Since the car is gonna need a lot of money to fix, I've decided to get dual exhaust for the pickup and drive that for my trips instead. Tomorrow I plan to go down and get an estimate on the work.

1986 F-150 EFI 302

Current setup: Factory cats, single straight pipe from cats back, exitting out in front of rear passenger tire.

Here's my complaint: It is too loud in the cab and ever since the overhaul, I get noise coming from where the manifold hooks up to the exhaust. I've tightened them twice in the last year and it does little good.

I want to keep my dual exhaust simple and fairly inexpensive. I'm thinking that 2 1/4" pipe should suffice. To keep it cheap I was thinking of going with straight pipe all the way out the back, then I'd still have the option to add mufflers or glasspacks down the road. I will get an H-pipe.

My questions: With dual straight pipes out the back, is there going to be much noise in the cab? Will there be the "drone" (I already have it at 2000 rpms now)? Would it be quiter with glasspacks (I was thinking of CherryBombs)? Should I run tips on it? Any recommendations?

The idea is to keep it sounding good, but cut down on cab noise. When I get time tonight I'm going to dig through the exhaust forum for info, but I thought I would ask up front for your thoughts. Thanks.