What would be the pros/cons of running (2) 2.5" pipes from the cats back to 2 Aerochamber mufflers and dumping them before the axle with NO crossover pipe at all (i.e. h-pipe or x-pipe)?

 

Yeah I would like to know this too. What about those mufflers with the X inside them would this just replace and x pipe?

 

This is just MY OPINION, but I think 'true' duals are WAY overkill on 5.3L trucks UNLESS it's a really built engine pushing upwards of 400 HP.

With 2 2.5" pipes, you're likely to lose some bottom-end but you would probably love the sound.

 

yeah i agree, true duals are overkill for these trucks unless you have abuilt motor or forced induction, etc. i would reccommend a single 3inch exhaust for best hp and torque. unless you wanted to do a single 3inch into a dual 2 1/2 muffler which many people do. but i know where your comin from about the true duals, they do sound awesome.remember the reason why we drive these trucks isnt just for performance, ..its cause we like trucks, so losing a lil perfromance is ok if your getting what you want

 

I'm with these guys. I did true duals on my 2000 5.3L Silverado.
I used a single two in two out Magnaflow X muffler. It had the crossover built in to equalize the exhaust pressure. I also used two 3" Magnaflow side exit round stainless steel tips that angle a bit upward.
I noticed no gains at all. It lost a tad of low end torque. Not what I was aiming for either. Sound was a little quiet for my taste as well.
Stick with the 3" pipe going into a Magnaflow muffler. You can then choose how you want to do the exhaust after the muffler.
Doing it that way should net you some gains in performance & throttle response.

Jim

 

I'm not going to be doing this for the performance, just something to have for the sound until my warranty runs out and a turbo is thrown in ... but my main concern was if there was any downfall with the piping not having an X or H pipe to equalize the exhaust.

 

I have single 3" with no cats, and two mufflers (dynomax bullet butted up to a 4x9x11 Magnaflwo) single tail pipe turned down after teh rear axle. I love it, and have had many compliments. I also have a 223/226 cam. This is in a LQ4 6l

A friend has a 4.8 with Lt's and truc duals flow masters and a 220/224 cam. IMO mine sounds good. Almost as good as his. If all youre looking for is sound, run dual 40 series Flowmasters. if you actually want some performance, run a single 3" Magnaflow, or Hooker.

 

Also if youre doing it just for sound, you will be fine with out a x pipe. With my tranny out, I caught a ride with a bud that has a truck similar to mine stock. He has true duals with Flowmasters on it. It sounds OK I guess, just not as good as mine And its way slow

 

An x-pipe or h-pipe helps equalize the pulses from the left and right banks and increases the scavenging effect of the exhaust. It helps with lowend torque but unless you're running a lot of hp it doesn't really change that much on computer controlled vehicles. Yes true duals with 2.5" pipe would be overkill in most cases unless you've got a 6.0. An old rule of thumb I used was 2.25" duals for 200-300 hp, 2.5" for 300-400 hp, and I think 3" for 400 and so on. I'm running 2.25" on mine with true duals and did notice a loss in bottom end when I was running straight pipes. Since I put mufflers on it I haven't had a problem and gained a little in the SOTP meter throughout the powerband.

 

You can't beat a true dual sound period! I've done both! If you think 2.5 duals are overkill, than go for 2.25". I'm running true duals on a 4.8, hardly even noticed a drop in low end performance(and i figured I got gains above 2K).

Maybe it's just me, but i've found that most folks from my town are all running true duals. Then when I go to the net, most people are running fake duals(single in-dual out)! I have no explanation why!

I find flowmasters are highly overpriced! 100bucks CDN if I buy off the net, my exhaust shop was charging 20 CDN for a blue bottle, turbo muffler, red devil, turbo tube (anything on the wall). They were all aluminized mind you, i just don't see justice for overpriced name brand!