I am wanting to run true dual exhaust and I found the exhaust on the late model restoration website and it seems to be what I want. Originally I was just looking for a xpipe that would work in my application since I have the single o2 sensor at the y pipe. I found the mid pipe for the lightning to be what I wanted and then I saw the equal length shorty headers and I wanted to know if anyone knows if they will work on my 302?

 

Also I am planning on installing AFR cnc cylinder heads and they have the option to have raised exhaust ports that raise the ports 1.25 inches that I think may put the ports in almost the same location as the 351w ports but I am not sure.

 

Short answer is no.

The down/Y pipe for a 5.8 is too wide to bolt up to either shorty headers/stock manifolds of a 5.0

 

Okay so I would have to modify the pipe if I used it. Has anyone tried to put the o2 sensor bung in an x pipe?

 

You can modify it, sure. Big enough hammer, you can drive a square peg in a round hole.

But that pipe ain't cheap. Looked at it before I bought one of their's for my regular 5.8

You squeeze the y together, the flanges will never seal & you will have just buggered the whole "mandrel bent" smoothness you just paid big bucks to use.

Are you asking about an additional bung? Cause there already is one in the stock & replacement pipes.

See O2 pigtail in Y:





(On edit)

X-pipes are generally too far away from the heat to be effective.

The X on a Lightning is close enough, since technically its right at the corner of the oil pan.

But there's still one there.

 

I know that there is an o2 in the y pipe but I want true dual exhaust. I plan on putting an x pipe in the same location as the y pipe but will still need a bung for the o2 sensor. I was talking about buying the pipe and then cutting it up and welding it back together to fit correctly. That is the only reason I was looking at the mid pipe for the lightning since it already has the bung in the x pipe and has the correct balance tube and cats with air injection pipe so I can retain all the emissions equipment.

 

The O2 sensor should go in the passenger side header collector, most headers made for this vintage truck will have bungs in that location.

 

So the o2 sensor doesn't have to see both banks?

 

No. That came in 96' with EEC-V and OBDII with 3 sensor systems. Before that, one sensor in one collector.

 

My truck has the y pipe with the o2 sensor in it so it should be looking at both banks since it is in the y pipe. I know the 96 trucks had obd2 with three sensors but the third sensor is still in the y pipe if I am not mistaken. From everything that I know because of where the sensor is it is looking at both banks and if I only put it in the one header it should actually make the truck start running rich because the sensor is thinking it is looking at both banks when it would only be looking at one. I want the o2 sensor to be in the same location as it is now but just in an x pipe. I may just have to custom make the exhaust I want because I want all mandrel bends with 2.5 inch pipes. Just didn't know if anyone had done true dual exhaust and hooked it up with the same style mid pipe as the lightning. I am not trying to keep it stock as I am already planning to install a monster transmission, afr heads, new cam, and eldbrock intake. I am hoping to be making well over 300 hp.

 

The sensor location thing has been covered here many times. The stock sensor location puts it a bit out of the main exhaust flow, so while it can "see" all cylinders that location isn't optimal either. I did a bunch of testing on this when I had my '90, it had a MAF conversion kit on it that was designed to use the original single O2 sensor these trucks came with. In this case the term "designed" simply meant that they tied the output from that single sensor to both computer inputs. This truck also had longtube headers on it with the O2 installed in the passenger side collector so it didn't see the drivers side at all, but it ran perfectly and by that I mean the fuel trims were right where they should be for all cylinders and the O2 switched normally. I knew this because I had a tuner(TweecerRT) on the PCM and a wideband O2 installed in the drivers side header collector so I could see what that side was doing separately. This kit used a Mustang PCM which is designed to use dual sensors so I tried that but it didn't make any difference.. fuel trims for both banks behaved the same as the single sensor. This truck also passed tailpipe sniffer tests with ease which is further confirmation that it really was running as well as I suggest. So... you wouldn't be the first person to go through a lot of trouble to put the O2 somewhere it can see both banks, if that location is as close to the motor as original than that is fine but if it's several feet further back then you are trading one good for another bad, and when it's all said and done it's not really necessary.

 

There is no way for the sensor to differentiate between sensing one bank or two. Twice the volumetric exhaust flow (two banks worth) from combustion of ~13.7:1* mix is still going to read the same in terms of oxygen sensor voltage. The PCM will not richen the mixture if the single sensor is in one bank's collector. The important thing is that the sensor is in a good location for sampling the exhaust.

Why not start with a 5.8L for some decent low end torque? Cost of a 5.8L donor is a drop in the bucket on that kind of build. Perhaps a better question is, what do you want this truck to do?

Fyi: 96' has one sensor in each collector, and the third is after the catalyst.

*Edit: brain malfunctioned. 14.7:1 not 13.7:1.

 

Okay thanks. Makes running dual exhaust much easier then.

 

I work on Bmw's for a living and our o2 sensors can actually see each pulse of the exhaust but these are also wide band sensors. I didn't think my truck was that smart but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a custom exhaust and then have to redo it because I didn't put the sensor so it could see both banks. My plans are to make a powerful street truck. I am planning on a 347 stroker kit as well. I wouldn't mind going to a 351w but I figured I would have to change the wiring harness and engine computer to make it work. But if I went to a 351w I would stroke it out to 427.

 

Nope, it's a bolt in with no wiring or computer changes and it'll run on the stock 5.0 MAF computer. As soon as you start do any real mods to that motor you will need to tuner but I believe your stock PCM is compatible with the available tuners.