Airflow improvements

[Power Wagon]

Got straight-piped today. Not sure if I'll stay that way, but I wanted to be rid of the leaky muffler (yeah, had a hole in it) and squished tailpipe.



Got that and a K&N in today... wow... . BIG time improvement... Spools MUCH quicker and feels like it takes less throttle to get the truck to quickly move off the line. Might be mental, but it feels that way, at least.



Did not get my 12CM housing in. Have to get an actuator bracket... the housing I got didn't have one.

 

[KMC]

How about noise levels?

What did you do to deal with the squashed tail pipe? How is the noise with the straight pipe? I was going to go toward replacing the exhaust eventually but am now out of funds so it will have to wait. I was thinking of going the route you have gone in the meantime. My only concern is a whole bunch of racket that might PO the neighbors. I put in a K&N 2 weeks ago and also noticed better throttle response of the line. Got my 16cm housing in today and that has improved things a bit as well.



Ken

 

[Power Wagon]

Ok, you got me going. I'm gonna take one of the kids with me today, to some place with open space and we'll videotape the truck to get some idea of what the noise sounds like, and then i'll try to get a link to the video here.



It's relatively quiet in the truck. There's only a small amount of exhaust noise in the truck, but if you open the passenger window, you can hear it echo off everything, even stuff quite a distance from the road. Now, just how LOUD it is, I'm not sure.



At idle and moving slowly, there's little change, but the moment you start to work at all, yeah, it's definitely a lot louder.

 

[KMC]

Yeah a video would be cool! What about the tail pipe improvements? I just posted a question about the Walker tail pipe. Is that what you used or something else?



Thanks, Ken

 

[R.E. Miller]

Power Wagon,

What are you going to set your wastegate at? I just got mine running last night and have not hooked the wastegate up. I can pull about 25psi un-hooked, but that is honking into it I was just applying for some advice

Thanks for your help,

Russell

 

[Power Wagon]

I don't have the 12 wastegated housing on yet.



When I do... YOu set the max boost with the tension on the actuator... and I'll try to set mine to about 18 to 20 PSI. I'm pretty sure I don't get anywhere near that now, and with PW injectors it should be just about right.



The actuators are somewhat adjustable, by turning the little end fitting that's threaded onto the actuator rod. backing it out means more tension (more boost) and turning it in (as long as the wastegate still closes tight) gets you less.



The actuators come in various ranges, for various boost levels. I want mine to match the 215HP engine. You do not want any more boost that is necessary to keep the smoke down and EGT to safe levels. Making boost you don't need is just horsepower and fuel lost.

 

[Power Wagon]

Originally posted by KMC

Yeah a video would be cool! What about the tail pipe improvements? I just posted a question about the Walker tail pipe. Is that what you used or something else?



Thanks, Ken

The muffler shop gave me 4 options for the tailpipe:



1 make their own

2. use a mandrel bent CHEVY tailpipe. It'll work, but it exits oddly.

3. get a pre-bent one from places like NAPA or CarQuest.

4. take the old one down, cut it right in the middle of the squashed down part, swell it back up to normal size and splice it back together.



Other choices include various performance vendors who have 3. 5 inch kits...



I did #1.

 

[Mel Fuelling]

KMC, if Power Wagon would allow me to amend his list; under

4b:If the tailpipe is still sound(not rotted), remove it from the

truck(Remove hangers and muffler clamps, hook comalong to

rear of frame with cable and hook wrapped twice around tail

pipe, apply pulling tension to tail pipe, then apply heat from

torch evenly around tailpipe/muffler joint. Repeat actions after

last two commas until joint separates) and drill 4 or 5 1/4"

holes into the inside radius(opposite the squashed part of

the tailpipe). Use a piece of 1/4" drill stem or similar punch

device and a small hammer to bell out the smashed part as you

apply oxy/acetylene heat to the outside. After reshaping the

smashed part, then weld up the holes with torch and mild steel

rod. I'm not sure how much more efficient it is, but it is round

now and I feel better about it.

 

[Tim1]

Powerwagon, I exited mine out just before the rear wheel. I bought the elboes from Napa. The crush pipe comes from the factory like that. If anyone wants mine (good shape) you can have it! Do what Mel has posted, again always thinking! Also you can get a mandral bent piece from BD to go around the transfer case. Tim

 

[Power Wagon]

That wasn't an option for me. I had to have the exit as far from the cab as possible to minimize noise.



If it's still this loud when I get the 12 in, it's going to get a muffler. Probably a straight-through dynomax.

 

[R.E. Miller]

Loud?

