I'd like to go all out with my exhaust. I hear people talking about dual exhaust but it seems like it's not a true dual. When the exhaust pipes come from the headers and join into 1 pipe, then into your cat.....that's my problem. Is it possible to have 2 seperate exhaust sytems come off your headers and then each into your own High-Flow performance Cat then straight back? So you would have 2 cat's and 2 mufflers. I'm not sure if my 2000
F-150 4.6L could support such a system or even if I would want it to. Comments appreaciated.

 

Yes it can do that, as many people on here have done true duals on trucks like yours. The thing you have to be aware of if you do put on true duals is your potential loos of low end power. Putting on true duals will move your peak power higher up in the powerband, which in most cases is not ideal for a truck, unless you will be running the engine at high rpms alot. You will not have to worry about it that much either if you have intake mods on your truck to compensate for the exhaust. An upgraded computer will also be a good upgrade for such as this.

 

I had a true dual setup with my 97 4.6. I had headers that went thru the cats to a 40 series flowmaster. I did notice a lil bit loss in low end, but when it hit midrange it was like it was shot out of a cannon. I now have a true dual setup on my 03 lightning with the pipes coming off the cats to 2 magnaflows.

 

Me too.

True duals & high-flow cats that flow into two tiny Magnaflow mufflers, with an x-pipe right before the mufflers.

 

quote- "When the exhaust pipes come from the headers and join into 1 pipe, then into your cat.....that's my problem."

This isn't how the factory setup is designed. It already has cats on EACH head pipe.

quote- "Is it possible to have 2 seperate exhaust sytems come off your headers and then each into your own High-Flow performance Cat then straight back?"

This is how the factory setup is designed. It uses a multi-cat setup BEFORE it intersects into a single pipe. Yes, you can still replace the factory cats with hi-flow aftermarket cats.

Yes, it's important to distinguish between true duals and fake duals when exchanging information. Both work just fine on these trucks if properly sized and engineered. It's very simple to convert the factory setup to true duals. You just chop both head pipes off after the convertors, but before they hit the Y-intersection. Then, you turn the driver's side pipe 90 degrees and run the dual intermediate pipes down the passenger's side of the truck.

 

how bout putting the x pipe close to the location of where they's weere for more equalness of pull from the cylinders on the drivers side front and better static regain numbers

 

Ok....thanks for all the info boys.

 

That's the way it was when I picked it up from the shop. I didn't really think about it, but in hindsight I like your idea of putting the x-pipe where the factory collector was...

 

they probably did it that way for ease of installation-phil

 

I have true duels on my 97 4.6L. Its custom from a local exhaust shop. Threw out the Y pipe, had 2 sepaparate 2.5 inch diameter pipes with 12'' glasspacks coming out the back with 3.5 inch tips. Didnt notice much difference in power, maybe lost a little torque down low, but gained a little in gas milage.

 

What are glasspacks? Also there are different diameters of pipes and I'm not sure what to get. What happens when you get bigger ones? What happens if you get small ones?

 

What type of intake mods are you referring too? Would just a K&N Kit be sufficient (The one that replaces the airbox, not just the drop-in filter) or would more be required to compensate? I have the K&N kit and the exhaust was my next area to address and I wanted to go with a true dual setup, but I dont want to give up anything down low. And the computer mod usually requires you to run 92+ octane to really benefit right? Too rich for my blood, even with gas prices down right now I cant afford to fiil my truck up on premium.