Cerd
Junior Member
I will preface this by saying that I have no interest to delete or hollow out my Cat.
I recently discovered that there is a crack in the pipe right in front of the cat on my 2003 2500 5.7L. While it is relatively quiet when cruising, if I have to kick it down at all, volume in the cab jumps to about 80dB and my ears cannot handle that for extended periods of time.
I was leaning toward just welding the leak, but at 235k miles, I would expect it to start failing soon. On my 2005, when the cat started failing around 250k, there was a severe loss of power, so I don't expect it to last much longer.
The main question is, should I cut the pipe and weld in a Spun Cat that may need a little pipe extension or should I replace it with the Magnaflow OEM style with downpipe?
Obviously, OEM parts are not available and, frankly, are overpriced to begin with. The Magnaflow looks like the pipe size is the same, but has a 2.5" inlet to the cat and 3" outlet, but the factory one looks like it goes from 2.5" and the pipe is enlarged to 3" shortly before it reaches the Cat. The Magnaflow is also stainless steel, compared to Walker's aluminized. Having said that, I refuse to use any Walker products because they seem to be built horribly; they rot and break pretty fast in comparison. IMO, Walker is the Walmart of exhaust parts.
Are there any other reasonably priced options EXCLUDING DELETE?
I recently discovered that there is a crack in the pipe right in front of the cat on my 2003 2500 5.7L. While it is relatively quiet when cruising, if I have to kick it down at all, volume in the cab jumps to about 80dB and my ears cannot handle that for extended periods of time.
I was leaning toward just welding the leak, but at 235k miles, I would expect it to start failing soon. On my 2005, when the cat started failing around 250k, there was a severe loss of power, so I don't expect it to last much longer.
The main question is, should I cut the pipe and weld in a Spun Cat that may need a little pipe extension or should I replace it with the Magnaflow OEM style with downpipe?
Obviously, OEM parts are not available and, frankly, are overpriced to begin with. The Magnaflow looks like the pipe size is the same, but has a 2.5" inlet to the cat and 3" outlet, but the factory one looks like it goes from 2.5" and the pipe is enlarged to 3" shortly before it reaches the Cat. The Magnaflow is also stainless steel, compared to Walker's aluminized. Having said that, I refuse to use any Walker products because they seem to be built horribly; they rot and break pretty fast in comparison. IMO, Walker is the Walmart of exhaust parts.
Are there any other reasonably priced options EXCLUDING DELETE?
