i ordered some shorty headers for my truck (5.3) its stock witha gutted airbox and a flow(80 series) would it be worth it get a new y-pipe or better to just gut my stock cats, should i keep the flow or go with something else, would it be worth it to make an x-pipe? im planning on dumping it so... sorry for all the questions i just want it to sound good

 

ttt i just gottttaaaa know

 

man, to be honost. your not gonna see much gain with the shorties. our stock manifolds flow so well that the shorty design isn't that much better.

my advice would be to send them back if you can and put a little more money with it and get the pacesetter long tubes for 399 coated or 299 uncoated. then run the rest of the exhaust. on a dual exhaust setup the x pipe helps a lot with sound and flow. however, the best choice for muffler is gonna be the magnaflow imo. i have a flowmaster and i can run 2 tenths faster with a cutout over the muffler. similar setups with magnaflow muffs don't show that much gain with cutouts..

 

Shorties and Flow are not very good for power makers. I'd look into some long tube headers and any other brand of muffler for better power.

 

would a race bullet sound decent? i know it would flow good but would the noise kill my ears? im gunna keep the shorties they were too cheap to pass up and i dont wanna have the hastle of sending them back and spending more money for 5 hp.
is the stock y with gutted cats going to be any type of restriction?

 

If you have the $ flow for the headers, then go for them. They will give you a deeper exhaust note and more exhaust cfm #'s if you later decide to add a supercharger, turbo, or NO2 in the future.
I'm not sure who even makes a Y-pipe that has no cats, I assume there is. On that subject, I would just gut your stock cats if you have strict emission testing where you live. Though if you don't, and $ is no object, go with a Y-pipe with no cats.
On the muffler- Magnaflow, Corsa, and Gibson produce more power than just noise levels. Some exhaust manufacturers make mufflers that go in two and has an x-chamber inside the muffler, then out two.
You like noise I see (you want to dump the exhaust under the truck). That is a loud set-up.
I was the same way about 8 years ago. Though I would now just focus on which set-up makes the most HP & TQ numbers and leave the exhaust tone the way it comes with the bigger gains.

Jim

 

trust me the shorties are ****. put another 50 bucks with it and get some long tubes. I also have the flowmaster (40series). yea it sounds good but I will be getting a magnaflow when I get through with some other mods.

 

you will get a lot more than 5 horses with the longtubes over the shorties. if you ever plan on a cam install, then thats more power you'll pull out of that cam.

i haven't heard a bullet muffler in person so i can't tell you how loud it is going to be.

as far as the Y pipe, i would either have one made or just gut the cats. when you gut the cats, it's gonna get louder. not too loud imo. if you don't have the power to push it, you might lose some bottom end. so depending on your mods, you might want to stay away from that just yet.

 

Ditch the shorties. Save up for some long tubes. Much better in the long run. Also get rid of the Flowmaster. Try a Magnaflow muffler or maybe a bullet. On the cats. Dont just gut them, take them completely off and put sleves in their place. Unwanted turbulence will be created in the body of the gutted cat if you leave them there.

 

i was thinking about cutting them out and putting some straight pipe in, the stock y looks good enough to me.. so i guess ill be ordering a magnaflow.. anyone know the cheapest place to order one?