newbie here

[mikef76]

Hello everyone, how's it going? I hope everyone had a good christmas. I am new to the forum and new to my latest toy; a 2011 Ram with a 5.7 hemi crew cab. This is my 2nd ram. I traded in a well used 95 ram for this one. I can only hope that it serves me half as well as the old one did. I was wasting time on the net yesterday and stumbled across you guys. I have big plans for the new ram and a wife that insists that I dont need to change anything. So far the only changes that have been done are adding the steps, tonneau cover and speakers. I still want to add a leveling kit, grille guard and exhaust for starters.
Since I brought up the exhaust, here is a question for you all... I have a muffler laying out in the garage that sounds great but the inlet is smaller than the intermediate pipe, will it hurt the engine if I get an adaptor made to go from what looks like a 2 7/8 down to 2 1/4? I dont plan to run any tailpipes off of this muffler. I had this same muffler on the 95 for years and had no issues. I know the smaller inlet will effect the backpressure but with no tailpipes i think it will equal itself out.

Mike

 

[wermbang]

Welcome to the site. I will let someone else tackle the exhaust question for you, but my only input would be worrying about the back pressure.

 

[ramhunter9]

Welcome to the forum

 

[mikef76]

Thanks for the welcome.
Mike

 

[Rogan68]

welcome to the site.

No, it won't 'equal itself out'. A restriction is a restriction, regardless of what's "downstream" from it.

It's the same as putting your finger over the end of a garden hose.. There's nothing beyond that point, but look at the pressure it causes upstream..

In your above measurements, you're talking over 1/2" diameter in reduction.

With no mods, you'll probably not notice anything aside from noise (you'll not see any performance gains) but you could encounter higher exhaust temps due to the reduction in flow (thermodynamics).

The only advantage you could see is that as the hot exhaust travels down the tube, it cools, thereby contracts in size (as you know, hot air expands, cold air contracts) and the step down in size could possibly aid in scavenging. But it's doubtful, as it's not a tapered reduction, but rather a 'choke'. A tapered reduction will actually aid in increasing the speed flow, where as a choke does the opposite.


There's way more to it than that, obviously, but I'm trying to tiptoe around the physics details.

 

[Trupiano]

Welcome to RF! I'd listen to Rick and just find a proper fit muffler. Here's what I have and love it, the 14".

Mufflex Performance Exhaust

Here's how it sounds.

[yt]Z-vghFxPp1E[/yt]

 

[mikef76]

Thanks for the reply Rogan. I was hoping for some sound on a budget. Looks like I gotta save some more change. Oh well, the wife will be happy for now. lol
Mike

 

[mikef76]

Sounds good!! That is the sound I am after. I decided to hold off until I can get the right stuff and do it right.

Mike

 

[Rogan68]

No worries, Mike. I try to help educate when I can, and sometimes I tend to get too in-depth

Check your mom-n-pop exhaust shops. I've got one here that I always use. They put a flowmaster 40 series on my pop's truck, and duals out the back with chrome tips for about 150$ complete, and did a helluva job.
They are the only ones I'll go to for exhaust work that I can't do.

 

[Graygoose]

welcome to the site!

 

[Rogan68]

I know this isn't a Dodge, but here's the exhaust that the mom-n-pop shop did on my 550whp Subaru.. It's a 4" downpipe tapering to 3", with a Series-40 Flowmaster. He also installed my cut-out and added a wideband o2 ****, all for like $250 (incl. muffler, I supplied the electric cutout)...

 

[HemiBabe]

Welcome to RF!!

 

[bigbadram1500]

Welcome to the forum

 

[zack]

welcome to rf man

 

[Litos]

It's the same as putting your finger over the end of a garden hose.. There's nothing beyond that point, but look at the pressure it causes upstream..

sounds like me in the bedroom..................


but any exhaust shop "should" be able to open up the inlet - or at least weld another short peiece of pipe onto it.

you're probably better off getting a cheap Flowmaster 40 and having it welded in - i got mine done for $160 yesterday.

 

[quietpeen]

welcome to RF. Another think to note is I'm pretty sure the inlet to your muffler is 3"

 

[LB3711]

 

[EJM05]

Welcome.

 

[mikef76]

Thanks everyone for the welcomes. After spending some time browsing the site and seeing pictures I am pretty sure i found another place to hang out. You guys have some beautiful trucks. I am getting a ton of fresh ideas of things to do to mine. Thanks guys.
A little more about myself; my main hobby is motorcycles. I currently own an 07 Yamaha Venture and my wife has a V-Star 650 Classic. I regularly hang out at a few of the forums for those bikes. Since I got the new ram I went looking for a forum on that and stumbled into here. I am the facility manager at an engineering company headquartered in Harrisburg Pa where i am in charge of four office buildings. Before moving to that job I was an auto mechanic and had ASE certifications for brakes, steering and suspension. I still hold a Pa state inspection license however I have not worked in the field for 20 years now. I still do as much of my own repair work as possible. Nothing I hate more than taking any of my vehicles in to the shop for something i can do myself. This brings up my original question to you giuys, I more or less knew what I was wanting to do would not be a good idea. The problem is, I am getting so much grief from my wife about puttig more money into this truck when it does not need it. My dillemna is I have not left anything stock. I have this muffler laying in the corner and want to use it but if it is going create other issues it is not worth the trouble of making it fit. Since my original post I have gotten to look under the truck and see that it is a 3" exhaust and my muffler is only 2 1/4" so it will continue to lay in the corner. My idea of changing the muffler is not dead but just put on hold for now. My ram is an 2011 that we just bought less than a month ago, it barely has 600 miles on it now and I am already looking to start modding it. That is where her issue is. My thing is what fun is a vehicle that looks and sounds like one fresh of the lot??? I have to make it mine, right? lol
It looks like I am rambling on again, talk to you all later. Again, thanks for the welcome and helping out with my first question. I'm sure there will be many more to come.

Mike

 

[HemiBabe]

Hehehe it's no problem! That's what we're here for! I bet you could make that muffler work by adding some flanged pipes, but not 100% sure