Right now I have stock manifolds with the stock y-pipe that dump into a 3" hi-flo magnaflow cat then into a 3" single inlet, dual 2 1/2" outlet Flowmaster Super 44 Muffler. I want to get headers at some point for the truck to maximize torque, but everyone think it's stupid to run headers if you have a y-pipe. Is that true? If it is, is adding a cataltyic converter with dual inlets, and a single outlet really going to make that big of a differance? For the guys here that are running headers on your truck, what did you guys do??

 

I think the headers are a great idea.You will gainsome HP and TRQ, not to mention a little betterengine response. If you want to maximize torque, DO NOT get rid of the y-pipe. If you go to a true-dual exhaust, you will lose torque and a dyno will prove it. I have seen it time and time again. Good luck.

 

heres a link to indyramman and his true duals. nice setup he has https://dodgeforum.com/m_848827/tm.htmits true duals w/ a y and a side exit. check it out...very nice

 

A Y-pipe isn't neccessarily bad. The stock Y-pipe, however, is. You are far from alone in thinking that it doesn't make a lot of sense to bolt headers up to the stock y. You would actually gain more by using the stock manifolds and dealing with the rest of the exhaust.

 

thanks rt.

actually its just true duals. theres no Y in the system. I dont really recomend the mufflers that I have without cats to help make it quieter, that is unless you like the noise. I have the side exit to save weight, so it limited me on what I could put in there as far as keeping it street legal. If you werent concerned about another 25 lbs or whatever it comes out to, then run it back after the rear axle, so you can put full size mufflers along with cats. As far as the true dual vs Y pipe goes, true duals always make more power hands down. The trick is to have the two pipes ballanced, through an H or an X pipe. On the Ram I have an H pipe, and it seems to work well. I dont have dynos with and without so I cant say for certian. But with my old car (lincoln mark 8 4.6 4v cobra motor) we did extensive testing on the exhaust system and found a few benefits to the X pipe over the H. #1 sound decrease, and less raspyness. and #2 more power by about 5horse, torque stayed the same throughout all the tests. After seeing the benifits of one, we tried a second x pipe (double x's) and the gains came out slightly more, about 2-3 horse for a total of 7-8 over the H, but the sound was beautiful. If I were to run it through the rear Id do another setup like that. Keep this in mind though. Allthough mostly due to the lack of space, F bodies run a Y pipe in stock form. Most people choose to stick with a y pipe in aftermarket form as well, and how many times have they impressed you. The big diffrence between our stock Y pipes, and the aftermarket Ys that the F bodies run, is that the aftermarket ones are a gradual slope, maybe a 45* angle, rather than an abrupt change, followed by abrupt change. The Y pipe by no means is a slouch, but true duals will whoop it anyday. (think back to the F bodies. when they want to make serious power, they run true duals even though it drags.)

 

Yeah, thats the exact thing. My brother ran a true dual with his f-350. He ran 2 1/2" piping all the way through with hi-flo cats and two dynomax bullet mufflers. He ran it out each side behind each of the rear tires with the 22" long magnaflow tips. I would say he definately lost some off the line torque, but the gains were awesome overall. Me on the hand, didnt want to mess with the true dual. My exhaust system is considerably louder than his as well, and looks great with the dual rear sweeps with the 22" magnaflow tips. Anyway, I want those headers, but I wanted to make sure it'd be ok to run a y-pipe still. So are you guys convinced that if I run an aftermarket y-pipe, maybe one that isn't as restrictive would be accepptable? I would definately want to remove the stock y-pipe if I got the headers, so y-pipe is cool??

 

its the most economical choice, but yea its cool.

 

Where I am, it is illegal to run duals unless your vehicle came from the factory w/ them. This involves hellacious fines and the impounding of your vehicle. It sucks. The stock Y is tiny, and, as mentioned above, is also very restrictive because of it's shape. If you're are one of those who buy into the whole backpressure= low end torque thing then, by all means, leave it on there.It is an excellant source of backpressure.Otherwise go aftermarket or have one custom made. Long tubes are leaps and bounds better than shorties. IMO, the Pacesetters are best. The Pacesetters with thier 1.75" primaries dynoed 33 ft/lbs (low-mid range)better than long tubes with 1 5/8" primaries. I don't know what the collector size was on the 1 5/8" long tubes, but on the Pacesetters they're 3". Plenty of flow going through those. Keep in mind, when you open up the exhaust, you may perceive a low end torque loss until the computer adapts. After that you will have the same or, most likely,more torque than you did before. IMO, the whole low-end torque loss thing started with carb'd motors when people slapped dual exhaust with big pipes on thier vehicle and never took a screwdriver to the <rich lean> screw.The mythpersists to this day.

 

Wow ya see I didn't know that. Everoyne kept telling my brother "Oh you are going to lose so much horsepower with that true dual, blah blah blah"! And lone behold, when it had it put on, it didn't take away anything notable, and gains were overall awesome! He still wants to get headers to complete that beautiful true dual he has on his 7.5 liter v8 beast. But yeah I definately will do that, I'll get the pacesetter longtube headers and run a 3" y-pipe. I already have a 3"inlet/outlet hi-flow magnaflow catalytic converter, so it will be a perfect fit. Then it will dump into my 3"inlet, dual 2 1/2" outlets Flowmaster Super 44 muffler. Should make the sysytem sound even more badass, and really let the beast scream. After the headers are installed, I want to get a nice K&N or AEM Cold Air Intake, and then to top it off, a performance chip. Should be badass. Thanks for your help everyone, how do you guys think my little future setup sounds??

 

+1

youll also notice the big diffrence if you drive before you put your headers on, while the headers are open, and then after the exhaust is complete. All your questions about torque and this and that will be summed up. (though for the second part of that, i do recomend ear plugs for the 1500 rpm death drone)