...inside the cab with rear exit exhausts as opposed to exhausts exiting in front of the rear wheel? i am getting my maggie installed this weekend, and cant decide which to chose. i think in front of the wheel looks better, but i dont want it to be so loud inside that i cant hear anything else.

and while youre at it, are there any more positives/negatives about having the exhausts exit in the rear or in front of the rear wheel?

dave-o

 

The exhaust pulse from your motor's pistons pushing the burnt air not only needs to move freely out of the exhaust (which means bigger is better) but also needs the previous "pulse" of exhaust to "pull" the next one out, thus the correct diameter and length of exhaust piping is crucial to the horspower and torque output.
That being said, it depends a lot on what your mods are for the motor. A mild buildup with a comon intake would probably benefit mostly from the exhaust being behind the rear just as it is in stock, however, maybe with some nicer bends, a more free flowing muffler, and "possibly" a larger diameter, but not likely due to the fact that the newer motors really are much cleaner than they used to be, and push less through the exhaust than their "dirtier" ancestors.

Now, if you have an intake, tuner, headers, and such, and had maybe started with the 5.4 and are looking at 350hp, then yes, the larger diameter will help, and the exhaust is most likely restricting.

An example rule of thumb that you might want to use is this:
0-200 2" pipe
200-300 2.5"
300-500 3"

But, remember, you need enough pipe to suck the next exhaust pulse through, which is why on a dyno, they use longtubes most of the time, not shorty's.

I"d say if you have a Long bed or an extended cab, in front of the wheel is fine.
And if ou have a std. cab short bed, i'd suggest behind the wheel.
The reason the lightning and the rousch mustangs can have such short exhausts and have it in front of the rear wheels is because they are supercharged and the air is being forced, not drawn as in a NA motor.

 

the only mod i have is a cold air intake. the truck is a super cab with i believe a 6" bed. so i would assume that there would be sufficient pipe length if going in front of the wheels?

 

I really doubt 3' of straight pipe would have much effect on power, it may be a tad louder but not much.

I am not sure what style your truck is but my brother's 1997 F-150 got a new exhaust, rear rim and 5 lugnuts under warrenty due to the exhaust corroding the wheel. I just saw another '97 yesterday with the side exhaust and a black rear wheel, I would be leery to do it to mine.

 

If your getting the Magnaflow,,it will not be to loud in front of the tires!

Phil

 

thats good to know. i was concerned about the effects of the exhaust pouring over the tire/wheel.

 

I have a '97 with the exhaust exiting in front of the rear wheel and there is nothing discoloring my wheel at all. In fact I havent seen black wheels on other trucks with the exhaust set up in this fashion either. Maybe we clean too frequently to notice?

 

According the the Oasis my brothers truck was less than 1 year old when it got a new wheel, there is a TSB floating around here on it, evidently some did it and some didn't. The truck I saw yesterday could be pretty much classified as a beater, but it was pretty obvious what happened.

 

dont get me wrong, Im not debating your point, I am going to keep a closer eye on mine though

 

I think when I bought my 97, Ford said they would install a new muffler because it came out in front of the rear wheel. They said it would discolor the wheel. I had a y-pipe installed right after the cat and two pipes out the back. It sounded better than anything else in town.

 

i guess that will "force" me to buy those moto metal blacks, then.!