First, I would like to give some background on my situation. I bought my 02 250 last September and she has been a real treat. (I mean that both sarcastically and honestly.) When I first test drove, I noticed a ticking, but it was so slight, I thought it was just normal sound for the V10s. After a hard winter of plowing 8-9 hours at a time, and towing 5 days a week in the summer, that ticking became more pronounced. In fact, it was almost painful to listen to at 2,000 RPMs and above.
Earlier this summer, I was traveling to one of my job sites, I hit an absolutely terrible patch of Cleveland road. One second, my truck went from a ticking but live-able V10 to a fire breathing monster. F'ing roads cracked my Y-Pipe right at the cat. I got it tacked back on, but it got me to thinking. If these simple, (yet absolutely terrible) roads could crack my Y-Pipe in good weather, how was the rest of my system going to hold up to winter snow and salt?
So I started thinking, the added power from an exhaust system could really help with all the towing I do. (I got 3.73s, and do NOT want to re-gear.) So I started looking, and I constantly heard the name Banks. So I looked at their product, read basically every review known to Google, and settled on the PowerPack system minus the Ram-Air intake and the Ottomind Tuner.
I received the parts a week or so ago, and I just talked to my mechanic today who installed the parts. I hope to pick the truck up either tomorrow or Friday.
I took quite a few pictures that I unfortunately do not have the time to post, this very instant. However, rest assured, I will have them up tomorrow or this weekend, so you guys can see the finished product, as well as the parts pre-install. I am also going to try and get pics of the OEM product, and the truck all shined up and purty.
__________________ 2002 F-250 - V10, Crew Cab, Short Bed, Lariat 4x4 aka My Lovely Big Girl.
Click HERE for my full review w/ pictures of the Banks Powerpack Exhaust System.
__________________
- art k. - Moderator for the Superduty, V10, and FE forums
'01 F250SD SC SB XLT V10 4x4 auto 3.73 Warn hubs Volant CAI, eBay headers and y-pipe - 5-star custom tunes on SCT X3
'97 Cougar XR7 30th Anniv Edition 4.6L
'74 F250 Highboy FE390 deceased! I've been wrong before, I'll be wrong again. Just wait and see.
Even though I picked up the truck today, I am not going to review until I have full pictures. Unfortunately, my joy has been cock blocked by power steering fluid leaking from somewhere.
Hopefully, my mechanic has time to fix her tomorrow, or I will be highly disappointed. I was really looking forward to driving it around this weekend so I could enjoy it and make my review as accurate and as detailed as possible.
__________________ 2002 F-250 - V10, Crew Cab, Short Bed, Lariat 4x4 aka My Lovely Big Girl.
Click HERE for my full review w/ pictures of the Banks Powerpack Exhaust System.
__________________ 2002 Ford F250 4x4 V10<-FORD's best kept secret. 1947 Ford 1 Ton 2001 Sport Trac (Wife's vehicle)
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Interesting how the headers are somewhat "long tube" but are in no way "matched length".
__________________
- art k. - Moderator for the Superduty, V10, and FE forums
'01 F250SD SC SB XLT V10 4x4 auto 3.73 Warn hubs Volant CAI, eBay headers and y-pipe - 5-star custom tunes on SCT X3
'97 Cougar XR7 30th Anniv Edition 4.6L
'74 F250 Highboy FE390 deceased! I've been wrong before, I'll be wrong again. Just wait and see.
Alright boys, and now for the moment you've all been waiting for...
I picked up my truck early Thursday morning from my guys at Myron's Precision Automotive. They've done all the work on my truck, including the initial inspection before I bought it. They really are a class act, and I've never gone home dissatisfied with any of they work they've done. I was informed that I had 3 broken studs on one side, and 1 very rotten one on the other, of which they had to helicoil. When I first stepped into my truck and turned the key, I nearly creamed myself. The sound was not at all intrusive like many aftermarket systems you find, but the tone was much richer. As I pulled out of the parking lot, for some reason, I reached over to my stereo system and tried to turn up the volume, so I could hear my tailpipe.
The Monster Exhaust system makes great sounds when it should, at high revs, but at low cruising, it is very un-intrusive. The best way to describe it would be to take the stock V10 sound and give it an Adam's apple, except instead of Adam in the truck, you get the snake. Banks calls it the Monster Exhaust for a reason...it just sounds evil. Around here in Ohio, so people many throw together cheapy exhausts that sound absolutely terrible, and are very obnoxious. With Banks, I'm proud to say that me and my V10 are not in that club.
