It is done as of Thur am, the Lightning Bassani dual kit with the X pipe is on the SCrew !

The big part first : IT IS NOT CHEAP !
I went with 16 ga 304 stainless 2.5" tube, so this added to the costs, and the labor I used a local speed shop rather then the local merlins to do the install so it was not bent around and jacked up ( so my labor cost was slightly higher then normal ).

I have about 1,300.00 into the system, and found that is was not as easy as I ( or the shop owner ) had origionaly thought it would be.

The cutting of the stock Y pipe, and putting on the 90* pipe on the driver's side cat, then extending the Pass side back, put the pipes side by side, which is not the same as the L.

This required some juggling of the drivers side to get the off set the same as the L.

Then extending the system back to the mount point of where the Bassani hooked to the stock handers was additonal pipe. ( longer overall run then the L ).

The factory runing board had to be trimmed to allow the side dump clear the running board, but this is on the inside, the face of the running board has not changed.

I need to get some better pictures to post in my gallery, and I am waiting until some warmer weather and the retrain on the PCM, before I get dyno results.

I can feel some hints of better performance, but I can't pontificate about how much.

With the Gibson ST system, I did not know it, but there was a small choke when taking off, that I did not realize that was there until the BAssani was on.
The take off it smooth as can be, and now when I lay into the pedal in OD, it pulls onward, without comming out of lock-up.

If I can keep the grin on my face down, and take it easy on it, I notice it is much easier to keep the Vac gauge in the 12 to 18in/Hg range, which is the best MPG area.

So if I can tame myself down it seems that it will get better mpg, but for now all I can do is hammer it

Love the nice sound out of it, another thing I notice is that at cetrain RPMs the ST has a harsh area in the note, where the Bassani does not. The note is like music to my ears, I have not had my stereo on in 2 days !

All in all, am I glad I did it..HELL YES !
Would I do it again, in a heart beat.

Is this for everyone...maybe not that is up to how much money someone wants to spend.

Is is better then the Magnaflow true dual kit, maybe I don't really know. Is is better then a Cat back :OH YEA !

I will try to get some interior and exterior sound clips in the next days, for now I have having too much fun to be concerned with it!

Thanks to Chicken Ears and the HD guys for helping me work through this project. BIG THANKS

Now where is my dyno 6 pack certs....

 

SSCULLY i come knocking for your help again. i looked around and couldnt find a 4.2 exhaust from Bassani? i couldnt even find the website. do you have any information

 

SVTErick,

Sure thing. The web site is :

http://www.bassani.com/home.cfm

When you look at the product locator ( std cab, short bed is what you have, right ? )

I did not find one for the 4.2 in the cat back side dump type.

If you send an email to them via the site contact info, they actually get back pretty quick, and will give you the P/N if they have one.

While you could go the same route as me, I don't have any idea what the impact would be on the 4.2 performance wise.

I know this was not much help, but it is a start.

If you are just looking for the side dump with the dual round tips, you can get a Gibson ST, and change the tips, or you could go with the Magnaflow cat back, with the dual round tips, if it is jsut the look you are after. ( SI/ DO muffler ).
Again true duals on a 4.2, I am not sure what happens with TQ and HP, sorry never did the research on that one.

Let me know what else I can try to help on.

Steve

 

im really not into tuning the vehicle i just like the side exit exhaust, with somewhat of a loud rumble. so Magnaflow and Gibson are the ticket. the Gibson exhaust has some weird looking tips that im really not to fond of. thanks

 

Steve, give us the size piping(s) on your Bad Boy Bassani syste.

 

kaliscrew2k2,

The cat to the X pipe is 2.5" on each side : You can see where this is much longer then the L dual config. The X pipe would normally be right on the end of the Cat output on an L ( std cab short bed type truck ).


The back side of the muffler is 2.5: in the system bend. Yes that is the rear spring, and a little peek at the Helwig antisway bar ( BTW just found a HD SCrew that put on the L rear bar, and the holes are in the frame already !! ):


The Tips are polished SS 3.5" slash cut:


Let me know if that is what you were looking for, if not I'll try again.

Steve

 

Nice set up. I was just curious about the size piping you stuck with.
On the other hand, those tail pipe seem to have complicated bends to them. Are they "Mandrel bent?" Looks like they have an "S" configuration. I was wondering if the reason for this configuration of tail pipes was because you wanted to keep the mufflers as far back to the rear of the truck as possible? ...because I've seen other true duals set-ups with the mufflers mounted closer to the cats just far enough to get the tail pipes to angle exit like your setup. Just curious.

 

kaliscrew2k2,

The only bends that were made my the local speed shop were up between teh cat and the X pipe.

The remainder of the system is the way it comes from Bassani for the L :
Here is the pic of the kit from Chickenears Eng site :


I kind of assume that Bassani knows how to bend pipe.

Like I said in the first posting, does it work better then a MagnaFlow True dual kit ? Got me, I have no idea. it could be the same, it could be worse, it could be better ???

Steve

 

wow! I didn't know the tail pipes came in the kit like that. I thought you had those particular pipes custom fabricated. I guess not.

...and magnaflow has a kit that comes with tails that dump in front of the rear tire? If I would've known, I would've ended up buying one of those, but perhaps with a milder sounding muffler. Thanks for the info, maybe I might consider replacing my new catback. (the sound of my new Gibson cat back might have sounded new and great, but now it's kind of getting annoying)

 

really sweet set up steve, looks friggin' awesome.....this is more than likely the route i want to take. Does Chickenear's L kit come with everything you need...minus the speed shop doing the pipe bends? What does it cost....I think you said total w/labor was $1300. Also does the leaf spring touch or bang against the pipe exiting the muffler? And can the tips be mounted slightly further back (closer to the rear wheel)? I am worried my chrome factory tubular steps are a little longer than your black ones (not by much tho....2")??

thanks,

Jay

 

Jay,

The Bassani kit from Chickenears is the X pipe back to the tips.

The additional pipe in the front I got from Mike Troyer, so I knew I had 16 ga 304 SS pipe. Your shop might also have it.

The 1,300 was broken down as ~ 660.00 for the kit from Chickenears ( don't recall exactly the shipping costs on the kit ), 205.00 in pipe from Mike T, and then ~ 600.00 in labor at the shop once they got done moving the driver's side cats around a bit to make the pipes match the line up on the system. That is speed shop labor not muffler shop labor, so if you have a good muffler shop that you trust, you could save about half on the labor part of it. I could not find a muffler shop around here that I could trust not to wedge it in there, and have a xhst manifold crack down the road.

The pipes are actually under the front spring shackle, so they don't hit there, the piep is about 2" below it.

I guess you could go slightly back further, my rear anti-sway bar is what stopped it from going back any further. If you have the helwig bar, then this is what causes the rear movement. If you have the L rear antisway bar this type mount to the frame behind the rear axle rather then in front of it. A few others also mount to the rear rather then the front.

The other option if you are concerned with the factory ars is to call Mike and you can get the pile o parts for the Magnaflow system, and then the tail pipe can be bent as needed.
I don't know what to tell you about the stock bars, I did have to have the stock running bd plastic trimmed on the back side a bit to clear it.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I can try to answer.

Steve