There are some people that are better suited behind the desk. Others are better when using their hands. There are a few rare people that can do both. Often, people that work better with their hands are not appreciated as well as the desk people. Sure, many of us never completed 4 years of college but people are now realizing, that college is not a sure fire way to make a good living.

Anyone that is skilled at their job has probably made more mistakes than the average Joe Blow. Every mistake is just a class in the school of hard knocks. It is amazing what skilled people can do. I can stick a couple pieces of metal together and it will hold, but will it look like a skilled welder, absolutely not.

I don't think people understand how much dedication it takes to be skilled. Cheers to your brother.

 

It looks to me like you are doing better than most who have never had any formal training. They should look pretty good when you are done.

 

I'm only hoping they will not hit anything when I install them. I am tempted to take a day and remove what is in there now [stock 351w/shorties/borla Y pipe] and see if they will slip in. I won't be able to bolt them up since the flanges have a wider bolt pattern.

 

Might not be a bad idea. It will be easier to take apart now than after it is welded, and 'm guessing that argon still hasn't come down in price, either.

 

I have a fairly large bottle of argon but I don't know the size. I do know, it was $145 with tax to swap my bottle out. I live in the Seattle area where gas is regularly $5 a gallon.

The goal is to put everything in when I put in the 408w. My goal is to swap very little during the exchange. I don't want to waste half the day to remove what I got, but I suspect that half day will certainly make the stress of not knowing much better.

 

I thought you were setting these up IN THE TRUCK. How in the heck do you know the routing?? Good luck on fitment.

$5 gas, still? Wow. I just paid $2.44 (for E88) here in Iowa.

 

Last fuel up down in Hou for me was $2.06 for 87RUG. Fuel prices are very regional, many reasons for this.

Also, funny you mention that for desk guys. My bros are RNs, I helped with their schooling via studying and that stuff is cut and dry but very boring. They are not gear heads at all.

 

Gassed up at Sam's Club on two days ago at $2.22, but 'regular' stations are still around $2.65 in the Northern Ohio area

Also curious with your header routing, not knowing motor mounts, frame cross member and steering shaft. I had a hell of a time fabbing 1-3/4" longtubes (I thought they were 1-7/8 but I was mistaken) for my 395W Crown Vic. I bought Fox Mustang headers as a starting point, and also bought a generic 'weld-your-own' kit for various pipes and bends. The driver's side went OK after converting to floor shift (column shift linkage was in the way and had to go!) Some tweaking was necessary as the Mustang headers point inward closer to the trans than the exhaust clearance humps of the Vic trans crossmember. I had to totally re-do the passenger side. Frame crossmember and A/C plenum were in the way. Had to stay high with the front two tubes to clear the crossmember and then dive down around the starter. You'd think a full-size car would have all sorts of room, but the suspension lower A-arm mounting made things difficult. The Vic no longer has A/C -- it still worked when it was a daily-driver 393W, but went away as part of the weight-savings program. I wanted to keep the plenum because of heat/defrost/defogging on cold northern Ohio track nights... Still a street/strip car, but no A/C now. It has 4/65 ventilation now - (4 windows down, 65mph, LOL!)

 

To answer your question, I don't know. I have a shop and the truck is up on the lift. There is a lot of room on the drivers side and a bit less on the passengers side. Eyeballing and a tape measurer seems to work. But then again, I won't know until I put them in.

Not that the truck is a daily driver, it is when camping season starts. I have enough experience that projects take time and I don't want to take out the shorty headers/exhaust Y pipe to confirm they fit. I will, but not now. If there was a lot less room, I would figure out a different plan.

Washington State [like a lot of other west coast states] assume the citizens have an endless amount of money. We are paying around $1.50 a gallon in state taxes. Over half of that is to combat climate change. What does that mean? Nobody knows. In the next year or two, it will be around $2 a gallon. No matter where you stand on politics, everyone I have met agree that we are not getting our monies worth. As a small business owner, I tell all my clients, I don't pay any taxes or living expenses. All my clients do. As long as it costs more, I will continue to raise my rates.

I went to private schools from 4-11th grade. Moved back to this country for my senior year. That is when the counselor said I had everything to graduate and I did not have to go to school. Really! No, you have to go but you can take any class you want and with senior status, I could bump anyone off any list. All my classes were hands on. It was then, I knew I had to do something with my hands. I was an A student and value research/knowledge, but I tend to fall asleep while reading something that was boring. 2 years of college confirmed that there was no way I could be behind a desk.

