First off. Thanks to avfrog for answering my last post "another exhaust question". I thought I would try to spark some interest and post another question. I have a 96 F250, 4x4, 460 cid, E4OD, current 3" SI/ 2" DO OEM exhaust, and dual fuel tanks (which makes true duals complicated and expensive from my understanding!), smashed stock muffler, wanting a cheap-ish fix. I want sound quality, but not super loud. I'm thinking a SI/SO Magnaflow and possibly cutting out the cats and had in mind a 3" exhaust all the way after the y-pipe from the exhaust manifolds. All the exhaust is STOCK.

Now I'm thinking about (in the future and a very real possibility) putting on long headers. Will a 3" single exhaust be enough for a 460 with headers? Would a 4" exhaust from the muffler back be to large for the stock exhaust manifolds now? Any thoughts would be great! I just don't want to do something now and have to redo it later. It runs like crap with a smashed muffler and want something better than stock.

 

4" is much to large for that engine. It will fall flat on it's face.

 

I'd do a single 3", 4 would be a bit much, 3 would open it up just enough. I'd like to see pics, always liked that truck, engine combo.

 

Rockhound44, there's a lot to learn about exhausts and I doubt you'll find it in on location. Your 460 should be fuel injected and that makes for different ground rules concerning overall performance. If it was carbed, you'd need some of the back pressure to keep the fuel/air ratio at or near 14.7:1, otherwise low end performance suffers.. Since you don't have a carb, you don't need the back pressure as the PCM adjusts the air/fuel accordingly. So putting on a 4" system sounds like the ticket-right? Wrong. A system has to be a compromise of what you need. Here's the scoop, as the air flows from the engine to the exhaust ends, it loses temperature. As it loses this temperature it gains weight. So if you use a large system you'll have a lot of cooled air in the pipes that the engine now has to force out which is called back pressure. Use a system that is too small and back pressure increases at high RPMs as the system is just too small to handle the air flow. Most of the factory setups are a balance and most often folks put home made systems on and then wonder why it runs like crap at various RPMs. But it sounds great to them. You might want to investigate headers and the pulses that it generates and how it works. As long as the engine is in great shape, headers can be a performance booster. A worn engine, it can be a costly mistake and issues abound with poor performance. You'll also have to make sure the ignition system is in top form on your 460 before installing headers or expect a hard miss.

 

Thanks guys! I appreciate the help and advice.