Isn't she lovely?




She's going in this Saturday

 

Who's doing the install?

What are you gonna do with your old *station wagon* muffler? heh

 

Hopefully toss it over the salvage yard fence Sat afternoon, and RUN lke hell ( I'm telling you, that is what that black cylinder is for, it is a salvage yard handle )

I actually did that with mine Sunday afternoon after the install, they were closed when I got there.

Let us know which way you do the de-install, after all the suggestions you got, and how easy it was.

The next guy doing this might find the info useful.

I found a local guy to give my Gibson ST to, so I don't have to huff that one over the 10' chain link fence
It is sitting waiting for next week, even still have the directions for him, heck it is only 19 months old

 

WHAT!!!

You're getting rid of your Super Truck?

What's the problem?

Not loud enough for you now that you're used to it?

I have noticed that mine has mellowed out with break-in running time but that's OK with me.

 

Got rid of, past tense.

Why :


And...



True Duals Bassani Style !
It is a retro fitted Dual kit off of a L.
And it did make a SOTP Dyno difference, cannot wait for winter fuel to be gone to get to the dyno !

 

LOL! Dunno, maybe I can pay someone to take it away from me.

I'm gonna do the install myself You all helped me soo much with info about this mod. After SSCULLY sent me a video clip of the Gibson when he had it on, I knew this system was for me.- not to loud, not too quiet, an easy install (i hope), more bang for the buck, and it looks great!.
What would I do without this forum? You all told me about different install techniques like what to do about the vibration dampener, how to remove the stock hangers with ease, and what difficulties I can expect thru this install. I'm gonna take all your input, mix it up in a brew, and drink it up Saturday morning. Wish me luck.

 

Be sure to follow the Gibson instructions. Measure the place to cut exactly as it says from the back of the old muffler forward.

 

Was that the only cut you made to cut the stock system loose ?

I made the mark all the way around at that point, checked it ( measure twice, cut once ), and cut it off at the face of the muffler first.

I did the break between the cat and the muffler in 2 cuts, so I did not worry about egg shaping the pipe, or having it bind up on me.

First at the face of the muffler, tried to take the muffler to the tail pipe out, found out it was a PITA, made the cut my the axle ( this would be the 3rd cut in all, not noted in the directions ), and then did a clean cut at the mark, with only that short piece of pipe left on the system.

Guess I was being too safe doing it huh ?

 

I was going to do the install myself and figured for $80 on a Saturday I'd go get it done in 45 minutes rather than mess with it or screw it up. Besides I wanted to go to the car show that day, heh.

I was planning on doing it myself and even got my tools out but after looking at the instructions on this site (which were misleading) and the paper instructions in the Gibson box I gave up. The pictures of the hangers (L brackets) on this site showed the L hangers pointed out and the muffler came with the L hangers pointing in, towards each other. Plus on top of that the box was beat up by UPS and the L hangers were sort of bent together. I know now that it's OK for you can bend the L bracket hangers to make them fit into the rubber grommet hangers, but I didn't then.

The Gibson kit and instructions are set up for easy home install. If you want to dissect the muffler the way Steve did to get it off then go ahead. But my experience is if you do it yourself measure from the back of the existing muffler forward (I think the instructions say 43 inches - can't remember exactly but follow the gibson paper instructions) and cut it off with a tiger saw (sawsall) if you have one. This cut will be a few inches forward of the *joint* between the muffler and cats pipes.

If you have the technology to warm up the pipes and get the old muffler off at the *joint* then do not use the new little pipe extention provided (it's like 4 inches) to get things to line up right.

Hope that's not too confusing but like Steve says you measure twice and cut once.

 

Here's what I did...

REMOVAL/PREPARATION OF STOCK SYSTEM FOR USE WITH GIBSON SUPERTRUCK CAT-BACK SYSTEM for
FORD SUPERCREW 2001-2003

1. Disconnect the negative side of the battery and turn headlight switch to "on" position

2. Mix up solution of 50/50 Simple Green and water (lubricates AND cleans your garage floor at the same time ) and spray-to-soak all four hangers and bushings. There are four of them: tailpipe(1); muffler(3)

3. Loosen head pipe clamp or vibration dampener clamp and slide away so you can work on the headpipe/ muffler inlet joint.

