Exhaust Thread

[shailey]

I have received quite a number of PM's lately asking about exhaust. I do not mind them, in fact I enjoy helping people out and answering their questions. If you have questions after this post, still feel free to ask them, I will answer.

I know that there are many peole on here who know more about exhausts than I do as far as the technical stuff. But, in the last two months I have done around 40 dynos with many different combinations of modifications and exhausts. The systems that I have had include the following now:

1) Full Stock set-up with 22" magnaflow muffler
2) Magnaflow Catback
3) Gibson swept side
4) Borla Dual
5) Flowmaster 40 series
6) Flowmaster 70 series
7) JBA single exit

For 2009 owners OR if your truck does not have a slot in the frame rail for the Magnaflow Dual exit set-up, please click this link. Thank you to BHansen for doing this...

2009 Titan Maganflow Dual Exhaust (16781) Install - MightyTitans.com

For 2007 Titan Owners: This is the best set up from what I found with my previous 2005 model and I have now done it to my 07. I know that the wait has been long, but I had to do it at the right time. This is a true dual in to a single out muffler. It produced the most torque of any of my systems. You can do a muffler swap with Magnaflow part number 12580 (satin stainless) or 14580 (polished stainless). This is a dual inlet/single out muffler that is wide open straight through design. I will be putting this muffler on my 07 titan in the near future after doing a baseline STOCK dyno. I need to get some miles on her first. One thing that may need to be noted. In installing this muffler, it is best to cut the drivers side pipe about 2 feet before the muffler and again at the muffler. Now take this pipe and rotate it 180*. This is because the muffler has a center to center inlet width that is 3" less than the stock muffler center to center measurement.

You can NOW get part #12278. It is a 3" single exit with 2.25" dual in. I will have performance update soon.

I will provide what I observed during the whole process to try and help others determine what is best for their needs. When I mention drone, I am extremely sensitive to the frequency that exhaust emits. So your level of hearing may be different than mine.

1) The full stock set up with the 22" magnaflow provided great numbers. The hp and torque increase from stock was 8 and 14. Sound was a little louder than stock and there was noticeable drone to me at 58 to 62 mph. Bang for your buck can not be beat here. Once again I ONLY changed out the muffler. Part number 12586 (satin finish stainless) or 14586 polished stainless). If you want to go with the 18" magnaflow part number 12256 (satin) and 14256 (polished).

2) Maganflow catback single exit provided the best gain period with the STOCK titan. The numbers on the website of 18 and 22 were factual peak to peak numbers. Not a play on numbers like many manufacturers do and show how much you gained at a certain rpm when you actually gained on 2 or 3 peak horsies. One odd thing that needs to be realized with this set up is it uses the STOCK Y-PIPE. I tried this set up with a custom 3 1/2" Y-pipe and lost a lot of torque. drone once again, is pretty noticeable at speeds mentioned above.

3) Gibson Swept Side is in my opinion a great all around exhaust for a couple of reasons. One it does provide medium gains in hp and torque. But two it has a great sound with almost no drone. It is louder than stock at WOT, but at start up it is just a deep tone that sounds great. But if you want something that is loud and mean, this is not for you. Gains 12 hp and 14 lbs.

4) Borla dual. It sounds really good to me. Cruising speeds had no drone, drone was only around 45 mph. the gains in hp were comparable to the gibson (12), but the torque gain was very minimal (9). But it is a very clean sounding exhaust that will please MANY and the finished look is very nice.

5) Flowmaster 40 series did not stay on for an entire day. Drone felt like my head was going to cave in. I greatly apologize for not being able to tolerate it to give a full evaluation, but the drone was heavy between 40 and 70 mph to me. And that is where I drive 90 percent of the time.

6) Flowmaster 70 series. Very good sound. Not to loud, drone was minimal around 1600 rpms. Provided nice hp gains that were equivalent to Gibson and Borla (12 hp and 8 lbs of torque), but once again the torque gain was very minimal. This exhaust at wot was definitely able to turn some heads with its volume and I did notice a couple of pops after going WOT and then letting completely off the gas. So it performs like the Gibson and Borla but has a little more agressive sound than both of them.

