Stainless Works headers.

I knew I was going to do headers, but took my time to find what I think was right for me.

A friend of mine has Stainless Works headers on his GT350 and it sounds like madness, he's been happy with it for last 3 years so I reached out to them, I know there are other options but I'm happy with my choice, it may slightly be on the more expensive side, but I feel like the workmanship and the details are worth it.

I went with the catted version that re-use factory cat-back, I plan to keep the factory TRD exhaust for now and add an x-pipe, I didn't option for their catbacks since the flange connections are still 2.5", I also prefer to keep the dual side exit as factory, I don't know if the aftermarket cats will trigger CEL yet.




It came with a BOM, which was nice.



Also the extender for O2 sensors.







I'm aiming to have them installed within next 3-4 weeks, will report back on how loud it is compare to stock, hopefully not too crazy but I'm very looking forward to more power.

 

Those look very high quality.

 

I’ve been looking at getting those myself. They look really nice.

post up a vid of how the truck sounds with them and the trd dual exhaust once installed

 

Took about 6-7 weeks, they have a video of various combination, I'd assume it'll be louder than the headers + stock cat back on here.

https://youtu.be/VyT3__oZyx8

 

I like the SW stuff. They make very high quality parts. I would go SW Legend full system, but I feel like that's still really loud. If I was 10 years younger, hell yes, but I'm old now. The catback with stock manifolds is good I think though.

 

Nice headers, id recommend grabbing a resonator or 2 for when you mount the x-pipe. Looking fwd to your review on the 1 7/8's. What other mods you running ?

 

On performance fronts, just S&B intake for now, waiting for 5.29s, probably will go with vftuner once its available for the '21s.

 

That additional TQ is going to make you smile

 

Update on this, so this will be a long post, I will try to organize it as I go and hopefully to serve as a how to for installation.

NOTE: Some say this can be done in 6 hrs, well, I'm somewhat mechanically inclined, and I had an indoor shop to work on, but no lift, and I had help, this took me 2 whole days, about 10 hrs each day to finish this, so that's almost 20hours, if you have a lift, it'll be easier, if you got budget for the installation by shop, do it, by no means this is difficult, just tedious.

Tools you will need:
- various 10mm, 12mm sockets, in various length, wobble sockets, extension.
- Ratchet wrenches, I cannot stress enough the importance of this, you will need 10mm, 12mm.
- 14mm, 16mm and 17mm sockets for clamps etc
- Sawsall
- Jacks and jackstands
- warm floor
- Something to hold your head cause you are going to be under the vehicle alot.
- MAGNET, you will need magnet stick to pick up the bolts/screws you will drop, which will happen a lot
- patience, you need a lot of patience
- zip ties
- heat wraps

Removing mid pipes + cats are the easiest part of it all, in hind sight, I would've loosen the UCAs to help with access, Stainless works kit asked to remove the studs and use the bolts, it saved tons of effort, I don't know how some of you guys installed other kits with the studs in place, I tried that the first time, took us 3 hours on the passenger side without success, then we removed the studs off the exhaust manifold and the EGR pipes.

DirtyDeeds has mentioned remove the front drive shaft, which Stainless Works didn't mention, I'll bring this up to them to update the manual, as this is a must, there's no way for driver's side manifold to slide in with it in.

We spent probably hours look for various bolts that were dropped, wrenches, sockets etc, the driver's side installation require patience, and voodoo magic, my hands were simply too large to get the top bolts in on the driver's side ,I had to get my buddy to do them, so if you got sausage fingers, it'll be very difficult to reach the bolts/nuts behind the runners.

The passenger side harness definitely needs some sort of heat shield, the oil dip stick also needed to be unbolted and wiggle around, one thing I'm not sure of is it safe for it to be so close to the headers?

This kit lines up with factory catbacks, there was no issue there, the cats are slipped on, but I haven't driven it enough to see if I get CEL, if I do, I'll go o2 sims.









This is driver's side, you can see the lack of space:


sound wise, it sounds like devil's roar, but not so loud that it sounds like those guys with straight pipes

 

Those look seriously nice. What size primary tubes did you opt for (I think I looked the S.W. site and you had a choice).

 

1 7/8, may not be beneficial to me now, but figure its nice to have when it's time for supercharger.

 

Look at this N/A Tundra w/a tune for higher shifts. Really pulls at the upper RPM's, 1&7/8 might be even a tad more power up there.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFV25s5daKA

 

There's no tune for 21s yet, also I notice 20 and 21s hold shift much longer than previous MYs even without tow mode.

This is after some driving then remote start, so its not a cold start, you can hear in the background of someone else's car idling.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qQPZbP3M2Ew

Well, the cel came on, the power is def there, but I feel it's on the loud side for me, how do I tone it down?

 

Pickup a pair of these to fix the CEL. I tried a generic 02 sim and didnt workout, these however which Swank501 recommended have been great for over 2k miles if not more- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077GKV8FB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_1E8S4Y5ZJWEW2878SASB

Noise control having gone through it myself, recommend the best resonators you can get. You don't want to undo all that hard work and power gain. I run a full 3in exhaust from headers to the rear bumper so louder than your setup but adding Vibrant UQ resonators along with Helmz pipes coupled with my Borla mufflers made a huge difference. I can startup early morning without neighbor guilt of having just woke them up.

