Gang:

I have a couple of questions regarding the fabrication of straight pipes.

Did most of you unbolt and remove the muffler, then have pipes made that would bolt in with clamps (flared ends), or did you just have the muffler cut off and straight pipes welded in? It looks like the muffler is pretty easy to remove, and it might be a good idea to have the option to put it back on (dealer visits, trips to court for noise violations).

How did you get the muffler/pipe hangers to slide out of the orange rubber "boots"? This looks like it's going to be tough to get those steel "mushrooms" to slide out of the rubber grommets.

What size exhaust tubing to use? Too lazy to measure it the last time I was rolling around on the creeper. Stainless steel is mandatory, of course.

Did you have hangers welded to the straight pipes (to use the stock muffler hanger location), or just go without any support for the straight pipe section?

I'm thinking of unbolting the muffler, taking it to a shop and having stainless straight pipes bent/flared/whatever to match the inlet and outlet location, having a hanger welded on to use the stock grommet, and bolting the whole thing in using the stock clamps. Is this the way to go?

Any advice regarding what sort of shop to look for, pricing, or whatever?

Thanks for the help in advance.

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Silver Y2K Lightning
Bone Stock w/ Duraliner, Ford Hitch Cover

Best 60-foot: 2.063
Best 1/8: 8.876
Best 1/4: 13.789
Best MPH: 99.67

Silver (matching) Y2K ML320 Benz
Burl (ML430) Shift ****
G-Tech 16.4 @ 88

1992 Grand Prix SE
Commuter Mule, G-Tech 17.3 @ 81

 

I had new pipes made....2.5 inch stainless..had the guy flare both ends connected one side to pipes coming off cats and other side to exhaust tips.... i removed the hanger bolts (factory) and used two universal hangers..clamped hangers under clamps that held my tips...the hangers were actually long enough to bolt to stock location....I did all this because i didnt want to butcher my factory exhaust...just in case something was to happen....hope this helps...........

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red 1994 lightning....oh my god i never expected this thing to keep running this long......130,000 miles and still running strong.........

00 white L...# 1993 build date 4/5/00 Johnny Lightning Enhanced!!! Straight pipe exhaust, billet third brakelight cover, water wetter, mobil 1 later it may get NOSty........oh sorry cuz...that is your license plate....oops.....

 

I just unbolted the muffler to save, reused the original tips, and had straight pipes made up to fill in the differance, and clamped the conections using the original clamps and hangers.

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01L,Lowered, Black,Downey SST,Straight Pipes,Chipped........ Toy: 91 Heritage Softtail Classic/Lowered

 

i was thinking about going with straight pipes but im worried about the sound . but i worry that it wil sound like a red necks pickup with glass packs. does it have that hollow sound?

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Its not how fast you go its how fast you get there!
silver 00
99 flht

 

My setup is just like BlackBolt99's. Seems to work good.

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99.5 F-150 SVT Lightning (Red)
SuperChip R9
PSP Filter Kit
Mobil 1 Oil
Clear Corners
Straight Pipes
Window Tint
Snuglid
Chrome Lightning Wheels
Painted Calipers
Build Date 8-20-99
Build Number 3889 of 4000
2000 Kawasaki ZX-9R
1998 Kawasaki Mojave 250
1998 Kawasaki Lakota 300

 

retics4me, go to my site, I have a few movies with the muffler on, from recent times, countless with straight pipes, and a couple with the muffler unbolted.

Yes it will be loud at WOT, but for everyday driving, it is very tolerable.

Later!

Forgot sig.

http://www.geocities.com/tundra_svt/f150.html


[This message has been edited by Tundra (edited 04-19-2001).]

 

ill probably go for it . i just hope its not louder than my hog..

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Its not how fast you go its how fast you get there!
silver 00
99 flht

 

Used the same, 2.5 pipes, had the muffler cut off, and the pipes welded on. The guy said it'd be an easy job to cut off the pipes and put the muffler back on if I wanted to. Stock hangers were reused, as you can see in the picture. And the muffle place that you go to SHOULD have the tool to remove those rubber gromments from the steel "mushroom". Over all job took 45 minutes. Guy told me that if I wanted the muffler back on, it'd take about 20-30 mins to put back on.

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-Marcus M.
Email-SnakEyez60@aol.com
Black 2001 recieved 2/10/01. Pictures at: Photo Album
Moderator:BLackBoLT01 www.svtperformance.com

[This message has been edited by BLackBoLT99 (edited 04-19-2001).]