7) The JBA provided the best gains AFTER the header install. I do not have perforamnce numbers with the stock exhaust manifold, because I purchased this system AFTER headers. Previously the Magnaflow had the top gains hands down, but after the headers, this one etched out on top by 4 hp and 6 pounds of torque. I think that JBA did a good job matching their systems up. One thing that is interesting though is the muffler that came with it was a K & N muffler. The Y-pipe is smaller than ALL OTHER catback systems at 2.5"...EXCEPT where the bend in the tubing is and at the Y. The bend in the tubing on the drivers side expands to a little under 3" and then shrinks back down and it seems to act like a velocity channel. And the Y has two 2.5" pipes that come together to a 3" collector. There is some drone at 1600 rpms does not matter the speed, but it is definitely tolerable to me. This is a fairly loud agressive exhaust but is still not up with the Flowmasters or Bnaks.

8) I have another one that I will be adding the dyno numbers on in the near future. I got a magnaflow 2.25" dual in/ 3" single out muffler and ran two separate pipes to the muffler. Just in front of the muffler I put in Magnaflow resonators to help quieten down the truck. So I no longer have a y-pipe and it is set up like the 2007 Titan exhaust but with a wide-open magnaflow. I am now producing the best times the truck has ever produced and am very happy with the sound of it. The extra resonators did help reduce the in cab noise and drone is acceptable for the first time since adding the long tube headers.

So one conclusion that I was able to come to is that the 5.6 loves small pipes. That is where the low end torque comes from as does the max torque. It is funny that the 3 systems that produced the best numbers (hp and torque) used the smallest diameter Y-pipe and 2 of those were with the STOCK Y-PIPE and the other has the same diamter as the stock y-pipe. The dual systems lost speed in the lower range (below 40 mph) and I am convinced that is because of the minimal torque gains and I believe loss of back pressure. So if you want pure sound, the duals are the way to go. But if you want performance, the single exits with the smaller Y-pipe proved to be the best. But if you must use duals, use 2 to 2.25" pipes.

This was done on a Dynojet Dyno and times were tested with my Beltronics FX2 accelerometer.
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[silvertitan7]

great info shailey. Id just like to add that my 14" magnaflow muffler had good results on the butt dyno.

[etalian2005]

Question for you: If perhaps you really wanted duals, how about a dual in-dual out magnaflow? Since the pipe size wouldn't be increasing until after the muffler, would you be able to hold on to the low end tq?

[The_Homewrecker]

Originally Posted by etalian2005

Question for you: If perhaps you really wanted duals, how about a dual in-dual out magnaflow? Since the pipe size wouldn't be increasing until after the muffler, would you be able to hold on to the low end tq?

If I understand your question correctly, I have a similar set up, After my Y, its a 3" pipe, the muffler is 3" casing, and the tip is 3". Although, the 06 isn't nearly the same as your 08. I think the pipe size after the Y doesn't matter to much, but you still don't want to go TOO big though. I'm sure Shailey will chime in soon and clear it up.

[shailey]

Originally Posted by etalian2005

Question for you: If perhaps you really wanted duals, how about a dual in-dual out magnaflow? Since the pipe size wouldn't be increasing until after the muffler, would you be able to hold on to the low end tq?

As long as you keep the small pipes up front, I think that you will be ok. You may lose a little bit and here is why.

Exhaust gases need to be hot in order to move fast. With the gases from the two pipes coming together at the muffler, this helps create heat which allows the gases to get out of the muffler/pipes quicker.

So just don't get exit pipes over 2.5" and I think you will be ok.

[jestep]

hey stephen, you said on an 07 when you just put on a
magnaflow muffler you have to cut the pipe and rotate the pip. does Matt know all of the because iam going to have mine put on probably next week??. thanks in advance

[Buenasnalgas]

Lots of great info once again Stephen, keep it coming

[The_Homewrecker]

Shailey,

do you by any chance have a dyno of these? Any of them really? My brother seems to think i won't gain anything if I just do a muffler swap, and then change my Y pipe.