4. Use China Marker and draw small angled line on flange edge of muffler inlet pipe. This line will provide
a guide to make a small slash cut to make removing the muffler assembly easier without the need to cut or heat the headpipe.

5. Use your reciprcating saw (in my case a Sawzall) with a 4" metal cutting blade, laced with cutting oil, and make your small slash cut. Use medium pressure, carefully not to penetrate and damage head pipe underneath. (This can also be done with a hacksaw)

6. Using a flat screwdriver and pliers, carefully pry and loosen the metal at the slash cut, as if though you are
peeling a banana. Again, be careful not to damage the headpipe underneath.

7. Support muffler with a jackstand (in my case, I used a milk crate)

8. Hanger Removal. Before removing the hangers, give it one last spray with your Simple Green solution
mix. Remove by hand, by palming the rubber bushing with one hand and supporting the pipe with the other. It should slide off with ease.
Do it in this order:
a. tailpipe hanger (1) -remove bushing from truck
b. muffler inlet hanger (1) -remove bushing from truck
c. posterior muffler hanger (2) -keep bushings on truck

9. With the muffler support still on, slightly wiggle the muffler and separate the system from the headpipe. This should come off easily with medium effort if
you've done step 6 correctly.
NOTE: Do not rock the system aggressively as it may increase the risk of cracking the manifolds!

10. Remove the old stock system in ONE piece by sliding the muffler forward and guiding the tail pipe over the axle.
If you have nerfbars or running boards, you may need to do some twisting and rotating, kinda like a puzzle

11. There will be an alignment pin still attached to the head pipe. Use a pair of locking pliers and twist the pin
off. If you break it off leaving a nub, use a file to flatten it down to the SURFACE of the pipe (in my case i grinded it
off using a high speed Dremel tool). This is an important step to ensure that there will be no leaks when you attach the new system.


INSTALLING THE GIBSON SUPER TRUCK

1. Hang the muffler using existing bushings and support under front end of muffler (in my case i used a milk crate).
2. Reuse vibration dampener clamp and 2.5" extention headpipe (provided) and tighten to make snug.
3. Support muffler with hand and insert into attached 2.5" headpipe and tighten clamp (provided) to make snug.
4. Install tips and tighten to make snug
5. Use a level to on the tips and adjust as neccessary.
6. Retighten all clamps.
7. Turn headlight switch to "off" position
8. Reconnect the negative side of battery.
9. Start engine, drive around, vary your speeds.
10. Bring back to garage, when exhaust is cool, recheck and retighten all bolts.
11. That's all folks!

 

Easy and fun to do. It took me 2 hours for me to complete the whole thing, plus another hour of staring at it and driving it around.

From the seat of pants method I felt I lost a little low end torque.
...but it sounds very aggressive, and seems to have more power at higher speeds.
For some reason, my RPMs go past 2000 more than before when I accelerate. Please tell me this is because of a heavier foot and not any other problem.

The disappointing thing about this product is that the muffler tips didn't line up right, kinda like what Hapynzap experienced. One pipe is higher than the other about a 1/2 inch different, and one pipe sticks out more than the other. Also, the hangers don't fit right without having to bend them (time consuming). Now I'm gonna have to bring it to the shop and have them level the pipes out -waste of time and money. ...and it kinda makes me mad when I should've done what Hapynzap did, have the shop put it on, that way they can fix anything if a mishap occurs- like my crooked pipes. Before installation, they were crooked, but i thought that was intended, and it would straighten out when the muffler is repositioned on the hangers.

 

What are you going to do with the extra 4" section of pipe Gibson gives ya? heh

 

it's in there I thought the system aligned better with it picture coming soon.

 

Sport Tips fit perfectly behind the nerf bars:


reused vibration dampener at the same location:


What do ya think?

 

Good job!

Now what are you going to wax those tips up with?