I'm about to put the money out on the 1st part of my build. After a lot of home work it seems a though its Banks headers and exhaust are the most reviewed and reliable.

 

For V-10 headers either Banks (stainless steel) or Thorley (painted steel). The Banks are made from 410 stainless so they will develop a light rust fuzz over time but otherwise never need any care, the Thorleys will need periodic repainting to protect them from more serious rust over time. The Thorleys typically are a bit cheaper, but like I said they do need more attention over time.
Do not buy the Hedman headers, even after their design revision they are still having serious leakage issues at the ball socket joints.
In my opinion the Banks headers are top shelf, but the rest of their exhaust system is overpriced and can be replicated for less cost using other parts. I run their headers and an Aeroturbine 3030XL muffler while still using the factory mandrel bent 3" exhaust piping, which is decent stuff.
What other goodies are on your build wish list?

 

Great info to have I appreciate that as I am looking at exhaust right now. I love MBRP but they don't make a kit for the V10. Gibson looks to be best bet for the money but I'm going to look into this Aeroturbine 3030XL. Thanks for taking the time to give out this info!

 

Wasn't there a vendor here that was doing some type of combo sale?

Headers and tuner?

Anyone remember this or am I mistaken?

 

No problem, here is my before/after sound clip, both are with the same tune loaded and the Banks headers, just the muffler was changed out from the stock one to the 3030XL. The XL has a built-in resonator to quiet it down a bit, I didn't want any drone at highway speed while towing as that's pretty much all our EX does these days.


And here is another member's @DOOM173 EX with the 3030 without the resonator, its a good bit louder than mine. EDIT: Doom173 posted here while I was writing this reply!


This is the original thread where we discussed the Aeroturbine 3030/3030XLs. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l-muffler.html

 

5Star Tuning, a site sponsor did have a header & tuner combo offered at one time I think. Currently they don't show the combo but they do list both the Thorley and Banks headers on their website. 1999-2004 Super Duty 6.8L Headers & Midpipes Archives - 5 Star Tuning
I'd give them a call and see if they could do a little better deal on a tuner loaded with their custom tunes and a set of headers if you are shopping. Don't forget to mention you saw them here on FTE!

 

As always thank you very much for your reply sir.

 

THanks for the info, Doom173 has the sound I want, but not the sound I want to live with for day to day.
Would I find any sort of increase by going to a larger diameter exhaust or do I start to lose back pressure?

 

Folks,
I have to give you my experience, even though not too many options for the V10 you have to look at the headers for what its designed for, I wanted the torque as I tow 10K Lbs. and as we all now the V10 is a turtle. So I originally purchased the Gibson Shorty's thinking anything is better than stock, was I ever disappointed, it robed power from my low end torque curve, it was great once I got over the hill, but it took long to get over, then I talked to my Pro Exhaust guy (Dirty Deeds Industries) they design custom exhaust for my other truck, and he said for torque you need the longest tubes from the heads to the collector, so the Thorleys it is, I was happy that I was going to get power and save some $$, then once they came in and a few HRS later Keith calls and says "They Don't Fit" I like almost all have rear AC and the OEM lines don't allow for these to work, after some time and speaking with Thorleys its determine that its a NO GO....now we have the BANKS and after a week of waiting they arrived, they took about 6 hrs to install. WOW!!! now please keep in mind my guy built a cat back system from scratch with his products in house that has been proven, I now have TORQUE and I have SOUND, and I DON'T have DRONE....I'm a happy camper. Finally I added a 5-Star Tuner, couldn't be happier...going over the hill, what hill...

 

I am now saving my $$ for this upgrade.

I have talked to 5Star and they told me that the Banks headers, with the J pipe and a 5Star tuner (for 91 octane - 3 different tunes) was less than $2000 shipped. But that's been a couple of months ago.

The one question I have for those of you who have done this already, have you seen any MPG savings while doing freeway driving with cruise control? Not that I'm expecting huge savings, but with the extra power it seems to me that you will not use as much gas getting the power as you used to? I don't know.

Seems worth it to me regardless.

 

My '01 Ex has the V-10, Gibson shorties, and dual exhaust from the headers all the way to the back with a dual inlet/outlet Magnaflow, and I've not noticed any loss of torque from this setup.

You can see pics here.

And videos here and here.