[shailey]

Joey: Matt does know to do this, I told him how to do the 07's. But with as good as he is, he would have probably figured it out pretty quick.

homewrecker, I wish I still had dyno's but when I was doing all of that it was 18 months ago. I have about 10 dyno's or so saved to my computer and that is all. The dyno here is the original "baseline" dyno that was nothing more than the airaid intake and a magnaflow. The reason I say baseline is because this is when I started dynoing stuff. Here is what it looks like with those two mods.

[TitanBlue]

I just have the MagnaFlow Muffler (Cat Back was too late arriving way back when) and just discovered it is a 3" SISO x 24" (30"OA). I haven't seen anyone else running that. My Muffler guy thought I had a 3" system, until he got it on the rack, so just adapted it. Works great for me. Recent dyno with AEM CAI, TBS, TBS By Pass, UpRev Tune and MF Muffler was 308 RWHP and 380 RWTQ. MF chosen based on Shailey's recommendations too!

[etalian2005]

I think I should be getting my duals done pretty soon. Just don't know if i want the dual straight out exit, or if i want the dual diagonal (cowboy as we call it in TX) exit.

[prayforsnow247]

I posted this over at the "other site"... I appreciate all the time and effort you put into this. That being said, i would like your opinion. I just got an 08 CC LE Long Bed. I want to upgrade the exhaust, Something that sounds better, but not rediculous, and also adds at least 5-10 hp. Now the predicament I have is that nobody makes a system for the long bed yet... Do you suggest doing just the muffler swap? If so will that give me the performance gains and sound that i like? Or should i wait for Gibson to come out with the swept side for a long bed?

Thanx in advance.

[etalian2005]

Muffler swap. The '07-'08's have the best performance system for any Titan and it's better than most of the aftermarket. We have true duals to the muffler and then single out, No y-pipe. so your best bet is to go to a local muffler swap, get yourself a magnaflow single-in, dual out (magnaflow mufflers are reversible) and have an exhaust shop do your pipes for you.

[shailey]

Originally Posted by prayforsnow247

I posted this over at the "other site"... I appreciate all the time and effort you put into this. That being said, i would like your opinion. I just got an 08 CC LE Long Bed. I want to upgrade the exhaust, Something that sounds better, but not rediculous, and also adds at least 5-10 hp. Now the predicament I have is that nobody makes a system for the long bed yet... Do you suggest doing just the muffler swap? If so will that give me the performance gains and sound that i like? Or should i wait for Gibson to come out with the swept side for a long bed?

Thanx in advance.

Yep, just do the muffler swap. I don't know if it will produce the sound that you like, but it will definitely provide the performance you are looking for. Keep all the stock pipes and you will be fine. Hard to believe that the cheapest way out is the best isn't it?

[The_Homewrecker]

Originally Posted by shailey

Joey: Matt does know to do this, I told him how to do the 07's. But with as good as he is, he would have probably figured it out pretty quick.

homewrecker, I wish I still had dyno's but when I was doing all of that it was 18 months ago. I have about 10 dyno's or so saved to my computer and that is all. The dyno here is the original "baseline" dyno that was nothing more than the airaid intake and a magnaflow. The reason I say baseline is because this is when I started dynoing stuff. Here is what it looks like with those two mods.

Do you have a dyno with the JBA Muffler?

I am just thinking of doing 2.25" into a 2.25" Y, opening up to a 3" pipe out to the side..

OR

2.25" into 2.25" Y into a muffler, and after the muffler, 3" piping? Or just keep it all 2.25"?

[shailey]

Here is one that had the JBA system on it...but that wasn't all. LOL

[The_Homewrecker]

That's an awesome gain. What all did you have on at that time? Just, the stock exhaust, and then switched over to that?

[prayforsnow247]

Wow thats it? Awesome, cant wait! Is it a bolt on kit, or do i have to get it welded?

Would never have thought the cheapest would be the best!

[missan nissan]

I have a quick question for you regarding my Banks System...It is a bit loud what can I do to make a bit qiueter without loosing its performance...you wrote a briliant thread here on exhaust system ...I enjoy you articles here .....

[etalian2005]

Don't take this the wrong way, but banks is all for sound not performance. If you want it faster and softer, get a 3" instead of 5" tip and get a Volant Y-Pipe to put on in place of the Banks Y-Pipe. That will give you some more low end grunt and quiet it up some. Good luck.