March 16, 2012

I wish. I like Cherrystone.

Hope the weather cooperates!

Phil

March 19, 2012

Seems like we`re going to skip Spring and move right into Summer. I went downtown in DC yesterday to the Eastern Market and to take a quick look at the Cherry Blossom stuff, and it went from 50* at 10AM to near 80* by 1PM.

March 20, 2012

In D.C? Man that`s alot of hot air.......... Gotta gut the bunk room in the TT because of a little water damage. Man this thing`s like a house sometimes! Psyched though. I`ll just try to have enough diesel to get me into NJ where it`ll be cheaper. Economy sucks but not gonna let it get me down......Va. here I come!
Well in a cpl wks I mean.
Be well and remember ultimately God is in control....Not Oblama.

Lata!

Phil

March 20, 2012

I must be dreaming- logged on and got right into the forums thru the front door not by going thru "my posts".
Got back from Wilmington tonight- 17 MPG. Not one WOT. Boring ride.
Had a late dinner Saturday nite at a local 2 Guys down there- empty parking lot and just as I parked 4 NC troopers pulled in around me- and I mean around me. Looked like a felony stop. They all got out laughing.
After dinner I was pissed- no picture

March 22, 2012

That would`ve been a picture for the ages.

I went to Robert`s shop to get my exhaust fixed, he did a REALLY good job! The exhaust clearance is better than stock now, and the exhaust tips look like they`re factory issued!

I`ll try and post a picture up in a minute...keeping my fingers crossed.

March 22, 2012

So, I can`t add photo`s the gallery.

EDIT: The direct image links to Photobucket don`t work either. Had to try a couple different things before it would work.
Before:


After:

March 22, 2012

Me likey!!!

Phil

March 22, 2012

Dave,
tips look great

March 22, 2012

The biggest issue was that the pipe (mid-pipe) between the cat and the muffler was oddly bent. It fit, but when fitted to the muffler the result was that the muffler was tilted down at almost a 20* angle. The muffler pointed right at a crossmember under the truck and would make contact after the truck warmed to operating range. Bing, bing, bing, bing...

The clamps supplied by Dynatech are really nice, but fit poorly at the mid-pipe/muffler junction. If I pushed hard enough, I could actually rotate the pipe inside the clamp and raise the muffler about 1", and eliminate the issue of the muffler "binging" on the crossmember...until I hit a bump. The clamps were actually buckling from being so tight, they simply couldn`t crank down any more on the pipes.

Fed up, I headed over to Robert`s Custom Exhaust and had him take a look. He crawled underneath the truck in the parking lot while I was talking to him, then interrupted me with a loud "WT" He scheduled me for an all-day appointment Tuesday, but had it done in just under 2 hours. He removed the mid-pipe and massaged the angles to make it flow better and hug the transmission crossmember. He removed the Dynatech clamps and replaced them with Accuseal units that look like they belong on big-rig exhausts. The pipes themselves are supposed to be slip-fit, but weren`t slit, so he cut them and reinstalled with anti-seize. He removed all the exhaust hangers and trimmed or lengthened them as necessary, and fabricated a new hanger for the mid-pipe because the Dynatech solution was a bolt that really didn`t work well. When he was finally done fitting the muffler, the exhaust tips actually ended up way underneath the truck pointed slightly up towards the bed side. So he took those pipes off, bent them to the proper angle and tweaked the hanger. There`s not much room for those tips to exit, because the nerf bar mount is there and the leafspring mount is adjacent to the hanger. He fit the tips how they should look. The exhaust has enough play to deal with the torque, but does not move otherwise. We revved the truck up to near redline and it didn`t budge.

After all this, he`s not happy that a pre-fab kit from Bassani and Dynatech that are advertised to fit the truck required so much work to correct. The headers, mid-pipes and catalytic converters are Dynatech, while the cat-back is Bassani. He said he could`ve fabbed up a complete system for the same cost made of 3" stainless, for about the same cost, excepting that his would`ve been fit to the truck.

I won`t hesitate to recommend him for exhaust work. He`s done all sorts of hot-rods, muscle cars, modern cars, diesels and even some exotic cars and the work is awesome.

I have to say, since the fix the resonance seems to have diminished inside the cab. Probably because the muffler isn`t touching the frame. It sounds and looks great!

March 23, 2012

Glad you`re happy with the result Dave.
Good lookin truck!

Ugh....can`t wait to go camping!
Is it April yet?

Phil

March 25, 2012

just checking in

March 25, 2012

Dave, glad you got your exhaust tuned-up. Picture looks real good.
Has anyone talked to Mo?
Bennie