Last night I got the girlfriend on a plane for a week long confrence and got some much needed sleep paid back to my tired old bod.

Today, did I party? No.. Did I sit around and drink beer and watch TV? No..

I got up early this morning and went into work where I have a nice warehouse that I can work on the truck in and got busy.

Let me say, on MY rig, a 4" exhaust is something best installed with patience, a mechanically inclined helper, and a shoehorn.

I took pix of the downpipe I will share, they are scary. I measured the OD clearance and one place has only 3/4" OD.

Got the downpipe and the piped-thru cat installed no problem!! Hey, this is going great! Let's take the helper's rig over to get some lunch.

Oh boy, Karma came for us... we get back and try to put the next pipe on.. the one that goes over the crossmember and the tortion bar keeper.. CLANK. Hey! Twist it a little.. THUD.. um move it left! Your other left! CLANK! This went on for about 45 minutes.. what did we do wrong we ask each other. Now, my helper has 20 years building racecars and he says "John, it aint gonna fit" So, I believe him. The system is just NOT meant to have a cat in it. I have to prove it's there every time I register so leaving the cat out is not an option.We look at the pipe with it's bend and decide to head over to one of the 18 Wheeler shops. Finally find one open with a bored mechanic, hand him the offending piece and show him the desired shape. "No praw" he says. 10 minutes later and a $5 tip for the kind soul who bent the pipe for free and we are headed back to the shop.

We get back and install the pipe without any problems. Fit's like a custom bent pipe! http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif The rest of the system goes together fine. Now, we just have to install the hangers and tighen it all up. Hangers.. right.. no praw as our mechanic friend said.. Karma struck again.

Now, I don't know WHO designed these things and WHAT kind of rubber hanger they had in mind but a 1" wide piece of flatstock does NOT make a good hanger when the rubber is designed for a 1/2" ROUND stock piece. Well, thank goodness I hadn't cut the old hangers off the original pipe and I had a welder at hand. Make the new hangers, tighten everything up, check clearances. OK.. lets get it on the ground and fire it up.

Wow! It sounds great!! Like an old big block!! Gotta take it for a spin and make sure nothing's hitting!

I can't believe the power increase and the nice exhaust note! It's a little loud when ya romp on it but I like it!

I also noticed about 150 deg lower EGT's and the turbo spins up much much faster. All in all a success, and I love the outcome but NOT a plug and play deal to be sure.

I have to agree, the upgrades are addictive. I want new injectors and glows, a chip, gear drive (have the 97 cooling mods but not going to put it on till I have either a gear or chain set) and an intercooler.

:nopics:

Sounds like a good day to me!

Yeah yeah! I know! Here are the pics of the downpipe. I will try to take pics of the shoehorning tomorrow.

the down pipe on my '96 wasn't that bad. It was still ugly compared to mandrel bent, but not nearly as ugly as your..no offense;) . Maybe the general learned something between '94 and '96?

Ditto on the exhaust hangers. I found them to be best compared to useless crap. Do they expect you to weld the flat stock to the frame???:badidea: I mentioned my dissapointment about the hangers to the seller. He said that the manufacturer made those hangers because they were the "most universal" for all the years that the kit covers.:o:...... No mention of what model year those hangers actually do fit.

Yep - 'at's yer average 135ho downpipe, awrite - backpressure rules! ! !;)

I have a couple of those. I was thinking about welding them into a modern art piece. LOL

I adapted the hangers and the original hardware and mounting holes on the frame to work together and used only one on my straight pipe right at the end of the pipe, the turbo clamp holds the other end.

Well, now that I have the thing installed, I went back and looked at the site and closely at the pics and sure as hell, those screwy hangers are right there.

What I did was cut and grind the old round stock hangers off the pipe and weld them to the flat stock and reuse the original holes.

Did you go with the cat option or not? The biggest thing I liked was that it put the cat further back and away from my transmission pan. That HAS to reduce the heat that thing gets.

The really only BAD thing about the day was finding out that it looks like I need to buy some of Greg's oil cooler lines because mine are leaaaaakin!


the down pipe on my '96 wasn't that bad. It was still ugly compared to mandrel bent, but not nearly as ugly as your..no offense;) . Maybe the general learned something between '94 and '96?

Ditto on the exhaust hangers. I found them to be best compared to useless crap. Do they expect you to weld the flat stock to the frame???:badidea: I mentioned my dissapointment about the hangers to the seller. He said that the manufacturer made those hangers because they were the "most universal" for all the years that the kit covers.:o:...... No mention of what model year those hangers actually do fit.

oh my god would you look at that! looks like the truck gremlins were attacking your downpipe while you were sleeping. that is the ugliest downer i have ever seen in my life. good thing it is gone. let it breathe!

As Joi said, some arn't that bad. Mine is a 95' and when it got ripped out, it was actually half-decent. I did have that dent in the 4th picture but not twisted like the 3rd. Kinda surprised me. I expected to see the 'forklift accident' pipe. Let the....err....even more mods begin!!!:ro)

I'm just picturing the guys at the factory.... " I'll get this D@#$ thing to fit" "Hi-yah" *wacks w/ big hammer* "What? Still doesn't fit? Hi-YAH!" "Told ya I'd get it to fit"

Thats what puzzles me, is there a guy on the assembly line with a sledge hammer to bend these to make them fit? I've seen pictures posted of 4 or 5 of the factory ones and I haven't seen 2 the same yet!

ROFLMAO,
Good question TDG and mine wasn't nearly as closed as some shown here.

tdg, i think they hired my kids and gave them 2 pound hammers and told them to go to town.

:lol:

It was a reeeaal squeeeeeze to get the 3" downpipe to fit between the frame and the body. I was a little tempted to take out the 3 lb hammer and make some of those fancy gm bends. A little pushing and a little shoving and it fit like it was supposed to, without adding any dents.



What's a cat???

Catalytic Converter, its a big round piece between the downpipe and the muffler.

Hey, I paid $140 for a new one that I immediatley "Enhanced to maintain a laminar flow through" http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Catalytic Converter, its a big round piece between the downpipe and the muffler.

Hey, I paid $140 for a new one that I immediatley piped through http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gifIf I were you, I wouldn't be admitting that to the world.:lol:

I also just put the ssdiesel supply kit on my 97, the original downpipe wasn't that bad, (maybe at the end of the shift and was tired of hitting?) I did not have any other problems, fit like a glove. Mine is an EC/short bed and there was enough pipe that I did not use the enclosed muffler :D. The clamps are,where a joke though Censored . I just went to the neighbor and had him weld me up some to retrofit the originals.

I cannot beleive the difference it made in the truck :ro) :ro)

I also just put the ssdiesel supply kit on my 97, the original downpipe wasn't that bad, (maybe at the end of the shift and was tired of hitting?)

I cannot beleive the difference it made in the truck :ro) :ro)my kids had school that day.