Now no vehicle can truly make great sounding farts without doing some work at the source of the power, and that's where the TorqueTubes come in. To say Banks makes superior manifolds is a mild way of putting it. On their website, they actually link to a customer testimonial, (http://www.atvpt.com/banksv10torquetubes.htm)
which includes many pictures. While I have some pics of the old manifolds through the wheel well, I could not snag any of them in the shop for comparison. However, rest assured that the Torquetubes are an absolutely beautiful thing when coupled with the rest of the pack, or even on their own. With 3.73s, I found that I could not rev my truck long enough to hear the beautiful music without seriously speeding. Even when I towed my double axle trailer of approximately 5-6k lbs. loaded, the speed did not end. I did not have to rev my truck anywhere near as high as I did before to get around. Even up rather steep hills, I was doing 35-40 mph, where I would be at 2,300 or higher while only moving at 30 mph, pre-Banks. They really do just make that much of a difference.
Now any exhaust can make sound and power, maybe not as well as the Banks system, but they can. However, the biggest factor for me was longevity. I tow in the summer, and plow snow in the winter. Cleveland winters are no friend to my poor truck. As you can no doubt tell from the pictures in my previous post, this system has some real quality built in. From the heavy flanges, to the thick Y-Pipe, this system is just built extremely well. Banks claims 409 Stainless Steel, which is not to even mention the LIFETIME warranty. I have a feeling that unfortunately, Banks is going to outlast the Big Girl.
But what makes this system even more worth the money, is the people behind it. When I submitted my inquiry on Banks' site, I was contacted promptly and professionally by a sales associate. My guy, Richard Norman, was absolutely a pleasure to work with. If I had any questions at all, they were immediately answered, I was immediately transfered to someone who did have the answer, or my voicemails were returned with an hour or two. I have very limited time on my hands, and to be treated like I didn't have all the time in the world, or that I did possess half a brain, was deeply appreciated. Better yet, was the fact that Rich did not try to argue or push me into anything I did not want or need, such as the Ram-Air Intake. While the Ram Air Intake is a good product, I did not like the fact that it was a K&N type filter, which in my dusty, dirty work environment, would not be good. Some manufacturers will deny to the day that they die, that their product does not use a K&N sourced filter when clearly it does, or that there is no downfall to it, but Rich simply admitted it, dropped the price and we moved right along. The packaging guys removed the intake from the box, but forgot to put the gaskets for the TorqueTubes back in, and I found out when my truck was already at the shop. I called up Rich, he talked to his manager, and Precision Automotive had gaskets the next day at 9 in the morning. To quote a person we all love to hate; excellent Customer Service, "it's a good thing."
All in all, I will not say the price for the Banks system was cheap, but I will say that it is fair. I was being quoted prices around $700 - $1,000 for O.E.M. replacement manifolds, A PIECE. I believe Rich quoted me a price of $1,220 for the complete set of stainless steel TorqueTubes with a lifetime warranty. If this wasn't the easiest decision of my life, I don't know what it. This I do know, from now on, I'm in the Gale Banks Engineering business, and the company I work for is now looking into Banks products for their diesels after seeing mine. Banks sells some seriously good stuff, and I would recommend it to anybody looking to fix their existing problems, or just wanting more power. It's probably the best choice I've made for my truck making the decision to buy it last September.
__________________ 2002 F-250 - V10, Crew Cab, Short Bed, Lariat 4x4 aka My Lovely Big Girl.
Click HERE for my full review w/ pictures of the Banks Powerpack Exhaust System.
Additionally, if you are interested in working with Rich as I did, you can reach him at ext. 4110. I won't post the main number out of the hopes that it will deter random spam calling.
__________________ 2002 F-250 - V10, Crew Cab, Short Bed, Lariat 4x4 aka My Lovely Big Girl.
Click HERE for my full review w/ pictures of the Banks Powerpack Exhaust System.
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3 studs on 1 side, 1 one the other. Massive ticking.
I was thinking cat-back only...
Around here in Ohio, so people many throw together cheapy exhausts that sound absolutely terrible, and are very obnoxious. With Banks, I'm proud to say that me and my V10 are not in that club. 
