I have a 99 5.4L with a 14" Magnaflow si/so dumped before the front axle. A shop took out the front cats and replaced them with pipe. They would only remove these since they were pre-cats. The truck just isn't every much louder. Is it the muffler that is quieting it down so much? Was it a waste of me just removing my front cats?

The muffler only has about 1,000 miles on it, so I am not sure if it will get louder or not.

 

The pre-cats on your truck wont release much volume, its the rear cats that hold back sound. You need hi-flow cats to replace the rears.

Your muffler will beed at least 5,000 more miles for full break in.

 

Try re routing the exhaust exit to in front of the rear tire. That will be the loudest.

 

if you are in a state that you dont have emmision take all the cats off its plenty loud then. havnt had cats in a few years and i love it. other wise HF's are the way to go

 

Removing the pre-cats won't do anything, besides cost you money.

 

That's for sure.

I could spend more money on HF cats, but will that really make that much of a difference in sound over the stock 2? I don't really want to remove them altogether since I don't want to lose low end, etc.

Edit on my original post, I just realized I said dumped before the front axle; LOL, i meant rear axle.

 

Magnaflow hi-flow cats are only $46 a piece from performancepeddler.com with the coupon code "bestoffer4em", and installation is relatively cheap as long as the pipe jockey keeps your old cats. The hi-flows sound sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than the 2 stock cats.

 

I'll second that!!!

 

My main concern is that I will spend money on high flows, and it still won't be much different. I did a search and it seems that maybe my mufflers are just quiet. Or perhaps quiet in dumped form.

Does anyone have any sound clips of a dumped magnalfow (I have hears clips with tips), and high flows?

Maybe I should switch to Super44s...

 

^ No you shouldn't... Take them cats out and you will be happy.

 

I have dual magnaflows with the stock cats right now. Here is a clip of what it sounds like. I am going to put hf maggies on next week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGQFCnTlXh8

 

also your not really gonna lose any low end power by taking off your cats. Your truck is 11 yrs old and there probably isnt much left to your cats anyways. I think you should just take the cats off and see how you like it, then if its not what you want put on the maggie's

 

I have a question to you guys that removed both sets of cats. I have already removed the rear 2, but left the front so that i didnt get a check engine light. Have you guys had a problem with this ?

 

Swapping out OE cats for hi-flows made a day and night difference on mine. They make the overall sound more aggressive and louder. I've got vids of my exhaust with OE and hi-flows. My only regret is that I didn't have them installed on day one.

Edit:

You won't lose any power/torque, you gain both from swapping them out.

 

Problem with taking them completely off is finding someone that will do it...Wish I had a friend with a welder..

Thanks for the feedback everyone.