Cutting my exhaust...
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Joined: May 2005
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From: Cascade, Idaho
Cutting my exhaust...
I'm only 16 and tight on money as most teenagers are, I have a 1990 Ford F150 Single Cab with a 351 5.8L V8. A friend of mine gave me an idea, and it sounds good, but I thought I'd check out what all of you had to say. The state law in Idaho, where I live, only requires a persons vehicle to have a muffler on their exhaust system, nothing more. Simple right? I was thinking the same thing, and my friend recommended cutting my exhaust off right in front of the catalytic converter and welding on a glasspack muffler that has a turndown pipe on the other end. I can do that for a lot cheaper than I can find a decent exhaust system right now and it seems sensibble to me, but I'd like some input. Will it increase/decrease perfomance, mpg, etc...? and will it harm my engine at all by doing this? Thanks for any help I receive.
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From: The Rolling Rock Town
my buddy has the same thing, man does it bark. we took it a step further though, and unbolted the flange right infront of the cat. however, since you need mufflers, id recommend as the cheapest way, to cut the flange off and match up a set of glasspacks and weld (or clamp) them directly to the existing exhaust. and yes you will notice a bit of a performance difference with no harm to the engine. if your truck is like his and has the o2 sensor mounted infront of the cat, you dont have to worry about the remounting the sensor. otherwise, your check engine light will come on because you have no sensor input...
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From: Cascade, Idaho
Thanks, just the answer I was looking for, assuming we're talking about a power increase here, correct? but either way, I still have quite a bit of power, I could maybe stand to lose a little bit, but I'd rather gain some!
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From: The Rolling Rock Town
sorry, power gain i meant. by the way, when you have it to the point that its straight pipes, before you put those glasspacks on crack her open to about 4500-5000 once. we got my buddies to backfire soo loud it set off a car alarm...
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 382
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From: WI
Unless you want to draw everyone's attention including the po po's I would not recommend doing that. Also if you have the exhaust dead end that close to the cat with a glass pack you will have horrible interior resonance.
Federal law requires a cat, if you want to be loud I would not recommend cutting it off. All it takes is one cop to pull you over and climb underneath (yes some will do that) to see if you do indeed have a muffler and you will get a big ticket for not having a cat.
Much better options out there. Maybe just run a single three inch set up with say a 14 inch bodied magnaflow muffler and dump it out the side in front of the tire. It will not only sound aggressive but it will have less annoying interior resonance. You are much better saving your money up and doing it right the first time. Speaking from experience here. Plus the tickets arnt that cheep either when you continue to annoy the po po's with your pipes. Trust me on that one.
Also one thing to think about. Having your exhaust dump under your truck has been known to accelerate rusting out of the bed. Especially in areas that use allot of salt. Lots of moisture and corrosive compounds in exhaust.
Federal law requires a cat, if you want to be loud I would not recommend cutting it off. All it takes is one cop to pull you over and climb underneath (yes some will do that) to see if you do indeed have a muffler and you will get a big ticket for not having a cat.
Much better options out there. Maybe just run a single three inch set up with say a 14 inch bodied magnaflow muffler and dump it out the side in front of the tire. It will not only sound aggressive but it will have less annoying interior resonance. You are much better saving your money up and doing it right the first time. Speaking from experience here. Plus the tickets arnt that cheep either when you continue to annoy the po po's with your pipes. Trust me on that one.
Also one thing to think about. Having your exhaust dump under your truck has been known to accelerate rusting out of the bed. Especially in areas that use allot of salt. Lots of moisture and corrosive compounds in exhaust.
Last edited by Hillbillywagon; Jan 31, 2006 at 11:54 PM.
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From: WI
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From: Remsen, NY
I did the exhaust on my 351:
1 Thrush glasspack, as long as I could find.
1 cheap over-the-axle pipe
Various connectors and lengths of straight pipe
Clamps, hangers
I think the whole thing cost me about $70.
I welded the straight assembly together with the glasspack with a slip fitting and clamp and hanger to slide over the end of the cat. Then the over-the-axle pipe is another slip fit with clamp and it hangs on the two stock hangers, so it's basically stock except for the glasspack.
I would have considered letting it out in front of the axle instead of in the stock location but carry live animals in some situations.
The longer the glasspack and the closer it is to the front of the truck (basically the more pipe is behind it) the quieter and deeper it will be. It is not really too loud but you definitely know you have a V8.
1 Thrush glasspack, as long as I could find.
1 cheap over-the-axle pipe
Various connectors and lengths of straight pipe
Clamps, hangers
I think the whole thing cost me about $70.
I welded the straight assembly together with the glasspack with a slip fitting and clamp and hanger to slide over the end of the cat. Then the over-the-axle pipe is another slip fit with clamp and it hangs on the two stock hangers, so it's basically stock except for the glasspack.
I would have considered letting it out in front of the axle instead of in the stock location but carry live animals in some situations.
The longer the glasspack and the closer it is to the front of the truck (basically the more pipe is behind it) the quieter and deeper it will be. It is not really too loud but you definitely know you have a V8.
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Joined: Jan 2006
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my truck came with rusted off exhaust after the cats...very loud and annoying. i bought a stock muffler and cut two pipes at ~22.5 degree angles and welded them together to make a 45 that exited before the rear wheel. you could do this with a glasspack and it'd be loud. i wouldnt reccomend glasspacks because they burn out after a while. i would try and find a cheaper straight through muffler instead of a glasspack.
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