Ill be putting exhaust on my truck soon, im going to order an at3030 and take it to my local shop to have them install it, SIDO. However, the last time i had exhaust installed by this place on a truck it seemed like they could have done a better job "bending" the exhaust pipes over the axle and what-not. So my question is can they really do such a bad job that it would hinder performance? This is my second ram and i wanna do everything right this time around lol

 

Yeah most shops do not have mandrel benders like exhaust manufacturing companies like magna flow and gibsons. Rather they just use the old school crimp benders. Mandrel bending is how the factory makes all of the bends smooth without visible creases or dents. Does the old pipe bending hurt performance yeah a bit but not to drastically. If you are that concerned then get them to build your exhaust from pre fabbed and bent pipes then your shop just welds it all together.

 

I just dont want to lose performance when i put my muffler on. I think ill have them do that^^

 

Here's a sketch of the setup im thinking of. What can i say, i got bored lol hows it look? Is there anything i should change?

Its gonna be 3 inch pipe up to the second y-pipe, then 2.5 inch pipe out to tips(i havent decided on the size of the tips yet)

 

you've only got one cat??

Also, you'll need to get that tubing to work around the fuel tank

 

Actually i dont know, i just got the truck a few weeks ago and havent really looked at the exhaust, i just assumed there was only one cat cause thats all my last ram had(2nd gen).

 

you should have a setup that involves the headers running to their individual cats, then from the cats joining into a Ypipe (if you want to call that mess a Y, more like a f'ed up backwards r), from the Y its a straight to the Muffler, then another straight to the resonator, and then a pipe to the tailpipe.

When you crawl under the truck, take a look at the fuel tank and you'll need to figure out how you want your driver side pipe to come out.

 

I'm not sure if splitting the exhaust after the muffler would hinder you or not, but I can't see how it would help. The AT3030's are meant to be used in SISO setup, but maybe someone else could chime in on that one. I had the AT3030XL installed and had the shop bend (not mandrel bend) me a new stainless tailpipe. I probably should have just replaced the muffler and kept the stock tailpipe, but I don't think it hindered the performance any.

 

You have 2 cats, one from each header.. also i was just under my truck and the first "Y" pipe is exactly as stated earlier, a messed up backwards "r"....you should look up getting a muffler with one inlet and two outs on it instead of running a 2nd Y pipe.

 

After lookin through some old threads i decided im gonna go with a magnaflow Y-pipe to replace the stock one, then stay with the AT3030 but dump it after the muffler instead of the pipes out the back, there are a couple videos of that setup on youtube and it sounds nice