Poking around the engine last night, I discovered a snapped exhaust stud. It looks to be pretty recent, and it's not leaking yet. It was too cold and windy out to examine further for more damage, but at this point I may as well replace all of the studs. And if I'm going to have the manifolds off, I may as well replace them with headers. And if I've got it all torn apart anyway, may as well upgrade the Y-pipe, right? From everything I've read, a free flowing Y-pipe causes flutter in the V10, unless you also put on headers as headers seem to be the fix for flutter on older production V10s. Is this right?

 

Correct.

Thing is, most of the "good" headers come with a y-pipe, so you'll be replacing it anyway

 

Are your Hedman headers holding up? Didnt i read another install post about them warping or was that another brand?

 

I'm looking at some Gibson stainless headers, which appears to come with new studs/bolts. I don't think it comes with a new Y-pipe though. What brand "good" headers are you referring to? I saw a Banks kit with headers and Y-pipe, but for $1,200 not including installation they can pound sand. I also don't think the Banks kit is California emissions compliant.

 

Don't go with Hedman. Unless someone hands them to you free.

 

So I'm getting ready to order headers and it's asking for the option of EGR or not. Being a 2003 California emissions labeled truck, I just assumed it would have an EGR system. Then I realized I've never seen any tubing. Just looked all over the engine, up and down both manifolds and the throttle body, no sign of any EGR parts. Not that I'm complaining, but why wouldn't this truck be equipped with an EGR?

 

Funny how one broken stud can lead to hundreds of dollars worth of upgrades.

 

Only way I can justify it to the CFO. Gun parts/upgrades are the same way.

 

As for the EGR, check the under-hood sticker - does it say OBD-I? Or OBD-II?

 

ha ha I feel you.
But I don't get the joke "cfo" - I assume that's your wife? But what does CFO stand for?

 

Yes, Chief Financial Officer.

 

 

Nope, no EGR - it would be in the vacuum diagram.

 

That's what I figured, I'm just really confused as to why it did not come with one. My '99 F-150 5.4L had it. Maybe different smog standards for "Medium Duty" vehicles?

 

There was a point in time when 8,500 GVWR didn't need the EGR - but I thought in CA it was required. Who knows... this stuff is confusing sometimes