I personally would not pay $150ish for a y pipe. I would install the longtubes and already have the high flow cats, xpipe and muffler then take all that to the exhaust shop and weld true dual 2.5" exhaust. I went 3" and regret it besides how loud it is

2.5" exhaust will make more low end tq than 3"

The xpipe will help equalize the pressure since the driver side exhaust tube is 2-3ft longer

I would leave the transmission alone with 187 thousand miles till it blows, besides the servo upgrade b/c it cheap haha get a tq converter when the transmission gets rebuilt.

DO NOT GET SHORTY HEADERS

Google shopping is how I find the best deal also with website coupon codes free shipping 10%off etc.

I would definitely spend the money for crematic coated headers. mine have 25,000 miles on them and still look brand new

 

Do you know what rear end gears you have? If you have access to a lift then swapping In a new torque converter is easy. With all of these mods you will be impressed what a little 4.8 can do. I recommend pacesetters because I've installed them and know they will fit.

Get to know the tuner you mentioned before you let him tune it. Get to the point where you are confident that he will do a good job. Talk to people that have had their car tuned by him too.

I agree with cammin00, or get a magnaflow 2 in 2 out true x pipe muffler and have the exhaust shop weld it in. Summitracing.com has a 2.5" x pipe universal weld together kit, I would probably buy that and take it to an exhaust shop with my muffler of choice to be welded together. Do not get flowmasters. Borla, corsa, dynomax, and magnaflow are good mufflers.

 

I do some towing and racing which would be better? Since I would need some power at the high end side? I believe they're a 3.42, yeah I have access to mostly any equipment I need, which would include welding the pipes my self lol

 

Look around man, i found my lq4 longblock for 500 cash

 

After hearing opinions from these guys I'm thinking of just beefing up my little 4.8, I can still say its a 4.8 but it'll pack a punch when pulling up to a trac(;

 

yeah i would do 2.5", pretty much perfect size imo. 3.42s arent bad gears, theyre pretty good for rolling races. for the exhaust i would buy this stuff. it's what i plan on doing when i put my truck back together

x pipe kit
Summit Racing® Universal X-Pipe Kits SUM-642125 - SummitRacing.com

2 of these gibson superflow mufflers
Gibson Superflow Mufflers 55112 - SummitRacing.com

i would use this for turndowns, cut it in half and weld it after the muffler before the axle
Summit Racing® Exhaust Tubing Mandrel Bends SUM-622003 - SummitRacing.com

 

+1 for Redrover do the turn downs. I have magnaflow high flow cats got them for $35ish a piece from autoparts warehouse

Ordered my cutouts and magnaflow x pipe from summit

I also have a 3" dual inlet and out let maganflow muffler.......so quiet but I dont really care since the cutout are open all the time.

If you ever decided to do a gear swap I would go 3.73s.
4.10s would be awesome but eat to much fuel on the highway with the truck sitting around 2300-2400rpms

 

For the exhaust on my 5.3, I went long tubes, no cats, cut the Y-pipe that came with them and threw in a X-pipe, dual 2.5 back, then a 2.5 to 3" reducer because the mufflers I had were 3"in/3"out. I did turn downs from there. I can't weld worth a damn, so I band clamped the whole thing.

 

Lol that's a lot of band clamps

 

sounds like a leak machine if you ask me, you probably spent more on band clamps than you would have paying a welder to weld it together... but if it works why not?