I have a concern on my exhaust. I was in the process of ordering all new Y pipe and everything. Got the Y pipe but it looks like a freaking squeeze box with all the ripples in the curves. I was just under my truck and my old oem Y pipe looks mandrel bent as there is no crinkles in the pipe.

How ever I noticed there is a rusted curved pipe that connects to the Y pipe that brings the exhaust up over the transmission cross member that the converter then hooks up to. Then from there back to the muffler and the tail pipe.

Now my concern is this if I do use the new Y pipe am I going to have any kind of performance draw backs compared to trying to reuse the original pipe. Then there is the curved piece of pipe. I think Walker sells it but this piece is part of the converter I see a part number for. I don't need the converter and I don't plan to run the converter so its too much money to just hack off the converter to use that pipe.

Im tempted to run the oem Y pipe and the intermediate pipe but with how rusty it is I don't know if I can get a good seal with the exhaust band clamps I have to use. I had an exhaust leak to begin with and I believe its going to still be there if I reuse the oem but I hate that crinkled Y pipe over the smooth oem one I have now.

On a side note I found walker sells the tail pipe for this truck of mine with bracket to mount to my oem rubber mount. Down side is it says 2" inlet I don't know if that 2" is the actual size it is shrunk down or if it fits a 2" pipe. If it fits inside a 2" pipe that wont work for me cause my magnaflow muffler I got is 2 1/4" on both sides. Will have to chop it and use adapters to make it work.

So my question is pertaining to reusing my OEM Y pipe and intermediate pipe or use my new Y pipe and try to source a new intermediate pipe.

 

If you want to do this yourself, and make the whole operation like changing sparkplugs and such, then you need to use all the new stuff and also use a cat convertor so it all bolts up and goes together. That includes getting rid of that oversize muffler.

As soon as you start changing things, one thing leads to another. If you want to use that oversize muffler and not use the cat, I recommend you take what you have to a exhaust shop and they can make it all up and weld it together, making the pipe to eliminate the converter, and also make it all 2 1/4 inch all the way back.

Unless you can find a complete aftermarket system that bolts up.

 

Muffler is only over sized on the tail pipe size I think. The rest of the exhaust on these trucks oem is 2 1/4" from Y pipe back to the muffler. Seems like the tail pipe is 2". I did see a Walker OEM replacement muffler that is shown with 2 1/4" inlet and a 2" outlet.

My problem is I can do this myself if I can get the parts but the thing that is bothering me is my OEM Y pipe has nicer bends in it than the Walker replacement. Then there is that pipe from the Y pipe back. The converter there is no listing for the truck anymore, the diagram showed it but had no part number for it. So a shop would have to custom make that pipe but I could probably strip that pipe down to bare metal before clamping.

Im thinking what I can do is get a 2" to 2 1/4" adapter this will move the muffler forward some will require a shorter pipe to connect the muffler to the pipe connected to the Y pipe. This will also allow me to use a older style muffler clamp with a hanger to connect to the muffler hanger itself.

 

Well looks like I am back at the Jegs Y pipe.

https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/31010/10002/-1

Its an Off Road Y pipe I don't like it cause it has the slip joint to clamp in the middle which I don't like but it doesn't have crinkled bends it looks like the oem factory bends. It also has a long piece of pipe to fit up to where the converter would be all I would need to do is junk the pipe that is included with the air injection pump. I also would have to buy yet another 02 sensor plug as this has a 02 sensor in it as well.

I guess if I go with this I could bolt it up mark it with paint then take it to an exhaust shop and have them weld the center piece of the pipe up then I can grind it down smooth so it looks proper.

Just wish there were more options for these old trucks I am looking again for a Y pipe online that is like this but is preferably one piece.

 

Dude...you really over-think this stuff way too much...lol. I consider myself a stage-1 over-thinker. You're a stage 4...lol.

Have you ever looked at the factory exhaust manifolds from the 302 Explorers?

I'll give you something else to think about: Check the outlet size of your headers and compare to the outlets in the stock manifolds. I ran into problems with that Jeg's Y-Pipe and it was 100% unusable for me, for a couple reasons. First of all, the pipes were too small. The crossover slip joint came with a 2" clamp, and it was so loose on the pipe I had to go buy a 1 7/8" clamp in order to get it to hold. The problem here was that the OD of the flare in the pipes was only about 1/8" larger than the ID of the outlet in my headers. It was impossible to get them to seal on the ball flanges. If I recall correctly, the outlet in my shorty headers was 2.25" or larger. The second issue was that the angle of the Y-Pipe did not match up with the header outlet angles. This could be partially (or fully) due to the headers. I think the BBK3510 shorty headers I used are really Foxbody Mustang headers that were marketed and sold as also fitting F150 5.0 applications. I think my headers are meant for 2.5" down pipes, and I was trying to connect the 2" (or smaller) Jeg's Y-Pipe to them. Even IF the angles were correct, the pipe sizes were wrong anyway.

Now, if your headers have small 2" or smaller outlet holes, then maybe the smaller 2" pipes will work for you. It's worth checking so you don't find out during installation day that nothing fits.

My advice, which I know will go against the DIY members on here, is to get an exhaust shop to run/install your exhaust for you. I spent hundreds of dollars on exhaust parts that all ended up either in the junk bin or for sale online. At the end of the day, I would have saved money if I had simply paid a flat deck to haul my truck to a muffler shop. Just my 2 cents worth.

As for the exhaust flow with the bends and wrinkles in the pipe(s). I wouldn't worry about it all that much, not for a low-ish compression street 302 and mild tuning, unless you're planning on spending a fair amount of time at 5000 RPM.

