Right now I got LTs, modified pacesetter ORY where the single part is 3.5", a 12" long bullet that is located under passenger seat, then the 14" case Aerochamber and a short dump before the axle.

I'm tired of the highway drone so I'm contemplating running the exhaust up over the axle and doing a hidden tailpipe.

Question #1: Will performance suffer any from stepping down to single 3" pipe to run over the axle? I'm thinking it won't, at least not on my setup (truck is getting a cam on Sunday though).
OR
I was thinking of getting some 3.5" flexible exhaust tubing and running it over the axle myself. Then taking some 1/4" all-thread and welding 2" or 3" long strips to the outside of the flexpipe to keep it solid. This would just be used as a cheap experiment to see what the difference in sound would be. If I like it and it eliminates a lot of the drone then I'll have it done correctly.
Question #2: Will performance suffer any while I have the 3.5" flex-pipe on? I ask because the inside walls of the pipe won't be smooth...

What do yall guys think? I don't want to go through the trouble ($) of running real 3.5" over the axle unless I know exactly what kind of results I'm going to get ya know.....


Opinions welcomed

 

IMO, it might actually help you if you size down the pipe to 3in.... 3.5 on a 4.8 is kinda big IMO.... Since you can weld why don't you buy some J-Bends/U-Bends from Summit and make your tail pipe that way? I will redoing my exhaust next weekend and this is some of the stuff I bought...

3.0 U-Bend $24


Pipe Cutter $14

 

Yeah, it's plenty big, but I don't see it hurting performance while I'm spraying a 150 shot through it and shifting at 6500+ RPMs. I'm not at all concerned with power <3000 or so RPMs, and IMO that's about the only time where that size pipe will hurt me.

But it is true I don't think a single 3" tailpipe would be a killer to me. I ask because I can just take the truck to an exhaust shop to have a tailpipe made and I don't have to worry about custom bends, high prices, or cutting-to-fit pipe. Not that that's bad or impossible, just that they're a bigger PITA then driving somewhere to have 3" put on...

 

just do regular 3.5" over the axle. it can't be that much more than 3". i have pacesetter LT's, no cats, and an aerochamber with it dumped over the axle (same set up as you minus the in line bullet) and it's not that bad on the highway. obviously you hear it, but it doesn't drone. i think putting it up over the axle helps a lot.