Exhaust Options and rerouting.....

Been a little over a week with our (new) 1996, and it's on to project # 2: the exhaust.
The PO modified it to be a side exit.....and I assume at the same time put a glass pack on. The problem is, it's too loud - especially in the cab at cruising speed. My soon to be 16 year old son will be driving it, and even he thinks it's too loud for his liking - so that should tell you something. So I see my options as this:

1. Re-route the exhaust to the rear and leave the glass pack or.....
2. Re-route the exhaust to the rear and put on a muffler that is not necessarily stock, but not as aggressive.

Few things to keep in mind: It's a 4cy 5spd. According to my son - he doesn't want it to sound like a mini van.....but he doesn't want it SO loud....and doesn't want to wake the neighbor kids next door when he comes in at 10pm.

My hunch is to 1st re-route it away from the cab to the rear, then see what kind of a difference that makes to the cab noise level. Then, if it's still too loud.....cut out the glass pack and put on something else - maybe not factory, but something that would sound okay on a 4cy. (I'm not sure what).

Photo below of the side discharge that we'll be getting rid of.....and I'll try to get a video tonight and post so you can hear it. Any suggestions or experience with this mod? Or rather backwards modification?

Thanks in advance! I'm loving this truck, and going to be a little sad when he turns 16 and it's always gone

 

After researching on here I settled with the

$58 dynomax 17733 exhaust muffler for chevrolet S10

dynomax 17733. The super turbo line to your size liking. Offset 2.5 exit with 2.5 center in. Stock pipe is 2.25 I believe. I've got the 2.7 and no drone on highway and it doesn't wake up my neighbors. Sound at 3k rpms but dies down soon as you let off.

 

Under the truck pictures of the exaust carnage would be great let's see the hack job

 

Super helpful.....sounds like that may be exactly what we're looking for.

Will get some pics tonight and post, and will try a video too for the sound. From memory, the job looks fairly clean to me - but I'm not an exhaust guy. No clamps or bailing wire - so that's good, right?? lol

 

So maybe it's more of a hack job then I thought.....I do see at least one clamp. Pictures and videos to help tell the tale....although the video really doesn't sound anything like what you hear - the engine noise heard in the video is almost non-existent in reality.....especially that close to the exhaust. Anyhow, thanks for any suggestions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDrh3ZwRT84

 

I'd route it out the back and add a straight through muffler, that should tone things down quite a bit. I'm running Borla Pro XS mufflers on my truck and they have served me well

 

I did a similar thing with my old Ram except I ran it up over the frame rail and had the tip come out just below the body panel at a 45. Less prone to get nailed by an obstacle and it sounded good. I was tempted to exit it through the bed side, but just couldn't bring myself to do it.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/anthonys-99-tacoma.175933/page-25




https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1st-gen-on-37s-long-travel-completion-date-tbd.237989/page-19

 

Thanks for the replies. We'll likely go with a stock / rear exit. Depending on budget, may see if it's quiet enough with leaving the glass pack - and possibly in the future replacing it with one of the above mentioned mufflers. Thanks again for the input.

 

I have a JBA catback so I got some 2-1/2” exhaust tubing and elbows and exited between the frame and leaf spring 7 years later still holding up fine, though welds are rusty. I sprayed the pipe with bbq paint but it’s mild steel, it’s gonna rust.

 

Nice! Thanks for the suggestions and I appreciate the pics! I'll check clearances and cost and will either go this route or all the way to the rear. Am I right to assume that the factory location would be all the way back to the tailgate?? And was it straight all the way (under the tailgate) or was it a turn out at the rear?

 

Factory is pretty close to the above picture. Side exit

 

Not even close to the same, and it’s obvious. If you don’t wheel your rig then it’s not a concern, go back to stock, and honestly for the work involved and to get the exhaust notes you want ccoyle71 you should just get a catback and save the headache, stock install, just removing/reinstalling hardware.

Routing it over the leaf spring saves clearance of over 3” the stock exhaust adds, not to mention the leaf spring now protects the tailpipe and you don’t have to worry about the leaf spring hitting the tailpipe when you droop the passenger side suspension, which absolutely happens on lifted trucks.

Some say you can just add a drop bracket to the rear tailpipe hanger, but this just further decreases clearance, and the stock is already in a bad enough spot, it doesn’t take much to back up with the rear passenger tire toward a rock or stump or drop off an ledge and crush it.

I don’t have to state why crushing or kinking the tailpipe as in my case is a bad thing.

I crushed my tailpipe when it hung below the frame so I went with the logic of the day to just cut the tailpipe back under the bed which is not good advice.As a result it had several negatives
1. It trapped heat under the bed which would actually melt plastic in the bed stored in the rear passenger corner.
2. It trapped exhaust gasses under the vehicle so they wouldn’t dissipate and you could actually smell them in the driver seat while sitting in traffic
3. The heat ended up rotting/cooking my spare tire
4. The moisture/heat from the exhaust gasses caused the passenger side of the frame to rust, obvious by comparison to the driver side

I’m not suggesting cut the tailpipe under the bed or that anyone else did, more commenting to enforce the logic that running the exhaust the way I did is sound and solves a lot of problems the stock exhaust location presents.

 

I have an axle dump as well (about 5 years now) without any of those issues, but mines maybe a foot lower than yours is in that photo. Might just be that it needs to be extended a bit to keep the gases from getting trapped up in that confined area

 

That’s not my photo, I just found one as an example.

Mine was cut back even closer to the muffler because of how the tailpipe got crushed.

At any rate, for about $50 in tubing, the way it’s run now has zero issues.

 

I don't live where rust is an issue either so I could see it being a much bigger issue in that climate, where all that wet hot air gets held under there

 

I could deal with the rust because it’s in the c-channel portion of the frame and easy to access.

It was the fact it destroyed a brand new 33” mud terrain spare that made me realize it had to be alleviated. That and the fact when I stored a cooler in that corner I was basically putting it on a hot plate

 

Yeah I could see it being bad for the spare too. I have mine on the tailgate swing out so that's another issue avoided but yeah that can't be good for the integrity of the rubber/tire

 

Sorry, reread your post and the context and realize you were answering the OP’s question of where the stock exhaust exits

 

I'd go quieter muffler and stay side exit. Much easier (and cheaper)
Can post pics of mine if wanted.