er. heres my first impressions.
I got the proto pipe you see in the pics today in the mail. Went directly to adam's place to do some test fitting.
Adam's truck has the pte 3" dp. We borrowed Keith's PTE cat for test fitting.
After figureing out how things line up, everything looked great. the side exit pipe fits on the 3" cat's ball joint. It looks like placement of the cat will put the side exit exhaust where it needs to be with the right angle and clearance for the emergency brake.
Note that we were test fitting all this on his truck, he doesnt have the cat installed normally, so we did our best to locate parts where we thought they would sit (I think the mount bracket off the stock cat bolts onto the pte cat?) If it does use the stock mount bracket, then placement of the pte cat would be exactly where the stock cat is.
looked it over, took some pics, then put it on my truck, where its destined to spend its life. Jacked up the truck, routed the exhaust around the emergency cable, and installed the 3 bolts that came with the kit. The pipe bolted into the threaded holes on the saudi res (same as the stock cat) . the frame mount lined up and bolted in ( at first I was concerned as it seemed like it may rattle on the forward spring pack mount). I tightened down all the bolts and viola.
The new pipe is solid. It doesnt move a bit. The tip is 1/4" or so off the cladding. It clears the emergency cable with enough room to satisfy me. The pipe exits more forward than I imagined, but after looking at it more, it doesnt bother me. The angle cut of the tip matches nicely with the cladding angle.
Being a prototype, the fit is awesome. Welds werent amazing, but they are definately better then I could manage. Im not worried about them leaking or breaking, which is ultimately whats important. The included hardware fit perfectly, the hanger with rubber mount is a good touch. The pipe litterally went on in less then 5 minutes.
Now to my most favorite part. We started it up. (now keep in mind, ive been living and loving my exhaust dumping at the end of my resonator) The sound is great, its directed and nice and throaty. A little nasty, and a little oh yea. I love it.. Its everything I loved about my open res, with added benefits. Sounds great, 20g breaths enough to make its presence known.
Back on the road, My rattling dash is gone. The tone and reduced volume inside the truck should allow me to coax my wife back into the truck for a ride
Routing the exit back makes the drive much more pleasent... But doesnt deaden the trucks voice at all. Now its just in mono (right channel). Sounds great, love the fit, love the looks... love that my dash doesnt make noise any more from the vibrations.
To my own surprise, Im much more stoked about this little pipe then I thought I'd be.
big thumbs up.
will have pics after i wash up the truck tomorrow
