I'm making myself a new home-made Y-Pipe because the current one stinks!!!!
(The first pictures are the original Y-pipe when I got home from the shop)

I can't complain too loud because the shop that produced the first Y-pipe was the only shop around here that would consider it..... Although with a little time and effort a much better system could have been made.

I'm running Hedman longtubes headers with an Automatic Tranny, which makes things Tight. So.......

I bought a bunch of 3" 45 degree mandrel bent tubing from a local truck exhaust shop along with a few band-clamps and a Magnaflow Dual 3" into Single 3" merge collector.

I'll be taking pictures as I go..... because alot of us have the same issue with clearance and fitment.

 

Check out those pinch bends!!!!! Kinda disgusting ain't it....?

So from the 3" Header collectors to the 3" Y-Pipe in then into the Flowmaster 3" Catback system.
Should work good, hope it sounds good!

The last time I ran the car on the chassis dyno it ran "a lean" 330 Rwhp and 349 Ft/Lbs. We talked about how those pinch bends were probably hurting me on the top-end (if not everywhere!!!!)
So needless to say, I'm hoping to get more performance and CLEARANCE!!!!

I've only started this evening and have been very happy with the results so far..... it looks like I'll have way more room when I'm done!!!!

 

sounds good. post up pic of the new y pipe and ground clearance!
i have hedman lts on my car.... maybe i shall make one for me lol

Good Luck!

 

Piecing a system together like that gives the tightest install

Looks good

 

Well I had some time on my hands this evening and was able to get back at the exhaust system....

I'm pretty sure I have more ground clearance, even though the whole system is now 3"...... Won't really be able to tell until I get it back on the ground.

So I tried to get the Y-pipe as high as I could, that being said I trimmed the tranny crossmember. I'll go back and re-inforce it if I have to....

The piping runs real close to the tranny and fuel lines, but I took that into account prior to starting all this and have header wrap on hand to keep the surrounding area cool.

More pics to come.... I can go into more detail later if need be

 

Couple of passenger side pics...
I don't think I could tuck this up any higher...

 

Looks pretty good much better then the one you had before.

 

looks great! would like to see the ground clearance once the car is on the ground! good job!

 

Just finished with the Y-Pipe!!!!
I had my brother-in-law weld the pieces together cause my welding sucks.... but I think that anyone could mark the pipes in the orientation needed and bring them to a shop to get welded.

So here's a breakdown;
I got two Ball and socket flanges.... $27.00 http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HED-21119/

Four 3" Mandrel bends 45* and I believe it was a 5 inch radius (Didn't get them from Summit, just a local shop but you get the idea) $25.00 ea
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/IMM-52020/

MagnaFlow's 3" Stamped Y-pipe.... $27.00 http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MPE-10798/

Three feet of 3" straight pipe .... $17.00 (Bought this from a local shop too)
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-640030/

Three 3" band clamps (Only needed 1 in the end!).... $8.00
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-693300/

Fiberglass Composite Exhaust wrap, 2 in. Wide x 50 ft (which was long enough to wrap the the two arms including the MagnaFlow merge pipe).... $40.00
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/DEI-010102/

So the project cost about @220.00 give or take....
So far I'm super happy with it!
I'm gonna drill a hole on the passenger side and put another bung in for my WBO2 sensor.

If this thing ends up being too low (which I hope that it isnt) I'll easily fit a 2 1/2 Y-pipe into the 3" Flowmaster system

I'll post better pics later showing it installed.... but from the looks of it I have about 2" more room than I had before! the upgrade should be good for the new 11-1 comp 383 with a HSR AFR 180 Heads and a XFI 268 cam.

What do you guys think?

 

You should consider putting the WBO2 bung in the y-pipe so you get a reading from both sides, other then that looks good.

 

I never thought of putting the WBO2 in the area where the two sides meet... not a bad idea.

I'll have to see how much room is above the merge point.... it's really high up there.

Thanks for the input

 

Thanks for the awesome writeup, i may be doing my own exhaust work now!

 

Can we see some pics of the modified crossmember for reference?

 

Have you noted a differance in performance? I am in the process of building a dual setup but i am gonna run dual 2 1/2 side by side until it the exhaust hanger hooks up, than place that magna flow y-pipe and run 3 inch all the way back to a magnaflow 3inch muffler. I was gonna run your setup but i don't like the idea of butchering my thirdgen's under carriage.

 

LOOKS GOOD, This is my set up, Ive got a 3" y pipe into a 4" pipe over the axle into a flowmaster race muffler