Stainless steel 5.0 y-pipe for 2015+ trucks.....finally
02-27-2019, 04:58 PM
#12
Senior Member
Thread Starter
I finally put my AFE catless y-pipe on the other day. It is indeed a bitch to install. Oddly removing the stock piece was not that hard, but I did drop the transmission brace and crossmember (per AFE instructions), and the stock piece just drops to the ground. Getting the new AFE installed and lined up however is a massive bitch, and the two piece design, which I initially liked as it reduces leak chances, makes it that much harder to install. Part of the problem is AFE has designed this y-pipe to fit all 15-19 trucks, and the 18+ trucks have minor changes to the y-pipe and hanger area, and I think these changes are what made my install so difficult as I couldn't get the hangers to line up. Even still they are super tight, and I feel increased exhaust resonance in the cab now. At some point I'm gonna go back down there and take a stab at bending the hangers to reduce tension on them, but I ran out of time and had to go to work, and I'm on shift now till Saturday.
Quality: Not that great for how much it costs. I had weld splatter on one of the o2 bungs that I needed to file off. I'm not gonna say its bad, but considering its main rivals are half the cost. But then again, that's all probably materials cost due to it being stainless, and it is indeed stainless as it sat outside for a couple weeks in the rain without any rust. That being said I plan on emailing AFE about that weld splatter, as that would have prevented the o2 sensor from sealing and could have caused some grief for anyone who didn't check this prior to install.
Fitment: As mentioned above, not great. The tight fit made me nervous about leaks at the ball and socket flanges on the cast iron manifolds. Overall it was a PITA to install and feels like it fits really really tight. To properly install this you need 4 arms and without 4 arms, I used both my arms, my face, belly, and right knee to hold and wedge it into place. I also needed a floor jack to spread the transmission bracket hanger arms to basically force the fitment.
Noise: OMG....I have a Corsa, with no resonator, and when I first started the truck up (in a closed garage), I thought I'd exploded. Its like Nascar....seriously, its angry and raspy and obnoxiously loud, and on a scale of 1-10 its an 11. The Corsa, an exhaust I dearly love and until this point had kept any drone at bay, could do nothing to tame the beast that was now scratching and clawing its way out of my exhaust pipes. It was so incredibly loud I never turned the truck back off for fear of another cold start, and instead I let it idle outside while I got dressed and went to work two hours early, where I parked down the street in an empty lot to avoid getting arrested. The next morning after my shift ended, I started up my truck and I'm pretty sure I killed a bird as one fell out of a tree nearby. When your exhaust starts killing wildlife, its too loud. Later that day I had the SPD resonated midpipe I had purchased earlier welded on, and it has taken the edge off, with the exhaust now a solid 9. Its still raspy and angry when you give it gas, but I can at least limp it down the street without anyone calling the police. I'm gonna have another resonator welded on, likely a Vibrant ultra quiet, but I'll need to find a suitable spot for one. Being a regular cab short bed, straight sections of exhaust are at a premium, and its likely going to be one of the straight sections at the axle kickup. If I ever get headers, they will be catted for no other reason then to avoid this rasp.
Quality: Not that great for how much it costs. I had weld splatter on one of the o2 bungs that I needed to file off. I'm not gonna say its bad, but considering its main rivals are half the cost. But then again, that's all probably materials cost due to it being stainless, and it is indeed stainless as it sat outside for a couple weeks in the rain without any rust. That being said I plan on emailing AFE about that weld splatter, as that would have prevented the o2 sensor from sealing and could have caused some grief for anyone who didn't check this prior to install.
Fitment: As mentioned above, not great. The tight fit made me nervous about leaks at the ball and socket flanges on the cast iron manifolds. Overall it was a PITA to install and feels like it fits really really tight. To properly install this you need 4 arms and without 4 arms, I used both my arms, my face, belly, and right knee to hold and wedge it into place. I also needed a floor jack to spread the transmission bracket hanger arms to basically force the fitment.
Noise: OMG....I have a Corsa, with no resonator, and when I first started the truck up (in a closed garage), I thought I'd exploded. Its like Nascar....seriously, its angry and raspy and obnoxiously loud, and on a scale of 1-10 its an 11. The Corsa, an exhaust I dearly love and until this point had kept any drone at bay, could do nothing to tame the beast that was now scratching and clawing its way out of my exhaust pipes. It was so incredibly loud I never turned the truck back off for fear of another cold start, and instead I let it idle outside while I got dressed and went to work two hours early, where I parked down the street in an empty lot to avoid getting arrested. The next morning after my shift ended, I started up my truck and I'm pretty sure I killed a bird as one fell out of a tree nearby. When your exhaust starts killing wildlife, its too loud. Later that day I had the SPD resonated midpipe I had purchased earlier welded on, and it has taken the edge off, with the exhaust now a solid 9. Its still raspy and angry when you give it gas, but I can at least limp it down the street without anyone calling the police. I'm gonna have another resonator welded on, likely a Vibrant ultra quiet, but I'll need to find a suitable spot for one. Being a regular cab short bed, straight sections of exhaust are at a premium, and its likely going to be one of the straight sections at the axle kickup. If I ever get headers, they will be catted for no other reason then to avoid this rasp.