 

I am using 1 5/8" primaries. They will dump into a 2.5", then Y into a 3" single pipe. Cross over under the tail shaft of the E4OD [2WD].

This is not a Mustang or even a car. There is a ton of room on the drivers side. The engine is not even centered in the engine compartment.

The engine mounts are easy to figure out but the front cross member does swing up to the frame. I believe my outer pipe is high enough so there is clearance. The passengers side is much less room AND the transmission cooler lines. I upgraded the cooler lines to 3/8th [from 5/16th] and I am certain with this mock up that I have on the ground, I will route the line better. I should be able to get the lines closer to to the transmission.

The steering shaft is really far away, but the RABS module might be close, probably not, but I know I should be able to remount that if it is. One of the pics shows where the collector will be and I made the passengers side yesterday. I triangulated the jig so it does not move. If I can route the pipes along side the transmission, I should be fine in the body. I will build better heat shields around the shift linkage/cable/electrical sensors/connectors. I will probably route the fuel lines a bit higher. I am certain I can gain an inch or two.

My goal is to have all the issues resolved so when I do swap this engine out, it will take a weekend. Probably not, but that is the goal.

If any of you are still reading, I am still looking into a muffler. I have built mufflers for my other projects but I do not know if I want to do that with my truck. I had a Gibson and I liked it. The muffler rotted out so I put a cheap eBay muffler of similar size and I don't like it at all. I would love to have a muffler that has 2 2.5" in and one 3" out. That way, I can save some time/money with the Y pipe. Although I will probably settle for a 3" in/out. Power is not the ultimate goal [With the Kenne Bell and the 408, I will have power] noise is what is more important. While towing, the foot is usually more open than closed.

 

Muffler tone is pretty subjective, it will be pretty noisy with the LTs. Magnaflow have dual in and single out, Flowmaster may. Hooker Aerochamber are fairly tame.

Obviously the larger the case, the less noise, to an extent

I would consider a couple of small glass packs up front where space allows, to help quell some sound. Hell, two of my BMW have three mufflers stock.

 

Yeah, I know. What is loud for me is too quiet for you. When I built the exhaust for my wife's 91 VW Cabriolet, I thought is was perfect, she said it was too loud. Making the muffler and resonator was extremely expensive, especially when it was with 304.

I have thought about two glass packs before the main muffler. I am leaning on the 2 in/1 out muffler. That is low on my list now.

 

You can grab w 4" out, then you could order a tailpipe from Diamond Eye for a PSD. My kit is S.S. and still looks great.

Clean out your PMs!

 

While not a 5.8L, the 7.5L (30% more displacement than the 5.8L, or 15% more than a 408 ) uses a 2.5" off each manifold, merging to a 3" single before the catalyst, then 3" single back to the muffler. I ditched the factory muffler/dual 2-1/4" tails on my previous '97 HD when the original muffler rotted due to NE Ohio's salty roads, and went with a stainless 7" round straight-through Magnaflow 3" in/single 3" out and a single 3" stainless tail. Sounded great at idle, and just a tad 'rowdy' when I'd get on it.
The new non-stock '95 7.5L uses mid-length headers, and the y-pipe feeding into the same stock 3" in/out catalyst (yeah, I live in an emissions-testing area), and the same cat-back I used on the '97. Sounds a tad 'warmer' at idle due to non-stock cam and headers, despite the stock catalyst and same cat-back as my old truck, it is even 'rowdier' at 3000+rpm . Not too loud, but you know it isn't quite stock (yet is still 100% emissions-sniffer-test legal)... Towing at 65mph with 4.10s and stock 235/85R16s is still only ~1900rpm in the E4OD overdrive.

 

What I have now is a 5.8l with 8 psi boost. Simple numbers, it sucks a tad bit more air than a 7.5L Currently, I got a Lightning Bassani Y pipe [2.5"] and shorty headers [1.5 primaries]. The Y pipe exit out a 3" and continues to 3" single Gibson exhaust. Sounds about right.

As I research this, I see that the Gibson 2-2.5" in an 1-3" out is a fair price at Summit. Maybe I just solved my muffler issue. There are plenty of 3" 304 stainless builder kits that are priced right. I can just run the two header outlets to the muffler. Maybe try and fix an X pipe in it.