My thread which includes the exhaust challenges I faced - https://www.tundras.com/threads/my-08-rcsb-5-7.63924/

 

Hey man, thanks for the positive words, going to try those adapters.

The noise part was almost mind blowing how loud it is, my biggest concern is when towing, can I realistically make it nice again? I don't mind tad louder than stock trd exhaust, but holy crap when I was taking off I can't even hear my own thoughts, and I've got cars with full exhaust.

Would add x pipe help?

 

Deeds is your guy to talk exhaust/sound with, give him a ring and soak up the knowledge.

 

Yea, going to give Keith a shout, I like the power gain that's for sure, it sounds like a NASCAR at wot, wouldn't mind that if it wasn't my daily driver.

I feel like with the knowledge on this forum, there should be an ultimate bible for exhaust on these trucks, these things are oddly fast for a full size, and I really notice the power gain after more driving again this morning.

 

Are you saying this is loud with the factory muffler? Thats tough man. Im running a similar setup with ARH headers, 3" duals, custom X-Pipe, Kooks 3" dual mufflers, and TRD Tailpipes. Honestly its a little deeper than stock when cruising, but screams on WOT with a little too much rasp for my liking. I'm debating adding a set of Vibrant UQ resonators or switching to the Corsa 3" mufflers

 

I kept the TRD Catbacks, and yes its insanely loud above 3000rpm, I'm taking @TX210Tundra advice on the resonators, will also try x-pipe, I think with lt headers, x-pipes is a must.

I drove it more and it seems to "quiet" down a bit.

An update on this, been driving it around for almost a week now, the noise has come down for some strange reason, still bit loud and still going to add x-pipe next week.

I still smell a faint of exhaust when the truck is sitting in traffic, going to re-tie down the bolts this weekend, also notice the exhaust clamps got lot more loose than expected.

 

Having had both the DD budget exhaust and the DD budget Trd exhaust, which only adds an x-pipe, I can say the x-pipe works wonders.

 

Waiting to find the time to put the x pipe on, and re tighten the header bolts, I still get a whiff of exhaust when sitting in traffic, not sure if it's from tail pipes cause the aftermarket cats or got a leak, I don't hear any leak, going try the old fashion soap water.

Otherwise the sound has quiet down a lot for some reason, it really hauls ass now, it also does the brapppp upshifts, which the ricer in me likes.

Here's a video of hot start idle, rev, take off, and booking it.

https://youtu.be/IQ8odt8on7M

 

It looks like it accelerates pretty dang good. If you are not happy w/a drone or something, DirtyDeeds can definitely fix that. I have read that he can make two of the Helmholtz tubes. Those Helmholtz, or "dead tubes," completely nix it.

Friggin' awesome headers/mids man!

 

Sounds pretty good. I have a DD exhaust, and still haven't put my headers and mid pipes on yet. Been over a year now since I got the exhaust.

 

I'm not sure if any of you guys with LT headers and aftermarket cats have issues with the smell, I've checked the headers and EGR bolts, all are tight, I used soap and water and didn't see leak, but I don't have a smoke machine, I re-tighten all the clamps and bolts, and it still smell when sitting at traffic.

I'm looking to have new mid pipes made with oem cats to solve this.

 

Update:

I brought the truck to my local exhaust shop, GT Customs, and had Mike fab up new mid pipes with factory cats, x pipe and use v-bands, as one of the clamps just wouldn't seal, let me tell you, this is the way these trucks should've come from factory, it's effortless fast but yet with a V8 sound.



Now, the exhaust chapter is done, time for the next, gears and lockers.

 

Glad you didn't take them off !

 

This weekend did a 600km round trip, I really can't stress how much more I enjoy the truck after the custom mid pipes and x pipes were put on, it sounds like a stock AMG e63 (naturally aspirated), no helicopter chop, no drone, just smooth rumble, I can cruise at 120kmh and have stereo at 10 and carry convo , its simply a bliss to drive.

And best of it all? 7km/l or 16.5mpg, that's hand calculated, 1/3 of it is spending time pulling stuff through muddy/ice field, tossing garbage to the yard, and 3 adults in the truck with about couple hundred lbs of gear , and on the skinny 35s.

 

Have you done a dyno since the install and additional mods?

I've had my eyes on these headers since they look like the highest quality out of them all, just not sure if I should be going with 1-7/8" primaries if I'm going to keep the engine NA.
On my old truck I installed the smaller JBA long tubes on the 4.6L with a dual exhaust from dirtydeeds. The hp on the high end was amazing, but I felt like torque was lacking on the lower-mid RPM range due to the primaries being oversizd for that engine.

 

No, where we are at, we are still under covid-restriction, so no dyno services are offered, I had a quick run with v-box on 1/4 mile, I'm about low 15s launching in 4hi, one problem I encounter is my speed limiter kicks in at 150km/h or 90mph, it reached 90mph before 1/4 mile ended so hopefully when tunes are available to 2020+ trucks it can raise the speed limit.

I also have 5.29 gears on the truck.

 

Do you think the gears or exhaust had more a contribution towards your 16mpg?