All I did was remove the stock muffler and installed a 40 Series flowmaster and a short piece of pipe,I got great sound out of it and it was cheap!

 

our trucks' low end isn't that sensitive...you might lose some low end, but it won't be noticable by much. i have headers and dual-out flow master 40s with no low end loss yet. going to either remove cat or add hiflow soon.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I disagree, when I went to the flow kit and dual 2.5"s out I lost a bunch of low end. I brought it back by reducing the 2.5 down to 2.25" dual outs, that brought a noticeable amount of torque back.

 

stay with your 2.25s then...i know i did and i guess thats why i never saw any loss

 

Its called back pressure.. Back pressure in your exhaust gives you the torque. You eliminate the "Y" pipe and go straight pipe all the way out you loose back pressure, you go with a wider pipe, you loose back pressure. Propably the best way for Dual exhaust and killer sound (without loosing torque and gaining HP) would be an "X" pipe set up or an "H" pipe set up.

 

In my opinion, you should consider the throttle body upgrade in combination with exhaust upgrade.
Really, you can think of your engine as a big air pump. Air goes in, mixes with some fuel, combusts, and air comes out the exhaust. If you are going to improve the way air goes out, you should consider improving the rate air can enter. The throttle body is not a difficult or even particularly expensive upgrade, but in combination with an air intake, you will see noticable improvements in your low end torque and responsiveness, especially if you also improve your exhaust as you are discussing.

If your not sure about a TB, you should give Fastman a call and just discuss what you want to do. He can tell you if a TB would be a good option for you given your goals. I spent about three days discussing throttle body's, exhausts, etc... with Dan Arcand at Premium Tool & Mfg (they make the Fastman TB). I really learned a lot. The number is:

651-484-0586 -1
C 651-245-6469
www.thefastman.com

 

Ok I think that I pretty much know what exhaust system im going to go with. I'm getting the gibson shorties, and the american thunder 50 series cat-back. As for the y-pipe and cat I cant find any aftermarket y-pipes that fit a 360 4x4. Some one told me that the aftermarket y-pipes are only for the 2x4's does this mean that I will have to purchase a stock one or could you have an exhaust shop bend one. If anyone finds any y-pipes please help me out. When putting the headers on has anyone invested in the stage 8 locking header bolts? If so do they really work, or is there a better gasket that I need to purchase to keep them from leaking. I also am not sure if I should go with the high flow cat or just get another stock one. Any advice on this would help lot. thanks

-Dave

 

Dont waste your time on shorties.. Get the Long Tubes.. Much better. Depending on were you live, dont put cats on at all. They make some O2 simulaters that you plug into your post O2's (im guessing it has 2 pre's, and 2 post's) So you wont throw any codes.. I think borla makes some and im sure if you shop around youll find some nice ones..

 

If you can find a site that has longtube headers please tell me where it is. i looked all over the place and called eldelrock,jba,flowmaster,thorley,flowtech,hooker,a nd a bunch more and none of them make longtubes. they told me that they only made longtubes for the generation 3 up to 1991. i looked on that performance center site and they didn't have anything either except shorties. my truck is a 95 so it only has 1 o2 sensor behind the cat in 96 they went to one in front and one in the back. if i go with the longtube headers then it would be stupid to go with a single in dual out muffler setup in my opinion. the only reason you would want to go with longtubes and true duals is if the motor was beefed up to the point it really needed to breathe. like being bored over, performance cam, intake, chip, bored tb, ect. This is just an everyday stock truck that im trying to make sound a little deeper and get some small hp gains out of.