I have been reading the forums and am pretty convinced that an x-pipe is the way to go. I prefer the flowmasters myself and think that is what i am going with. I just need to know if when installing the x-pipe do you cut out the cats, leave them, or cut out two of them. I have a 97 4x4 w/ the 4.6. Any horsepower I can free up would be great.

Any suggestions or comments ? ? ?

 

Take a look at Spintech mufflers. They have a true dual X-pipe set-up and are well built. I had one installed on my 2wd and they are awesome! They install after the cats and I would suggest having them done by a good shop. The kit should run you around $450 or so delivered. I had mine installed for another $120. If you were wanting to get rid of the cats, I'd install a set of long headers with the Spintech Dr. X set-up.

 

IMO, Flowmaster muffler + X-pipe is not a good combo. Either you want a free flowing system and use an x-pipe with an open, straight through muffler or you skip it (maybe H-pipe) and use a baffle muffer like Flowmaster. I would go with 2.25" pipes for a 4.6L.

Anyway, you can do either, keep the cats or replace them. IIRC, the 97 had a different cat setup than my 99 and 03 F-150. My brother has a 97 and his was different, but I don't remember exactly ho it was run. If I am wrong and it is like the later models, you can jut cut the factory y-pipe out, put in a 90degree elbow, then your x-pipe, twin mufflers and pipes. It would be worth crawling under to cehck out what the stock setup looks like.