In Virginia the law is that you must have a cat, muffler is optional. I ran my chevy truck for years without a muffler. My Ram is too loud without it's muffler so I use a FM 50 single (3") inlet and dual 2.5" outlets. Sounds good to me.

 

I've always had good look with CarX or Midas for doing exhaust jobs for cheap. Good quality work usually too. Give them a call.

 

HOLY SH*T!!!

First of all, it sounds like you're just going to "get 'em in, get 'em out" shops who do nothing but replace mufflers on the family mommy wagon. If they actually knew ANYTHING about performance exhausts, the first thing they'd be recommending is to replace the stock "Y" pipe! Sad thing is, these guys are quoting you double what a good performance shop would normally charge.

Secondly, I picked mine up, pre-made at my local Meineke shop for $35. Not as open as some of the really nice ones I've seen, but only takes up about 1' of space (a big deal with my LT headers w/ cats still on) and still a 100% improvement over the stock "Y".

A recurring theme I am reading is that nobody can find a shop to do their work for a decent price. I fail to understand why you guys don't buy a nice little MIG welder for $300 or so and learn to use it. MIG is like cheating, if you can solder you can MIG. A couple days practice and you're golden.

Hell with all the guys posting that they can't find a shop to weld without wanting a mint, y'all should be able to pick up enough side work for buddies to pay for the welder in no time. Basically for you 20 year old kids, you buy the welder and it would pay for itself 5x over if you only did your own exhausts over the next 10-15 years...

 

I tried the flowmaster 40's and it was to loud for me, now that I'm in my 40's. I went to a magnaflow stainless, sounds a little more aggressive than stock, but dosn't rumble from back flow when coming to a stop. BTW lifetime warranty on the magnaflow as well!

 

I actually wouldnt mind picking up a MIG welder and doing my own exhaust, would it be a PITA to do if i didnt have anything to lift my truck up though?