My friend has a 98 reg. cab f-150 with the 4.6 he wants to put dual exhaust but doesnt know what to put on. Have any of you put stright pipes on after the cat. How does it sounds or what do you guys think. He wants it to be pretty loud but still sound good.

 

Check out www.flowmaster.com

They have good kit choices and some sound recordings.

 

I just ran straight pipe from the cats, no brands just bent some pipes at an exhaust shop and cap them off with nice stainless large diameter tips. Sounds very good to me(deep, mellow and strong sounding). Gets the attention but not the kind recieved from bad and obnoxiously loud sounding types.

 

i like flowmasters myself. my truck is just loud enogh to turn heads and not be to loud inside the truck. i went with true duals so i have two flowmaster 40.

furrby

 

Ive got a '99 F-150 4x4 with a 5.4L.
When I first got it, the truck didnt have any kind of muffler on it. It was basically dual 2 1/2" straightpipes from the converter back. I liked the sound when I first got it, but after a while the noise got a little old. I frequently drive from southern Wisconsin to northern Wisconsin (a 4 hour drive one way) and the constant rumble got annoying.
I had a Flowmaster 50 series muffler installed and it made it a lot better. It still sounds good at idle, but its not obnoxious. If you stand behind the truck when its idling and it still has a nice V8 rumble to it. When you are cruising at a constant speed, you cant even her the exhaust from inside the truck. However, once you accelerate it has a nice mellow tone. I also noticed that when I had the muffler installed my temp gauge runs a little bit lower. Supposedly, the Flowmaster muffler helps the engine run cooler.
I had the muffler installed for $100 at a local muffler shop.
My brother has a '92 F-150 4x4 with a 302 and he has the same exhaust setup as me. However, his 302 just doesnt have the tone and volume that my 5.4L does. He has dual 2 1/2" stainlines pipes with a 50 series muffler and I think it cost him $380 installed.
Octane

 

I have true dual straight backs after the cats on my 02 FX4 5.4 with 3" stainless tips. Sounds good deep and mellow, as Bliath said above, definately can feel a difference in the power band as the motor winds out. I dont like the loud abnoxious sound you get from glass packs or mufflers. This leaves a nice sound then when the motor kicks into OD it quiets back down.

 

I have straight pipes after my converters on my 4.6 97 and I think it sounds ggod. It isn't the loudest but it is pretty lound so if you don't want attention you may want to go another route. I love mine though I think it sounds pretty tough.

 

I am considering the straight pipe after the cat. For those of you that have straight pipes do you have a dual pipe system or single pipe after the cat? Do you think I could just cut off my muffler, replace the section with straight pipe, add a 22"x 3" tip at the end of the pipe and it'll sound good? By the way I have a '99 F-150 4.6.

 

I have a single pipe after the twin cats with no muffler, then a Y that splits into duels with stainless 22X3 tips. In my modest opinion, sounds good too.

 

my is setup with straight duals after each cat and it sounds pretty good. You could probably get away with cutting out the muffler and just putting pipe in there, or you could always just put a smaller muffler on.

 

Thanks Bliath and ahall! Bliath how much was your set-up? Ahall, I am confused by the smaller muffler tip you gave. I was hoping to increase the sound of the exhaust by removing my muffler and replacing with pipe. I'm more concerned with sound than anything else. I know my gas mileage won't get better because I'm sure I'll like the sound and have my foot in it.

 

a smaller muffler will increase the sound over the stock exhaust, but not as loud as straight pipes. But a smaller muffler like a flow master lets you pick your sound.

 

The set up for mine was about $235. Behind the Cats is a 3 foot single length of 2 1/2" inch pipe that goes to a Y pipe. Connected to the Y pipe is two 4 foot lengths of 2 1/2" exhaust pipes that go straight back on the passanger and driver side. Connected the to each exhaust pipe is about 2 foot stainless 4" tips. An exhaust pro shop will supply and cut the pipes and bend them to fit your truck and install with hangers, U-bolts and welds. (What I described was for my 1997 Ford F-150 XLT S/C 4X4 Off Road with a 4.6L Engine).

On the other hand you have preset-up kits for your model truck like flowmaster series with models like 40s and 50s series that make different sounds. But I don't know the differences.

 

I have noticed many of you saying you have straights. I am assuming that means that after the cats, you are running straight out the back with no muffler. Is that legal for on road use?

 

i plan on puting in a magnaflow 2 in 2 out with an x chamber to equalize the back preasure the guys a exhaust pros said it was the better performing mufferler between the 2 (flowmaster and magnaflow) but flowmaster was more sound i guess imo i would at least want an x or h pipe to equalize the preasure