I'm building my own down pipe. the stock pipe is 2" and the stock manifolds are an 2 1/4in exit so my down pipe is now going to be 2 1/4 and i have revamped the bends a little bit so there smooth to allow for faster exhaust exit. I want to know people ideas and opinions on this. some of the boys in the shop think im a little off it because its only a 1/4 inch of exhaust and ask why i dont just run true duals and long headers instead of the short hockmens that i have. but here are some pictures of what i have done so far and comparison to the stock pipe as well. its not welded together yet. im going to wait until i can have the truck in the air and current exhaust off so that way the pipes are exactly where there going to sit then ill tack weld it and take it down and completely weld it and water test it and then install the O2 bung and im going to install a flex pipe that will go up over the first cross member to save from vibration because im going to install stiffer motor mounts well the motor is out and being changed. i plan to run 3" from the y pipe to the muffler and then 3" dual tails. and having the pipe bender and no spare it should be pretty much a straight system. i will post more picture as the system come together.

 

The 1/4in will not help much for performance increase, but smoother bends will help some. Also it being custom made makes it 100% better. Weather or not its worth it depends on the time and money spent on the project. If you don't mind spending that time and money than it is worth it. Who else can say they did their exhaust pipes them selfs.

 

well its only cost me the time and i was being paid well i did it so i actually made money on this one. and having a pipe bender at work always helps. i havent quite figured out how to connect them or not. i know there isnt much room between the cross member and belle housing got the exhaust to run threw im thinking it will have to run in to a piece of 3" which ill then attach my to after i run it back further in the truck to allow for a little less noise. and i plan to run a 44 series flow master and run 2.5" duals as i said but idk. and as far as the improvement. ill be running it on the dyno before and after so ill let you know but im thinking its going to me 3 to 5HP at most. but i think that the torque may be a little more on the top end. but idk for sure i am also making the cfm higher dirrectly off the block because of the headers and the new y pipe and then will the 3" mid and 5"s of tail pipe im hoping for a low throatly sounds not the annoying snapping that the 5.2 has with the stock 2 1/4 when down shifting. (lower and loud is alway better then higher and snappy.... well at least to the cops) but we will see.