Ok, bear with me, this will probably get a little long.
3 weeks ago heard a rattle under my '01 V-10 SD. I crawled underneath and found a loose shield on the y-pipe. After removing it I was amazed at the necked down portion of the y-pipe and thought to myself "that can't be good for performance or economy".
I did some research on here regarding exhaust mods and found a Y-pipe on ebay. My best guess was it had to be better. No restrictions and a smoother flowing pipe, besides for less than $100.00 what did I have to lose. Swapped it out last night in about 1 1/4 hours (I know, what took so long). As soon as I started my truck I could tell the difference.
My immediate observations, throttle response was better, and it spooled up faster not to mention the sound. You know that sound, a V8 with headers, thats the only way I can describe what it sounds like.
The road test was my reward. Even under light to moderate acceleration it planted you in the seat and (maybe I'm just imagining this) the tranny seemed to have crisper/firmer shifts.
A bonus result is something I noticed driving home tonight that bugged me before was when stopping it always seemed like you were two footing it (one on the gas and the other on the brake). Revs staying up around 11-1200 until almost stopped then dropping to normal idle just as you stop and the truck would nose dive to a stop. It doesn't do that now. Revs drop to idle as you brake to stop. My guess is the less back pressure is affecting that.
Have to go out of town this weekend, good chance to check my mileage then and see if that improves too. Will post results after trip. Overall I'm very happy with the results and would recommend doing this.
BTW, asked the local muffler shop about installing this. Got a real song and dance from them. Would probably take close to 3 hours maybe $2-300 labor. Have to fit the pipe, tack it in place, remove y-pipe, weld, reinstall blah, blah blah. Don't think I did too bad.

 

Great post. Take any before and after pictures? Keep us posted on future findings.

 

how was the install? seems like the next mod but i cant weld aluminum, thats the only part im worried about.

 

There is no aluminum involved.

 

The stock pipes are stainless steel - very mild stainless, but stainless none-the-less...

 

What user did u buy it from on ebay? Also u said exhaust tone was improved. Do u have a stock muffler?

 

Do you have the "flutter" in the exhaust that so many talk about in this forum? I wanted to do the same thing until I started reading some of the posts and became hesitant. If yours is the 3V, that might explain it. I have the 2V. Thanks.

 

Yeah let us know.. if the performance is that noticeable I will jump all over it.

 

Ok guys, here's some answers to your questions.

1) ebay seller is "setness6786". He has the y-pipe in steel or stainless. Mandrel bends and a decent collector where the 2 pipes merge. Claims to have dyno tested before and after. Something like 33hp and 35ft-lb torque gains (his numbers). His feedback show lots of sales. Also claims his y-pipe will eliminate the dreaded V10 flutter noise.

2) I have a '01 2V V10. Not sure if what I'm hearing now is flutter, but the stock (other than y-pipe) exhaust has a nice rumble to it and I like the sound. A fellow worker (drives an Excursion) heard it this morning when I drove in and gave me 2 thumbs up, then crawled under his to look at his y-pipe.

3) Sorry, no pics. Install was very easy once I decided where to cut original pipe. Included instructions are a little vague. Did it at my buddy's garage on the hoist. Would still be easy to cut and fit on axle stands but the welding might be harder lying on the ground.

 

I have pics of Stan's pipe in my gallery, the two pipes are very similar.

 

I did the same mod last year. Stock headers, y-pipe, test-pipe, and Magnaflow muffler = some flutter.

However the gains outweigh the flutter sound. I get around 15-16 mpg freeway cruising at about 75 mph now.

Test pipe is coming off and high flow cat going on though, lost some low end torque, most likely due to not enough backpressure. Not to mention my truck is loud as hell right now.

 

I am not against the Y-pipe change-out, but I am not for it either (yet). What puzzles me is:

a) How could the Ford engineers let this obvious "bottleneck" get past them?? (unless it has no detrimental affect).

b) How can a simple y-pipe help or improve a transmission's function? From all that I have gathered, the smooth shifts are due to the fuel program which is set to turn down fuel delivery to the cylinders when up-shifting.

I am interested in this mod, but not willing to swallow the outrageous claims these after-market thieves toss out there. I would love to get better fuel economy and HP as I tow a heavy 5th wheeler into high steep mountains, and ofter see high rpm's.

That's why I get suspicious.

 

pops, in my opinion Ford didn't let the bottlenck get past them, they designed it that way. Designed to get rid of the early model flutter. My experince with the mod would solidify my opinion on that. No flutter before mod, flutter after mod. I can't talk for the e-bay guy, but Stan told me he had heard of a post pipe install flutter noise. I can also say I got no better mpg's with the new y-pipe, but it definately does not down shift on the slightest up hill grades like before. As far as the tranny shifting different, I noticed no difference. Maybe because it doesn't down shift to a lower gear as soon as it used to, maybe that is what others are noticing.

 

I just had my Y- pipe swaped out for a after market one from summit racing that I read about in the Excursion forums I have a 05' 6.8L, with 25k on it. running a aero turbine muffler before the y-pipe install, it sounded like a very healthy V8 and also seemed to have better power thru out the rpm range, now it sounds like a rice burner on steroids and a definite lose of low end tq and hp, maybe the stock y-pipe is that way foe a reason?

 

The E-Bay Y-pipe is a good Y-pipe and is fairly thick. My dad just got it put on his 03' several weeks ago. I noticed a very small amount of flutter around 2k rpm, however even with the windows up flutter with the EBay pipe is minimal and not annoying.

I believe the the engineers at Ford designed that stock Y-pipe for one reason, reduce the flutter. The necked down Y-pipe and very thick tubing help reduce noise.

The only affect I see the Y-pipe having on the transmission is possibly learning a very slightly different shift point (Than Stock) do to the extra low end power. I my experiance the Y-pipe DOES add noticeable low end.

I would get a Y-pipe with the thickest possible tubing to help quiet any flutter and exhaust noise at the y-pipe area.

As I said in a previous thread I custom fabbed a Y-pipe out of a Magnaflow Univ Y-pipe and a 16Ga Mandrel 2.5" J-Bend for my 04'. Power and exhaust sound increased, especially below 3k rpm. The side effect with this 16 Ga. Stainless is absolutly horrid exhaust flutter.

I ordered a set of Ceramic Coated Thorley's last week to replaced the works.

Go with a thicker Y-pipe such as the E-Bay or Stans. Thicker is better to reduce flutter. The stock tubing is around .070" or so thick (Very Heavy)

Learn From my Mistake