malohnes
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- August 8, 2009
- Messages
- 909
- Reaction score
- 15
- City, State
- SE Alaska
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '91 xl m5 4x4
For those of you who are looking into a new exhaust system for your Explorer, or need to replace some components, I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at how much I like the JBA/Magnaflow/Gibson combo I have now. I replaced the stock manifolds, cat and a Walker muffler that were rusted and falling to pieces.
The headers are the simple non ceramic coated set. The headers themselves were a bit challenging to install as they are tight fit. Because I had to replace head gaskets I put them on the head, before I reinstalled it on the engine block and made that part a whole lot easier. Several of the bolt heads are very hard to get to, but patience is king. The 2 piece Y pipe was both easy and hard. Easy because there was more than enough room to align and adjust the fitment, but hard because that same ease of movement made for lots of floppiness getting things just right...another patience thing. I bought all new hardware because the headers did not come with any, other than the header bolts.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=720&pictureid=6570
[IMG]http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=720&pictureid=6571
The Magnaflow cat was a direct replacement piece and was a easy install as well. They did not include new nuts to replace the rusty froze on stock ones. The stainless looks good and should last.
Finally, the Gibson cat back exhaust is quite nice. It too was the aluminized version, not stainless as with the Magnaflow. Not knowing how much of the sound comes from the individual components it is hard to quantify the sound of this muffler on it own. As a set, I really like it. To those who know little about performance auto's, it raises no flags. For those who know it is readily apparent it is not stock, but not a hot rod either. It has a mellow, throaty sound and isn't boomy at any RPM, though it is much louder at resonance than I would have hoped for, it wasn't excessive either. It was also much quieter than my blown Walker muffler it replaced. We can carry on a conversation easily when cruising the road and the kids are fussing like before when the droning was killing us.
As for the rest of the kit, all the hardware was included in the Gibson set so I used them, a big plus since I could not and would not reuse the old rusty nuts and bolts. The exit is after the rear wheel and the tip is a nice chromed stainless piece. Nice without being flashy. My wife likes the mellow sound, though she did ask why it sounded "tinny." I told her it was because it was a tubular design without the cast manifolds and the free flowing cats and mufflers. She said, "Oh." If Momma approves I'm doubly happy!
The most difficult part of the whole project was honestly, getting the old stuff off. The cast manifolds came off quickly with no fuss after a shot of PB Blaster the night before. I cut the Y pipe and cat off since the bolts were way too rusted and tough to get at. Lining all the pieces up to tighten things was a chore, but I simply started from the headers and worked my way down keeping things loose enough to move the sections around with some effort, but snug enough that they didn't flop. I did all the work without the truck up on stands, or jacked up, though it would have made some parts easier, I actually would recommend doing the way I did instead since I did not have to block stuff up so high. I'll post some pics soon, I need to become a full member anyway to pay back to the community for all the work contributed.
As for performance, I can't say how much power I had before and since I did a bunch of other things while I replaced the exhaust, like new water pump and radiator. My truck was running pretty good prior to this, with the exception of blown head gasket and major carbon build up in the heads and piston top. I can say that my seat of the pants feeling is that the engine is very noticeably stronger, but not night and day better. I pulls a lot harder and seems smoother. While on cruise control in 5th, it pulls without struggling on all but the largest hills, something I could not do before.
Anyway, I got all three kits on Amazon, with free shipping and didn't spend as much as I was preparing to spend. This was a good purchase and one I'd do again, especially if I could score the deals I did on shipping in the future.
The headers are the simple non ceramic coated set. The headers themselves were a bit challenging to install as they are tight fit. Because I had to replace head gaskets I put them on the head, before I reinstalled it on the engine block and made that part a whole lot easier. Several of the bolt heads are very hard to get to, but patience is king. The 2 piece Y pipe was both easy and hard. Easy because there was more than enough room to align and adjust the fitment, but hard because that same ease of movement made for lots of floppiness getting things just right...another patience thing. I bought all new hardware because the headers did not come with any, other than the header bolts.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=720&pictureid=6570
[IMG]http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=720&pictureid=6571
The Magnaflow cat was a direct replacement piece and was a easy install as well. They did not include new nuts to replace the rusty froze on stock ones. The stainless looks good and should last.
Finally, the Gibson cat back exhaust is quite nice. It too was the aluminized version, not stainless as with the Magnaflow. Not knowing how much of the sound comes from the individual components it is hard to quantify the sound of this muffler on it own. As a set, I really like it. To those who know little about performance auto's, it raises no flags. For those who know it is readily apparent it is not stock, but not a hot rod either. It has a mellow, throaty sound and isn't boomy at any RPM, though it is much louder at resonance than I would have hoped for, it wasn't excessive either. It was also much quieter than my blown Walker muffler it replaced. We can carry on a conversation easily when cruising the road and the kids are fussing like before when the droning was killing us.
As for the rest of the kit, all the hardware was included in the Gibson set so I used them, a big plus since I could not and would not reuse the old rusty nuts and bolts. The exit is after the rear wheel and the tip is a nice chromed stainless piece. Nice without being flashy. My wife likes the mellow sound, though she did ask why it sounded "tinny." I told her it was because it was a tubular design without the cast manifolds and the free flowing cats and mufflers. She said, "Oh." If Momma approves I'm doubly happy!
The most difficult part of the whole project was honestly, getting the old stuff off. The cast manifolds came off quickly with no fuss after a shot of PB Blaster the night before. I cut the Y pipe and cat off since the bolts were way too rusted and tough to get at. Lining all the pieces up to tighten things was a chore, but I simply started from the headers and worked my way down keeping things loose enough to move the sections around with some effort, but snug enough that they didn't flop. I did all the work without the truck up on stands, or jacked up, though it would have made some parts easier, I actually would recommend doing the way I did instead since I did not have to block stuff up so high. I'll post some pics soon, I need to become a full member anyway to pay back to the community for all the work contributed.
As for performance, I can't say how much power I had before and since I did a bunch of other things while I replaced the exhaust, like new water pump and radiator. My truck was running pretty good prior to this, with the exception of blown head gasket and major carbon build up in the heads and piston top. I can say that my seat of the pants feeling is that the engine is very noticeably stronger, but not night and day better. I pulls a lot harder and seems smoother. While on cruise control in 5th, it pulls without struggling on all but the largest hills, something I could not do before.
Anyway, I got all three kits on Amazon, with free shipping and didn't spend as much as I was preparing to spend. This was a good purchase and one I'd do again, especially if I could score the deals I did on shipping in the future.
