In the near future I'm going to be looking into replacing the exhaust on the Daily Driver. Since I don't need to worry about emissions I'm thinking of replacing the whole rusted out exhaust with straight pipes.

My question is to where?

I've looked at this post and there are some good ideas.

What's been suggested to me from the "old timers" that I work with is a version of #2 going just past the axle and ending before the spare. The tip pointed towards the side but not sticking out.

I would like to achieve two things:

1. Not have exhaust coming up through the bed and around the cab like I do now. When it's cold it looks like my truck is smoking from the whole right side.

2. Have a nice sound that isn't "wake the neighbors" too loud.

What do y'all think?

 

Do you have a camper? Lots of states view the camper as a passenger compartment and your exhaust can not exit below it.


Personally straight pipe would be fine long as you go with a good muffler, from my personal experience I have heard that magnaflow sounds the best and isn't too insane on sound like flowmasters.


I currently have thrush glasspacks on which isn't too insane on the sound as they are a more mellow version of a traditional glasspack from cherrybomb. Down side is I still have my air pump hooked up so I get some popping in the exhaust when reving in neutral which doesn't sound all that bad. the only draw back would be if you floor the throttle if you chop the throttle to idle quickly above 3,000 RPM you get a loud gun shot sounding backfire through the exhaust.


Just some things to think about though. Me personally when I redo my truck and get the engine in it I had planned on running headers, and true dual exhaust going into a single 2 in/2 out muffler mounted in the stock location then having the pipes exit to the side behind the rear wheels. I like this because it is added protection against a tire separation from wiping my fiberglass fenders out, it saved my passenger one so I decided to do it like this. I just haven't decided on which brand 2 in/2 out muffler I would personally want.

 

This is a daily driver pickup and no towing or camper on the back. Just nice for crusing and hauling hay.

I like that you pointed out about possible tire separation and tearing up the exhaust. I'll keep that in mind.

Is it beneficial for me to get a muffler for a daily driver? I would just like this to work properly and sound decent.

 

Well the muffler is what quiets your exhaust down without one it would be quite noisy. I want mine to take the damage of a tire separation as I have a flareside. Without that it would tear my fender up. Its really up to what you want really.

 

I really dislike the sounds I've heard from some Flowmasters, and really like the sound from my Magnaflow. The FM's are more tinny, and the FM deep and powerful - IMHO.

 

Sorry, I totally read your first reply wrong about the tire separation. Mine is a steel sided beast and if it happens it'll add character to it.

I'm no where a mechanic or vehicle person. I always thought mufflers had to do with back pressure and the emissions stuff as well as sound.

Since you replied earlier I've been listening to some YouTube videos and it DOES sound better with a muffler.

Thank You for your honest opinions. I'm a slow learner.

 

From the videos I've seen I can see what you're talking about. I'm going to look into at a Magnaflow setup and see what I can find.

So, follow up question; would it be easy to order the muffler and pipes then try to install them myself? Or should I just order them and take them to the "local guy" I was told to go to?

 

Flowmasters I think is a good brand, but they are super loud which for my truck I really didn't want, and at highway speeds they have a drone in the cab which will put you to sleep and I don't need that.


I currently have a thrush glasspack on with factory manifolds and no converter on a stock engine running 11* base timing. I will try to get atleast an audio recording of the exhaust sound at idle in park/neutral, in gear, and reving in both park and in gear.


On the note of installing yourself, if you simply cut the pipe from the manifold infront of the converter you can purchase bulk exhaust tubing and splice your own together. That's what I did, I used a 24" pipe of the same size 2 1/4" as the factory exhaust, then I got a 2 1/2" to 2 1/4" reducer so I could fit the 2 1/4" pipe to my 2 1/2" glasspack then I ran a 2 1/2" pipe out with a 2 1/2" turn down. Once I pieced it together I welded all the connections and clamped the front connection at the oem exhaust pipe. I did it this way to make it easier to remove incase the unit I installed is damaged.

 

I do like the Magnaflow sound after comparing it to Flowmaster. It just sounds more mellow.

Unfortunately I've been burned out of Thrush. That's all that I ever use to hear. They're not bad, just not my cup o tea.

With your description of installing I think I can do that easily enough. Heck, I managed to not mess up swapping from a Holley to an Edelbrock! My thing is I'd rather ask before dismantling something and finding out I can't do it and THEN have to take it to someone. I don't want to be "That Guy" at a shop.

There have been a lot of great suggestions and pointers I'm going to use from everyone.

Next is to get the parts and line them up with my project queue.

 

May as well throw in a sound clip of my magnaflow copycat muffler. I really like it.

 

You will get a nicer better job out of it if you take it to a shop and have ti all welded in place. They have better quality pipe, and it looks better without all those clamps everywhere. Sometimes you need to tweak the pipe here and there to make it fit and usually a do it yourself-er doesn't have way to do that.

I would stay away from headers also, especially of you are going off-road on a farm.

 

The truck is basically going to continue to be a daily driver from point a to b and sometimes c.

I do have access to a welder and will be able to weld everything in place (either myself or my friend) if it's going to be easy to do. I have to get underneath and look to see how much I have to cut and replace as well. If I need new headers, pipe and everything then I might take it to the welder/exhaust guy. If I can cut once and replace from there back then I might do it myself with one weld and new brackets.

I'll post pictures once I can get underneath and see. Then see what I can do then.

That sounds really good. I can't wait to get mine done.

 

Agreed, I love the way the Magnaflows sound. I just did the exhaust on my '86 with one. I redid the Y pipe (where the two pipes come together was really restricted) and ran 3" stainless all the way back and exited in the factory location. Used a Magnaflow, 3" in and out, 18" body in stainless too. Sounds deep and mellow. Not factory quiet, but not annoyingly loud. I hate exhaust work, so when any of my vehicles need it done, they get all stainless.

I've run several different brands in the past and wish I would have tried the Magnaflows YEARS ago. I will probably never use any other brand again.
Got a car build to do this next summer and guess what I'm putting under it?