Dual Exhaust - 454 4x4

[Jim85IROC]

I'm trying to figure out what to do about an exhaust on my truck. Right now it's got a 2.5" dual exhaust that looks like it was done at a muffler shop. It was new when I bought the truck and was falling off a year later. I see a lot of dual exhaust kits out there but they all state that they're for small block applications. Is there a significant difference in the manifold collector location between a small block and big block?

I'm considering having an exhaust shop do it again, but I don't want to pay the money if I can help it, plus since this truck is !cats, I might have a hard time finding somebody to do it for me.

Assuming the small block kits will fit without major reconstruction, what brands do you suggest? So far I've found dynomax, hooker and Flowtech. I would expect the hooker and flowtech to be the same, but the hooker is $60 more.

[Ivan D.]

Why don't you do it yerself? I had a badass side exhaust on my Lincoln, done completely by yers truly, it's pretty easy if you know how to weld. I'll be doing my truck's exhaust myself too, it's pretty much a piece of cake cause I have headers.

[Jim85IROC]

I seem to be ok tack welding body panels, but I can't weld exhaust pipe worth a sh*t. Plus by the time I buy a bunch of pre-bent pipe and fight to cut it square (I don't have a band saw) it'll wind up being way too much work. I can handle a little bit of modification to get the pipes to line up to the manifolds, and maybe a bit more to shoot the tail pipes straight out the back instead of out the sides, but I don't want to build the whole thing. But even if I have to modify the pipes to fit my manifolds, I want to have a good idea of what those modifications will be ahead of time so I can have the necessary stuff rather than find out after I'm half done.

[84slopwaggin]

Have you compared the price of a exhaust kit to the price of having a custom job done at the muffler shop? It may come out to be around the same in the end. If your not that good at welding you can use the clamps they sell to connect the pipes.

[Jim85IROC]

The problem with a custom job is that most shops won't touch a vehicle that isn't Emissions compliant.

[Pyrotechnic]

You just gotta find a reputable shop that can bend and weld up a nice exhaust system. Midas....probably not. Ask around a little about exhaust shops that do good work.