Looks good I'm thinking of doing the same thing but gutting the cats since we don't need to pass any emissions here in Florida and I haven't figured out what style exit I want yet.

 

ryan, the bends are all mandrel and they do make a reducer but the shop can just flare the ends of the 2.25 to butt up to the 2.5. It took me several weeks and I talked to numerous shops before I found one that did mandrel bending and listened to what I wanted to do and that I felt comfortable with. One thing to remember with minor modifications like this is that every little bit helps and I would recommend getting mandrel bends to maximize every last hp/tq. The other thing is that doing an exhaust alone will not make the truck a different animal by any stretch. You may feel some difference if you are keen to the how your truck performs day to day but a good custom tune or gears are way better for feeling a significant increase. I felt some low end loss or gain with previous set ups, I really feel this dual set up has helped across the entire range. As far as sound it's so subjective but I really think that duals sound better than any single pipe set up I've heard on a gas truck, plus the X helps to scavenge exaust especially at low rpm. My set up with the dual 4x9x14's is deep and suprisingly quiet at idle but gets considerably louder under heavy throttle, louder than the 3-inch si/so 5x8x18 inch muffler I had but smoother and meaner sounding. The 4-inch rounds will be even louder of course.

scott, I could not decide where to exit either. I don't really like anything out the back yet the side exit puts it pretty close the the rear passenger door plus I didn't like all the sound on my right ear. So I tucked the mufflers high and just behind the crossmember and then dumped which keeps them safe and totally hidden. That also gives the option to hack the dumps and run pipe out the side or wherever without having to move the mufflers. I still have this itch to run stacks since I've only seen diesel done that way.

 

Well I think I am about ready to order my stock for this setup. I was curious, did you get the polished SS mufflers for any reason other than looks? I see they make the same muffler in unpolished satin finish SS, and if I'm just running aluminum pipe anyhow, I should be fine with the unpolished, no? It's just cheaper by about $20 for each muffler, and it can get really expensive when running everything with SS pipe. Where can I find that X-pipe? I'm looking all over the place at the hottexhaust.com page but don't see it, I really just wanted to get everything from one place.

Last thing I will bother you with, did you sawp out the cats for Magna high flows? Should I even bother with that right now? The truck is still new (4k miles on it), and I've heard several people already say the stock cats are actually very good and when newer don't really need to be replaced. THanks for your help guys.

 

Ya you should fine with the non polished mufflers. I have had mine for about 6 months and they look the same as they did. They are still stainless so they will not rust out.
You should be able to find everything at www.performancepeddler.com

I think Blackdawg is running stock cats still??? I would swap them out after if it's not loud enough for ya.

 

No I didn't swap the cats. I only got polished muffs b/c I had worked out a price with the guy already and he just said call with the part #'s so I figured why not. The satin muffs are fine. I hit my dumps with high temp (2,000F) chrome paint. You could also try www.magnaflowplanet.com.

Ryan I can't remember if you are running a high flow intake or other mods but if you are running the stock intake, etc. and want loud you may want to go for even smaller muffs like the 11-inch 4x9x14's or the short 4-inch rounds. I was messing around last weekend datalogging and temporarily had my stock intake on and the exhaust was a touch quieter than when the AF1 is on.

 

Hey BlackDawg, no as of yet I have no other mods. I'm gonna start with the exhaust. I can get the 4x9x14 stainless satin mufflers and the x pipe for 176 shipped through hottexhaust, seems to be the cheapest so far. Gonna have the local shop weld it all, no clue how much it'll be. Any idea what it normally should cost me to run the setup with aluminum pipe and 3.5" tips if I supply everything? I'm guessing somewhere between $150 and $200? I will be ordering the Roush intake in the next few days (it's actually cheaper for the Roush through Woodhouse, than for the Airaid anywhere else). I'm not looking for very loud, just better sound, a little louder, and aggressive when I get on it. I'm sure I will be very happy with this set up. Thanks for all the help, I will definately post some sound clips and pics when all is done.
Ryan

 

That seems like a real good price for the parts. I was too lazy to order my parts myself but I paid almost $600 for everything installed with mandrel bends and I believe about half or a little better was labor (and of course the guy has to pay for his mandrel bender). This was without tips of course since it's dumped. I found the shops to be different by as much as 20% or so for install and I probably didn't get the deal of the century but I saw these guys work and liked it. Finding a good shop that does mandrel beds was actually the biggest trick.