I am looking to upgrade my exhaust on my Suburban and still haven't made a decision between 3.5 and 4. Since this is a family cruiser, I don't want it to drone and annoy the occupants on road trips. I also want to minimize the fabrication required to make it work.

If you would like to comment on the performance between the 3.5 and 4 inch systems, please feel free. I personally feel that there may not be that much of a performance difference between the two systems, so the next two important areas to me would be noise level and ease of installation.

So, what I would like to do is have members who have installed an aftermarket exhaust system to please list manufacturer/source/size and give an opinion on performance, noise level and ease of installation. Also include any other information you might find useful. Perhaps if we put together a good list it might make it to the FAQ section.

Thanks.

Got mine from Huckstorf diesel in wisconsin. downpipe needed to be lengthened and the exhaust rubs against the torsion bar crossmember. denting to fit, to me, should not be a requirement. It is a 3 inch downpipe steeping up to 4 inch muffler and tailpipe. Happy with the performance but without a chop saw, welder and my old hangers, along with a good friend to help and 4 hours worth of time to install, I would have been screwed. If I had to do it again, I would go with a different vendor

Just bought and installed a 4" exhaust system from a company in Arkansas called Warpspeed Performance. The service over the phone was great and they knew their products but the installation was a little difficult.

The Brackets sent with the system didn't fit my rubber mounts on my 93 truck so i had to unbolt part of the old bracket on my old 3" system and then weld that part to the new clamps (3 mounting clamps) to make it mount to the rubber mounts on my truck. The 3" downpipe went on fine and much easier than expected and then i just made it straight all the way back w/out a muffler or cat converter.

It does have a very deep drone at cruising speed and it is very loud on acceleration but then i also have a 6" stainless tip so that may have something to do with it. Overall, I like the 4" but it may not be for those who want the mellower sound.

Jardine/Pinnacle worked very well for me was only $340 including shipping from ebay and only needs slight mods on brackets, a few sharper bends. 3" downpipe transition to 3.5" until past torsion bar mount then 4". Included 4" magnaflow muffler. It is louder but not bad and it has the growl of a big block from the back until you get on it and the turbo whine sounds great.

I've got the same system as ChevyDave, its the Pinnacle system. The price was great, and the customer support was great. I had a great deal of trouble installing this system at home with limited metal working tools. None of the hangers worked at all on my Suburban. What I ended up doing (which I HIGHLY recommend) is have the system installed by a local exhaust shop, don't even mess with it at home. I cut my old system out from underneath the burb and then installed the downpipe, then ran into trouble. I ended up driving the burb with just the downpipe installed to a local exhaust shop. They got it up on the stand, attached the pipes, and welded their own hangers onto the sytem, and then scrapped the clamps and welded all the pipe joints for me. It took them 45 minutes including disconecting my batteries (at the customers request of course) to get the rest of the system installed. They only charged me 50 for the install, for 50 I wouldn't ever attempt to do one of these installs myself again!! But it was cheap because the hardest part of the install had been done by me, the downpipe install.

I think all the offered exhaust systems out there for the 6.5 have their problems in being installed, just have it done by an exhaust shop.

As for 3.5" or 4" I think the 4" is a little too loud and does sound like a BB gasser rumble, rather than the diesel and turbo whine. You can fix that by installing a magnaflow 3.5" in the transition pipe before the other muffler to quieten it down. If I had to do it again, I'd want 3.5, but the 4" and then 5" football chunker tip still look cool!

I have the Pinnacle system as well. I didn't have any problems with installation. I used the clamps that came with the kit. Only had to bend one to fit into the hanger properly.

The sound is great. Really mean and at cruise it's no louder than stock, but get on it and it's pretty loud. I have't tow my trailer yet but I bet on those long hills that the noise might get to me.