Hypermax 5-Inch Exhaust
With the air entering the motor easier, we needed to get the air exiting our soon-to-be-hot-rod 7.3L power plant easier, too. With plans of a larger turbocharger and larger injectors, expelling all that air through a stock down pipe and restrictive muffler just isn't an option. Plus, if this little truck is going to be a bad little street truck, it needs to sound like one, right?
We turned to Hypermax Engineering, Power Stroke gurus in the industry, and had them send us out one of their mandrel bent 5-inch systems. With a high flowing 5-inch muffler, pre-welded tail pipe section and near perfect fit, it made for a nice simple install. The kit comes with a well-engineered 3.5-inch downpipe to maintain low-end torque while still allowing excellent flow and lower egts. While we've done testing in the past that shows a 5-inch exhaust won't really offer any performance gains over a 4-inch system, the 5-inch Hypermax just had the sound we were looking for-that deep muscle truck rumble without the in-cab noise and freeway drone so often found with straight piped systems.
Like most aftermarket exhaust kits, the hardest part of the installation kit is removing the stock system. A sawzall and some penetrating oil made short work of that, however. After installation of the kit, we've noticed some substantially lower egts and a much smoother exhaust note.