First off, thank you to everyone who has helped me along this far. I have posted a couple other topics and have received some great info. My issue is that I can't make up my mind and I read too much sometimes. Just when I think I have made up my mind I read another thread and then get confused again.
I thought I had made up my mind to get the airaid mit tube with a amsoil drop in filter, change out my stock muffler (muffler only), and get a superchips programmer. I wasn't trying anything exotic, just freeing up the intake & muffler and changing the stock program. Easy enough. Problem: I have read just as many good/bad topics about the stock muffler -vs- the aftermarket muffler. Some say the stock muffler/exhaust flows just fine, others say the stock muffler/exhaust is over restrictive. Then I read about performance loss by getting a muffler that flows too freely and doesn't allow proper backpressure because the 5.7 hemi needs proper backpressure. And everyone knows how many posts there are about changing the intake. Ask 20 different people and get 20 different answers. What the hell!! I am so confused. All I wanted in the first place was a little more performance out of my truck, now I am scared to do anything for fear it will be bad, or sound terrible, or whatever. I am really close to keeping everything stock and not worrying about it anymore.
Dare I even ask: any opinions??
Sorry for the long *** post and me ranting and such, but I am really about ready to call it quits with the upgrades.

 

ok for the intake as long as you remove the hemi hat your good. and muffler i have a fm 50 hd and love it

 

Intakes are all so close to one another in terms of performance it doesn't matter. Just make sure it removes the hemi hat like Silverbullet said. As for exhaust I haven't done mine yet, but from my research back pressure is not necessary if you plan on keeping your catalytic converters so don't worry about that. If you are going true duals go no bigger than 3" and single no bigger than 4". Also replace the y pipe if you go with a single or a setup which is not true dual. Muffler size is up to you depending on how loud you want it, smaller muffler/mufflers means more noise.

 

The cats alone give more than enough back pressure...now if you'e talking long tube headers, ORY and a straight-through muffler then yea you'll lose some low-end torque but gain gobs of high-end hp. If you're that worried about it just put in a chambered muffler like a flowmaster...they barely flow better than stock.

Like silver said, get rid of the "hemi hat" and you're golden. Good choice on the amsoil filter.

 

Wow....I just re-read my first post and I sound like a little whining baby!!
Silver, chambers, severe.....you guys have helped me since my very first post....thank you.
I was not that worried about a straight thru muffler until I read some posts about backpressure and then read some posts about the intake messing things up on the front end. (too much airflow, not enough airflow, yadda yadda yadda)
Honestly, I was removing the hemi hat with the airaid mit to get a little more flow up front, and use an amsoil drop in, I was just going to a local muffler shop and have them install a muffler, probably 24" to keep the sound down & keep drone noise down, but get a little more flow out the back, and install whatever tune with a superchips flashpaq, and I was gonna be happy with that. Not too much $$, better performance, good to go.

 

I forgot to add:
Call me crazy, but overall I am pretty happy with my truck. Being totally stock it runs pretty well. I am not looking to make it a drag truck, but a little more pep can't hurt anything.

 

I think you'll be happy with a 24" muffler with the resonator left on...if low sound and better flow is what you're looking for. I have a 18" magnaflow and left the resonators on at first...nice deep tone. I took the resonators off and it got a lot louder...so id leave the resonator on at first to see if that's what you want.

 

no problem man. the superchips is awesome and i would really recommend it. i have it on the 87 tune now and the truck is tens times better from what it was stock

 

Go with an intake and programmer and see how you like it there. That's the most bang-for-the-buck you can do.

A cat-back even at that point is for noise, not power. You won't see gains from exhaust until you replace the entire exhaust, headers and all.

 

Intake: BFI from Airflow Innovations (only intake i'd pay for)
Exhaust: Just make sure it's mandrel bent tube and try to get stainless. The actual tone and sound depends on preference.
Programmer: Superchips or Diablo Predator