The following 4 users liked this post by BadCon:
02-27-2019, 11:43 PM
#13
Senior Member
I have Kooks green cats on mine and it hardly increased exhaust loudness. It completely changes the tone and noises but it's still very tame and quiet for the most part. I had it installed for me but the guy who did it wasn't very thrilled about the install afterwards lol.
02-28-2019, 12:19 AM
#14
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Headers are a nightmare from what I've been told, and I'm not gonna tackle that one myself. I had thought about going with some stainless works long tubes that feed into their true dual x-pipe, but being a regular cab everything after that x-pipe has to be custom, and I don't feel like dropping $3000 for a full exhaust for not much gain in horsepower. If I do anything else it'll likely be to weld in some high flow cats onto this AFE pipe, I just found some from Vibrant that claim to support 800hp per cat, and over 2000 degrees, but I'm gonna drive around for awhile and see how I like it. I think one more resonator will tame it down enough for my liking.
03-06-2019, 11:24 AM
#15
Senior Member
on a Whipple F150, I would love to see full long tubes with cats, vs SPD Y pipe with cats on the dyno. $2500 vs $675. Cant see a difference of more than 5-10whp
anyone think differently?
anyone think differently?
03-06-2019, 11:34 AM
#16
I’d go 20 at most. It’s a lot of money for those last few HP. That doesn’t mean I don’t think daily about a full Stainless Works true dual system with the pipes behind the axles rebuilt to run hidden straight out the back dumped in front of the bumper with a pair of round mufflers where the spare tire goes...and Vibrant resonators in place of the SW cats. lol
03-06-2019, 12:10 PM
#17
Senior Member
5 star went from 580 to 620+ who on a 18 Roush truck with catted SPDs. That is what has me wondering how much more would true LTs pick up. 40whp seems about it
03-06-2019, 08:54 PM
#18
Senior Member
Thread Starter
The cast manifolds on the 15+ trucks are actually not terrible, much better then the log style used on the 11-14 trucks. I just don't see all that much horsepower lurking there after someone does a y-pipe upgrade into a bigger exhaust. There is of course power there, don't get me wrong, that is evidenced by Ford using the actual header on the Mustangs, but its not like someone is gonna bolt on 40whp with a set of headers if they've already done a y-pipe. I have my system funneled through a 3" exhaust, and at my power levels I know there is power to be had by going larger. Problem is noise, and how I don't really want it that loud anymore. I just don't see how I could quiet down a 4" exhaust with the limited space my RCSB truck has....I'm already struggling to find room for another resonator on my Corsa system, and its obnoxiously loud even after adding a Vibrant ultra quiet after the y-pipe.
I plan on getting my truck dynoed again, but it is not a fair comparison pre y-pipe, as I've also upped the boost and gone with a bigger fuel system. I have some nagging complaints with this AFE y-pipe, and part of me wants to go with a true dual system using stainless works headers into their performance connect. Problem is my regular cab truck would require a custom everything after the x-pipe and that could get expensive (on top of the two grand for the headers). I do know I'm making a ton more power, I matched my previous fastest time the other night on my Dragy device in 30 degree weather with 0 traction, a headwind, false knock on each shift, and a truck that was short shifting at 6500rpm lol. Matt at ID Motosports sent me a revision, and I'm gonna give her another go either tonight or tomorrow night with slightly warmer temperatures and hopefully no more short shifting. I still have to figure out where the knock is coming from, but it was too cold today to be lying on my concrete garage floor. I'm still thinking its the 02 spacers and the little adjustable flow restrictors that can rattle. I'm just gonna remove them and see what happens.
I plan on getting my truck dynoed again, but it is not a fair comparison pre y-pipe, as I've also upped the boost and gone with a bigger fuel system. I have some nagging complaints with this AFE y-pipe, and part of me wants to go with a true dual system using stainless works headers into their performance connect. Problem is my regular cab truck would require a custom everything after the x-pipe and that could get expensive (on top of the two grand for the headers). I do know I'm making a ton more power, I matched my previous fastest time the other night on my Dragy device in 30 degree weather with 0 traction, a headwind, false knock on each shift, and a truck that was short shifting at 6500rpm lol. Matt at ID Motosports sent me a revision, and I'm gonna give her another go either tonight or tomorrow night with slightly warmer temperatures and hopefully no more short shifting. I still have to figure out where the knock is coming from, but it was too cold today to be lying on my concrete garage floor. I'm still thinking its the 02 spacers and the little adjustable flow restrictors that can rattle. I'm just gonna remove them and see what happens.
03-06-2019, 10:14 PM
#20
Senior Member