 

for my personal stuff i always tend to over analyze. Customers vehicles its not as bad.

My thing with exhaust shops is i cant trust the ones down here. Ive seen too many get the exhaust too low or do horrible weld jobs with exhaust leaks. Then their use of aftermarket hangers that they seld and screw into the floor pans like sheet metal is a good area for bolting or welding too.

jegs told me the collector on their y pipe is for 2" ball flanges. Its also listed as fitting '84 to '95 5.0 f series trucks.

the hedman headers #89470 is a 1 1/2" primary with a 3" collector attachment but for collector size it just states stock. Says it fits '86 to '96 5.0 F series trucks.

i have the headers and the y pipe i already bought i can measure the y pipe i have see what size it is then see how it fits my header collector.

but that doesnt account for it being tweaked not right.

i guess i am just really hating the crinkles in the exhaust where my oem y pipe has none.

im also afraid of using my old y pipes as i had an exhaust leak thatvwas weird only was there under load accelerating. Loading engine up sitting still it wasnt there. Hate to reuse my old y pipe and still have the exhaust leak.

also i forgot to ask i have to check but it looks like magnaflow sells a converter with pipe for this application. I hate the thought of running a converter but starting to wonder if i went this route with the walker y pipe what kind of hinderence it will put on this new engine.

i know ill have to get the jetting right on the carb or ill burn the converter up if the carb is set too rich.

i also will have to see if the magnamflow converter is a stock replacement or a high flow aftermarket replacemwnt for stock. Also need to check pricing might be too far out of what i want to spend on the exhaust.

 

Bassani and magnaflow both make excellent mandrel bent y pipes for these trucks. The MF may be catted only though I can't remember. Flowmaster offers a full kit for the back half as well. Their 50 delta flow muffler is a favorite of mine.

I built both of my full exhausts (351 f350 and 300 bronco), but it doesn't sound like that's an option
for ya.

300 with longtube headers.

351 with shorties.

 

Nice. What year were the pipes for? I went 80 to 86 on magnaflow site and all they have listed is the 23027 direct fit converter.

im contemplatingbusing the converter if i can find out if its a performance style or just a oe style one. For $130 i figure its stock style.

 

bronco is an 85, f350 is a 96.

the years don't matter other than for emmisions type stuff. A 96 exhaust would fit just fine on a 80s pickup, other than having extra stuff.

that converter I used on the bronco was 100 bucks. It's a magnaflow spun mettalicat. It is definitely not restrictive like the factory ones. It's only about 10" long and 4" body diameter. It muffles virtually no sound and cut the fumes way down. Sounds like a race car. It is not cali certified.

inside pic

 

Nice. This is the one listed for fitting my truck.

www.magnaflow.com/products?partNumber=23027

doesnt say much other than its federal emissions not california and no actual photo of it just a cgi for the product.

I might five them a call and find out after lunch. I need to call waldron also to ask what size piping is their tail pipe from muffler back. Hope its 2 1/4 inch and not 2" like the cheap walker tail pipe i found

 

I know this is old as hell thread to be bringing back to life but I was checking my email to see if I ever got a reply back from Bassani on their 501502 86-95 off road Y pipe in 3" after the merger.

Would you happen to know any more about this Y pipe in question?

Apparently Bassani doesnt offer the 501502 anymore without Cat only the 501503 with the cat but it doesnt state anything about an adapter needed. But if you look up 86 F150 it gives a list of parts the 501503 Y pipe with cat, the 50150 headers and a 150500 F150 flange rings for 302`s it states its required for use with stock exhaust manifolds. But I cant get any verification if you need them for use with headers that has the OE stock ball flange collector.

But now seeing that they dont have on their website the 501502 listed anymore now I am questioning do I really need to go 3" single on my build or just do like you recommended and go with the Magnaflow Y pipe in 2 1/2" and reduce my exhaust down to 2 1/4" after the muffler.

I fully well would be ok with running something like this. Could either just omit the Converter or just throw on something more correct without the air injection tube. But the thing I am unsure about is that Magnaflow changed the design without updating the photo so since as far back as 2010/12 it has a precat as shown in post 9 on this thread here.

Magnaflow 93307 Cat - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums (ford-trucks.com)

For me I would be fine with a cat with the free flowing interior like in the pic you posted. But I dont know how this precat is and its troubling for me as its quite pricy as well at $534.

Even if I got the Bassani 3" single exhaust with cats im looking at $444.99 on autoanything or $313.99 for the one without cats but like Magnaflow there are no photos of the Bassani exhaust I am looking at to know how it looks let alone an answer to my big question on the adapter I mentioned above.

I need to get this settled fairly soon cause with this last round of stimulus checks I got my paypal credit paid off and I am waiting for a couple shipping questions answered by Creb Engineering, so I am doing a rush to try and get this project done this year.

I know I could just go the local exhaust shop route but my big problem is I am very picky and every exhaust shop we have tried at work was just very bothersome to me. Pipes bent insanely, pipes to close to other components, mufflers not hanging level or square with the body, tail pipes not level, welds that are just simple tacks that break off with normal driving. Id like to do this myself if possible, but now I am not so sure since I dont even know if the non cat version of the 3" single exhaust can be bought from some vendors still nor if you need adapters. I also have heard mixed information between I need 3" single exhaust to run the 2 1/2" OE exhaust just keep the tail pipe 2 1/2" also and I even had some say I will be fine doing oe 2 1/4" legs to 2 1/2" oe single with a 2 1/4" muffler and 2 1/4" tail pipe.