My 1994 is bone stock except a little starwheel advance. The truck now has 213,000 miles. The Cat. converter is still on and is plugged (I suspect) and not functioning very well. I wold love to hear some nice 12V exhaust sound, but I don't want to invest big bucks into this rig. I have been down this slippery slope before.

Should I straight pipe the whole stock exhaust or buy a new system(cheap).

I don't want it too loud.

 

My 96 is str8 piped love the sound sounds like a big truck, I think it sounds better than a 3rd gen str8 piped. Take it to a muffler shop get them to take off the resonator and the muffler and replace with a piece of pipe cheap and sounds good.

Sittingbull

 

That's exactly the way I was thinking. Thanks.

You're right, the 3rd gens sound like crap straight piped in my opinion. The 12V rules here.

 

Personally I would just straight pipe the cat section.
Good luck finding a shop that will do though as removing the cat is illegal.

 

straight pipe is loud. Just take ur muffler and cat off and start the truck, it will be louder than a full straight pipe because it won't exit in the back, but u'll hear somthing close to what it'll sound like.

 

IMHO

straight pipe it... Ull love it!... i know that I did. 4 inch straight is a good sound, but stock sized pipe sounds good too..

Rick

 

It does sound great, especially the turbo spool down, it sounds 100X better, lol. But I wanted to give a heads up, because it is loud and he seemed to want somthing alittle less than 100% cummins growl.

 

Ditch the cat, throw a piece of pipe in it's place. Ditch the muffler, and throw on a straight thru muffler of some type. Mine has a Dynomax, not sure what part #, but it sounds great. You can hear the Cummins 'growl', but it's fairly tame. Once I get a full 4 inch, I will be searching to see if I can get the same one in that size, as it seems to be a stock sized muffler.

 

I was thinking this too. Might be a DIY thing, although I despise exhaust work without a lift and torch. Easier to just unbolt at the turbo, discard old into dumpster and replace everything with new. This is $$.

Any ideas on a relatively inexpensive complete system that will sound good. I really like the sound of the 12V, especially the sound of the turbo spinning down between shifts.......you know the sound...

My local speed shop quotes about $550.00 for a 'system'. Not too bad I guess, but I don't have 550.00 loose right now for this.

Would removing the cat for test purposes achieve this and give me more sound for the interim? I actually do believe it is plugged and could be making oil leaks worse.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

I chunked the cat & muffler section in the metal-scrap pile on the side of my shop and replaced it with a 4" piece of straight pipe, and necked it down to fit the stock downpipe and rear section. I'm slowly collecting the pieces to fab up a 4" downpipe and single stack system.

 

Dodge and Geno's Garage both used to sell a test pipe to "verify" the efficiency of the cat. Install is straight forward.
Not sure if they are still availible.
Dodge p/n was 52019170AB

on edit: looks like you can still get it here for $51 http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...cfm?siteid=835

 

You can get a sweet 409 Stainless Steel system for around the same price as that shop quoted you. That would be a turbo back 4" system. If you want a cheaper system look into a aluminized 4" turbo back system. Should be under $400, and is a simple bolt on.
Let me tell you, if you str8 pipe it, without a muffler it is going to be VERY LOUD!!! Our trucks dont have the insulation to quiet things down in the cab.
When I had my stacks with no muffler, after a 4 hour trip I was jumping out of the truck, because it was so loud.
I couldnt even talk on the phone because it was that loud.
Just a quick look, citydiesel.net has a MBRP 4" turboback in aluminized for $350, comes with a lifetime warranty.

 

really? to me the 3rd gens sound awesom pulling a heavy load. now at idle you cant beat the 12valve. i vote for just straight piping it, been a while but i dont think its real loud and you'll get used to it, piece of 3" 3' long for $30 cant beat that.

 

Maybe it was my stacks (5" mitres).
My daughter used to tell me when we were driving,
"Daddy, we are able to talk in Mommies car"
Shes 3.

 

You want cheap $45 Dollars at the muffler shop cut the resonator off and garbage can muffler and replace with 5' piece of 3" pipe.
When it rust threw then I will replace with new system.

Sittingbull