He he he loud with a 12? Yeah, with the exhaust just exiting underneath the passengers seat, whew loud it is . I did delete the muffler once with the Jardine system that I have, and it sounded good, but ran better with the muffler in I figured that since HP was less then 450 by a long shot, the straight pipe only made more noise so the muffler went back in.



I used the 45* 100. 00 elbow that you were talking about Power Wagon, but I still think that the straight out back end that uses the band clamp would be some what better; you could at least hook your old down pipe right to it instead of trying to find a two bolt flange set-up. BUT if you are going 4" then never mind

 

[JBrookshire]

Loud????

I guess this loud all depends on what you like?? when i first bought my truck all it had was the down pipe and a foot long piece after that. You talking about hearing the turbo when shifting bout made you want to get off hehehe. But I had 3" installed, down pipe to rear of the truck then 45ed out it sounded gread but I am young and like that stuff hehehe. The good thing it only cost me $80 that was even galvinized. The I took a 5" stack cut a 16" pice off and made a tip that made it alot deeper sound. Personally I like the stright pipe and would never go back and it would be my first bomb if I ever got a new one. And that is my stright pipe and I am stiking to it!!!!

 

[Tim1]

Hey Brookshire, I also took a piece of 5" stainless 14" long at the tip and it is a little loud,but I like it. Now when I have the bed filled with quads and pulling the 30foot travel trailer over the mountain ranges to the coast, the echo of the exhaust bouncing off the fir trees almost makes your teeth rattle with the windows up. Oh well, I also like that, too! Doesn't last too long, cause I got to get out of the turbo, heat goes way up. When it reaches 1200 I am shifting and allowing it to fow more air. Reaches 30 lbs. of boost real fast. Later. Tim

 

[Power Wagon]

Re: Loud?

Originally posted by R. E. Miller

He he he loud with a 12? Yeah, with the exhaust just exiting underneath the passengers seat, whew loud it is . I did delete the muffler once with the Jardine system that I have, and it sounded good, but ran better with the muffler in I figured that since HP was less then 450 by a long shot, the straight pipe only made more noise so the muffler went back in.



I used the 45* 100. 00 elbow that you were talking about Power Wagon, but I still think that the straight out back end that uses the band clamp would be some what better; you could at least hook your old down pipe right to it instead of trying to find a two bolt flange set-up. BUT if you are going 4" then never mind

I got the elbow with the housing. No extra cost. I got a take-off downpipe for $25 from the local muffler shop. Altogether, pretty cheap setup.

 

[JBrookshire]

YEAAAAAAAA

Makes me smile big thinking about it I also noticed when I turned the govener up it made it sound different to But they say LOUD PIPES SAVE LIFES

 

[Jones]

Hey KMC (and anybody else interested),

Look into the Walker 54 150 4" tailpipe. It's part of their 4" catback system. Affordable, fits right in. All you have to do is figure out how you want to mount it. I use the stock hanger and rubber(s) and it looks factory. There's a place here in town that stocks Dyna-max 4" in/out straight thru's in several different can lengths. I'm happy enough with the results to have done three of my trucks that way.

Hope this helps, Jones

 

[hdm48]

PW, I had exaust specialties in Everett put a Flow master system on mine. it comes in a kit. it's for pro street rigs and you can get it in any diameter.

I tried mine straight through and it was too loud. I got a straight perforated muffler from napa that tamed it down a little but it will still bark when you flat peddle it. I believe loud is proud but when you can't hear your own stereo, that's too loud.

Fresh air into the air box is good too. I used a piece of 3" tubing to rob air from right behind the turn signal

 

[hdm48]

PW, I had exaust specialties in Everett put a Flow master system on mine. it comes in a kit. it's for pro street rigs and you can get it in any diameter.

I tried mine straight through and it was too loud. I got a straight perforated muffler from napa that tamed it down a little but it will still bark when you flat peddle it. I believe loud is proud but when you can't hear your own stereo, that's too loud.

Fresh air into the air box is good too. I used a piece of 3" tubing to rob air from right behind the turn signal. lot's of cool air w/o the fear of filling the box with water.

 

[Dieselman359]

Overpowering Radio?

I finally got around to making boxes to mount the nice Boston 6x9 speakers that I bought July 2000. Made boxes that mount where the old factory speakers were. When I bought the truck the pass. side speaker in the door didn't work, and I had full intentions of putting a nice radio and speakers in this truck. It had a Kenwood CD player in it so I thought that I would just put in some great speakers. Sorry for the ramblin' but to the point, now the radio will almost drown out the 5" stack. Notice that I said ... Almost Gotta love all the music!

 

[redneckdr]

RADIO

WHAT'S A RADIO?? i don't think my truck came with one. hasn't been on since i put the 4" exhaust system on. (not sure why i put the 10 disc cd changer in ... ... ... )