4x4 Upgrades?

[brenden84]

hey guys, thanks a lot for your help with my suspension. anyway, im a high school senior with a weekend job and im spending about 80 bucks a month on gas. my parents make me pay for everything which is cool but that means, insurance, reapairs, gas and accesories. id really like to get an exhaust system but they are pricy, would u suggest purchasing one for the improvement of the milage or what. if so what brand would u suggest. i'd want the loudest most badass sounding one u could get. on that note, is there any other type of upgrade within a reasonable amount of money (2-300 dollars) that would improve milage, ride or any other aspect of the vehicle? thanks- brenden

 

[Shadow_D]

First I would try to stay away from an excessively loud exhaust system for two reasons,
1) Your local laws may prohibit noisy exhausts
2) Your neighbors may start to get upset with the noise from your truck.

Best thing I can suggest for you is a K & N Filter Kit. It will help your HP and MPG plus it will give your truck a more throaty sound, not that much louder but meaner sounding.

 

[Txquadhunter]

To save a few bucks over the cat-back sysems try calling a few muffler shops in your area for prices. loud deep tone 40S flowmaster will give you that sound, cheaper route would be the good ol' glasspacks. I'm either or I love the loud crack(it smooths out to a nice tone at cruising speed) of my 4spd F150 with 12" glasspacks, I also love the smooth tone of the 40S flowmasters on my 79 bronco

 

[Justshootme84]

Here's the story on my 84 Bronco exhaust. When I first bought it, I needed a new muffler. Took it to a shop, and when they removed the old muffler, the two catalytic converters fell out in pieces!!! I got a single, high-flow cat and a single Flowmaster muffler with dual exits that both go behind the right tire. Nice rumble, but not overly loud. Total bill was about $550.

On my 85 Chevy K10, it just has straight pipes from the motor into glasspacks---You can hear it over a mile away, it's that loud.

 

[shaun94]

I went with the single pipe flowmaster exhaust and did the tune up and got a lot better gas milage and the nice rumble sound I wanted. It only cost me about $250.00 dollars to have the exhaust put in.

 

[jfrbronco]

pace setter make a good sounding one,it's like 179$ cat back good for the price
JFR-

 

[brenden84]

to shadow, i really dont care about my neigbhors, they're assholes. haha. also, i bought a K&N but it was just the filter. loud is good. whats a glasspack? straight pipes to a glasspack sounds like it would be good if its that loud. is it something i could do myself and generally how much would that cost?-brenden

 

[Justshootme84]

Dude, I wouldn't worry about the neighbors so much as I would the Law, since they will enforce the local noise code. It depends on where you live and whether or not you want to be street-legal, as that varies from state to state. Here in TX, since the 84 Bronco originally came with a catalytic converter(2 actually), the law specifies that it cannot be removed. It can be replaced with an aftermarket one, even just the shell of one, if you don't have to pass a smog test. You can still keep the "cat" and modifiy the exhaust from there back however you want, as long as you have some type of muffler. A glasspack has been around since the 50's, and it's simply a round tube with glass beads in it to absorb or dampen the sound. The shorter the tube, the louder it is, as they come in lenghts from 18 to 24 inches, sometimes even shorter. They sound best when used on a true dual exhaust, that is, a separate exhaust pipe for each side of the motor, like my 85 Chevy has. That's alot harder to do on the Bronco, but a good muffler shop should be able to di it. Most around here are just not willing to do it cause of all the regs on modifying the exhaust. Your best bet is just a single muffler like the others suggested, so you don't get any tickets for "excessive noise" (up to $300 fine).

 

[brenden84]

lol, good point. i live in phx az and ive never had a problem or heard of any problems with people being too noisy, thats why im not too worried about it. im short belting my engine cause i have a blown ac and my smog regulators spin wheel doesnt spin. a guy at auto zone said that it should spin free and that they could fix it for 40 bucks or so. he also said tho that u only need it to pass emissions and that it actually robs horsepower so i just left it without the belt. i was out offroading a while ago and the cover of the bin that holds washer fluid and doubles as the overflow tank for the coolant fell off into the engine and got lodged in where a belt tore right through it. anyway, im pretty sure i have single exhaust, i have a single pipe running into my muffler which has two pipes coming from that.

so are u saying a glasspack is actually a piece thats "implanted" into the tailpipe?

i was goin for a better sound, more throaty. would a certain kind of muffler do that?

thanks- brenden

 

[Raven]

Flowmaster mufflers will give you the throughty sound plus be a little louder then the stock.. the thing I have also found that if the cat is pluged it will sound a little better but you wil not get the full sound unless you put a new or a hollowed out cat on it .. BTW JSM it is a federal law on the cat converters.. it is just inforced more strictly in some areas then in others.. even here in MI where there is no inspections if a cop wants to give you a ticket he will look to see if it is there.. known several ppl that got tickets for not havingthem ..

 

[Sorny]

Well I know here in Melville it is a retirement city, and they nothing but complain about exhaust. The cops are also very picky about it. But as long as you don't drive around like an ass (especially at night) you will not have any problem. I know on every vehical I have owned I have had 2 1/2 inch pipe to the back with eather a Thrush Magum Glasspack or Blue Bottles, and I haven't had any trouble and I don't drive my vehicals the nicesest. My friend had a earliy 80's cutlass with blue bottles on it and that thing was loud untill the day the cops caught him and told him to change them, so he want to a flowmaster and now his car will not spin the tires any more and he is getting less milage. All I can say is that if you want to go loud, don't piss around at night just go out on the highway and play around out there.

 

[brenden84]

ok, thanks a lot for the exhaust help guys. peace

brenden

 

[Gunner]

i wouldnt trade my dual exhaust for anything. i love that sound along with the straight pipe into flowmasters. dual cats. and the loudest exhaust here in fall river. yes it is illegal but i dont really have to worry about one of my fellow police officers pulling me over because they all love it to.