What's the best LEGAL exhaust setup for a 5.2L? I currently have the original cat, a 1-in-2-out Flowmaster and two pipes going from the muffler out the back. It sounds ok, but lacks that V8 rumble. IT sounds NOTHING like a new Ram with custom duals. Any help would be gREATLY appreciated.

 

It depends on how old the truck is and what state you live in. If you dont have imission checks, i would get rid of the cat, that will help alot, also getting headers, theres a kid on summitracing.com for dodge trucks thats dual exhaust with 2 boss turbo mufflers for $209, and it will make your truck sound really nice.

 

High flow cat is the answer. And what flowmaster? If you've got the 70 series I'm afraid you're screwed - they're too quiet. I recommend the 30 series because they're not too loud but still ballsy.

 

i got an 87 318, and my friend i bought it off of raised the vehicle GVW to past 5000 (5010 to be exact lol) and it doesnt go in for emissions testing, so my friend, cut off the cats, put on new headers and straight piped the exhaust all the way back, the exhaust only has two mufflers that resemble cherry bombers, but man does it have a nice growl, so thats how mine sounds good

 

Depends on where you live if you'll get in trouble, but it's federal law that you can't jack with the emissions equipment, which means you can't remove a cat. You can, however, replace them.
My 86 w250 has a gross vehicle weight of 8510, but if I lived in an emissions test area it would still go in for testing (and fail). Because it's 8510, instead of <8500, it doesn't require a cat and has lower standards to meet.

 

'Sounds good and all, but why in the heck can't I get it to sound good without screwing with the cat at all? I know a guy who bought a '96 RAM with the 318 Magnum. He stuck a flow 40 on it and it sounds ten times better. Is the older RAM's cat that freakin restrictive that it castrates any possibility of sounding like a man's truck? If that's the case, I guess I'm stuck with hollowing the cat and going with the flow 40. Thanks for the replies, fellow RAM enthusiasts!

 

Well my Dak has a 5.9, oem cat, and a ProFlo (generic magnaflow ripoff) and it sounds decent. Quiet enough not to **** the gf off, but it's got a nice rumble at idle and it makes decent noise. I'd like a little different sound, so I'm tempted to swap it out for a high flow cat and a Flowmaster 30 when I redo the exhaust completely.

I've got 40 series flows on my 5.0 and it's too loud for a daily driver (no cats) IMHO. I feel bad pulling in the drive at 1am waking up my neighbors.

 

My 01 Dak had the 4.7L V8 in it....and if you turned it on....you couldnt even tell it was running... The truck literally was that quiet. Great running truck too.

The only time I ever knew it was a V8 was when you floored it...or you revved the engine.....had it worked on in a shop....the guy that was outside had a 4dr Impala....he couldnt believe his car ran louder then my Dakota...

 

I keep hearin all this stuff about "its illegal to take off your emissions" and all this stuff, i say, its only illegal if you get caught. I removed all the emissions off my 88 dodge ram and cut out the cat, it sounds so much more like a truck after that. Buying a high flow cat is pointless unless you have emission tests in your state. My state doesn't, so the only person that looks under the hood is me, i would say if you dont have the checks, cut out the cat.

 

Cutting out the cat is in violation of the fedral clean air act. We don't have emissions in the erea that I'm in but we will still fail a vechile without or having a cat that is hollowed out for inspection. Every vechile that I do an inspection gets lifted and checked out. I personaly would love to pass loud exhaust and no cat but can't. My strat just barely passes the noise level at 95 db. Try a gibson or even a 40 series flowmaster. I think what has ruined it for everyone is the "racing" mufflers People are putting on the imports. Our station is one of the few in the erea that is able to test DB level of an exhaust and if someone gets a ticket for it and wants to fight it they can come to us but it costs 65 bucks pass or fail and the first thing we do with the mufflers with the screw in baffle is weld it in.