on my truck, i put a ypipe in place of the cat and single 3" to a turbo muffler....i can spin the tires without powerbraking, but if i take the muffler off, it is a complete dog

 

steve05ram360 put a post up a while back about his 5.9l rams exhaust.
he put dual exhaust on his truck and couldn't figure out where his low rpm torque went.
he replaced the stock 2.5" pipes with 2.25" pipes and regained the stock torque.
just a little tidbit for people that are starting to get confused with the in-depth description of how exhaust works without hearing what to put on their truck in the event of an exhaust change.

i believe a good setup for a 5.2l or 5.9l motor would be a magnaflow cat with 2.25" dual pipes and a straight through muffler or glass pack.

now about the compromise comment, why not get the best of both worlds? set up the pipes for low end torque and put a cutout that can open quickly on the exhaust. then on a wide open throttle pass just start to open it when you approach 3000 rpms. just a thought...
then again, it'd only be practical at the drag strip because no one would want to open and close a cutout all the time.

 

this is what I was trying to explain in simple terms (I dont even completly understand it all) in another thread when someone ( I think 1fast2liter) chimed in that backpressure or the exhaust system period had nothing to do with hp or torque..... which of course is wrong....When someone continuously says that (like he has done more than once) Its manipulating the facts and misleading the reader. To keep it simple for those who find the process to difficult to fully understand without taking physics 101 its just easier to say backpressure rather than explain the whole process that comes with it. Thats where the misconception comes from but you do more harm than good by just saying the backpressure means nothing...
Just my 2 cents.

 

the simplicity is why i said what steve05ram360's results were from his experience.

 

yea stock cat, rattling like a can of spray paint, chunks of platinum and whatnot fell out when i chopped it

oh speaking of that, V8 magnums sound great on open headers

 

i nver said it had nothing to do with hp or torque.. i was stating that the misconseption tat a motor needs back pressure to run or make its most power is wrong... and perfectly tuned exhaust will not only keep up the exhaust flow but reduce back pressure to next to nothing.. thats why long tubes are the best bet for a motor they scavange exhaust gases the best....but a poorly designed system with to big of primaries or to big of exhaust tubing will allow the exhaust gasses to expand and cool and slow down.. so on that slit second on overlap were the exhaust and the intake are open at the same time it will suck in spend exhaust their by lossing power...

to recap.. a well designed exhaust system will have very little back pressure but optimul flow to make the most hp and torque...

the same principle works on all types of engines and such.. on the harley i am running stock heads on a true dual setup... but they need to be ported and cammed to keep up with the big bore kit for optimum power...

gettting an exhaust to flow with out over flowing is the trick.. and were you can spend the most money in a system... open headers or larger exhaust is for high rmps or forced induction.... were their is large amounts of back pressure but is forced out do to induction.....

a smaller exhaust dimeter or a tuned system is used to get the most out of what you have or to keep low end...

on motor cycles 4-2-1 or on a harley 2-1 are always the best and create the most power....true duals dont make the most power.. and depending on what your trying for can hurt you.. even a sytem that people put on like a flow master duals... are more for the noise and look then a true power gain..... but their are other ways to set up exhaust. mine on true duals makes more power higher up in the rpm rangs.. a 2-1 will make batter power low to mid.. straight pipes make better power higher up in the range.... a truck with true duals no mufflers or cats will usally be pretty small in diameter do to keepining the exhaust flow up so their is no loss of power.... a system with the cat left in is more forgiving with size of piping...

 

1fast2liter, I reread that thread and your right what you said makes more sense now....The thing is most articles on the net look at backpressure and restriction and scavenging capabitities as basically one in the same...its confusing to say the least but I believe I understand the difference now.
When I was commenting about opening up an exhaust too much I referred to backpressure as the reason it may not perform well when in fact its the ability to pull and scavenge gasses that may be effected negatively....

 

so im kinda confused... i guess i didnt know **** about exhaust after all... lol, but i have my pacesetter headers, magnaflow hi flow y pipe and cat, nd the glass pack and being in NY my dad got pulled over for to loud, se he pulled my glasspack, and put his 05 ram stock muffler back on he in his words to the tee.... this thing runs like a raped ate now.... make no sence to me...

 

was the motor tuned for te setup? to much flow can hurt just as much as not enough... if the motor wasnt tuned to run that setup that could be why you gained some putting a diff muff on it.... in my opinion shorty pacesetter headers are not the best design in the world....

 

oh i know they ar not, they will not be there for long,,, but for now, it will work, i am putting long tubes on this truck here soon... but the motor isnt uned at all, its accually out of a 93 dakota.. with all my sensors in it... same motor, but still, its all stock, what mufflers can i get that will cause some good back pressure but still sound mean as hell.. and be loud... i like loud