for better sound, so I was thinking if the muffler is off, there is no need for the y-pipe, thus you could have a pipe running from each of your cats straight back to the rear of the truck and have something like true dual exhaust (without mufflers). We're really getting into questions now about the backpressure and stuff with different setups that only technicians can really answer, and I've not found one yet.

khendrix,

Apparently true duals on the new f150's is a no-no. I called flowmaster once and they told me I'd lose a lot of power doing that. The engine is very sufficient running off of one muffler, but I'm a guy that likes a good sound, loud and growly, but not annoying. So hopefully I can find a 1 muffler setup that will do the trick.

 

That works but you're going to want to have the two pipes connected by something like an X-pipe or a Y-pipe.

 

You can get good sound w/o doing dual exhaust. I find most flowmaster dual exhaust I hear on trucks just sounds horrible. A friend had it on his truck and I heard him driving down a road when I was standing maybe 50 yard away across a field. It sounded just like a tractor and not a truck.