Funky exhaust setup

The previous owner removed the Banks turbo from the truck I purchased. What was underneath the truck is what looks to be the old Y pipe that had been hacked and a, well, custom exhaust installed.

The exhaust was connected with some sort of metal foil wrap and some screws. Certainly less back pressure that way, I guess. Leaks all the way down. It was also held up by some baling wire and an elastic hook strap.

I picked up a Y pipe from a junkyard just to have since it was less than $15.

How can I make this better? It looks like I can easily connect the factory Y-pipe to the exhaust 3" pipe with minimal effort, though I know the factory pipe isn't great.

My thoughts are to find a 5" to 3" adapter to fix the weld and make it a smoother transition. I'll figure out the exhaust hangers, that seems easy enough. For the existing cut up Banks pipe I'm thinking cut the Y off and add a dual 2"/2.25"/2.5" (haven't measured yet) to 3" adapter, then a 3" angle, 30*, 45* whatever it is, to the larger pipe and that should make a better transition.

Or just slap the factory Y pipe on, get this thing up and running and out of my side yard, and take the whole shebang to an exhaust shop first thing.

Any thoughts are appreciated

That's pretty much how my setup went early on.

I ended up doing the Y pipe cut out and weld-in just like you have in the picture of the Y pipe by itself. It does help when N/A. If you're going to turbo it then don't bother, it's kind of lot of work if you're just a hobby welder with a stick machine like me.

If you won't turbo you might want a free flow muffler on the straight section, N/A can be pretty loud.

That last picture...doesn't look like a stock Y. It's much smoother than stock, which is closer to a T. If the outlet of that Y is 3" or better I would run that instead of the hassle of getting your own custom deal going. Unless you want the practice in slight angles, frustration, and cursing.

The last picture is the Banks turbo Y pipe that the previous owner chopped. It exits on the opposite side of the factory Y pipe. The outlet on is just a cutoff, nothing really to connect to. It was connected with some sort of janky heat shield screwed into it and the 3" pipe.

That'll be next, doing ZF5 swap and then sorting it all out.

man do full duals those crossover setups are restricrtive and costing alot of flow our motors love the added exhaust flow or up the exhaust diameter size in the crossover section and the collector and rest of way back. I like to do 2.5 for the crossover to a 3inch collector and 3.5-4 inch rest of way back with a straight flow thru type of muffler.


the exhaust you got there is costing you 15-25 hp and 30-40 ftlb of torgue making the exhaust flow well drastically increases fuel mileage and power all around.

Duals would be nice, I'll look into it as I can. My main concern is getting this thing fired up for the first time since June and out of my side yard without too much disturbance by being one step away from having open headers.

If anyone complains, just blame it the guy down the street with the hot rod.