99 Silverado 5.3 exhaust question

[caspear1978]

I just picked up a 99 silverado with the 5.3. The previous owner cut the stock cats out do to being clogged. Did a pretty butchered up job. He cut the exhaust out in hopes to running duals. I crawled under the truck today after work and noticed he did a pretty bad job at welding some short lengths of pipes on to the elbows coming from the manifolds. and run them to some new cats.so having new cats ive decided im just going to order a new intermediate pipe and a tail pipe with an after market muffler. im looking for a more quite sound to it. so with everything ordered the only issue i am having is with a y pipe, i have cats. how hard would it be to take a stock y pipe and just add my cats to it to run in the system, or would it be easier to order a new y pipe and just do it back to stock? What are your ideas and opinions on the matter?

[kaycee]

I would go the salvage yard and look for a y pipe ,Hell you could probabally get the whole system for less than $50 .I see your in Mn. so a good used one might be hard to find (rust)

[caspear1978]

I've called the local yards around here and they won't sell y pipe with the cats in them. The rest of the pipes are ordered up and on their way. As far as rust Yea that is a problem around here. Ill probably order up a new y pipe when I have a little extra money that way I know it's al new when it's done. I did call a muffler shop a couple of weeks ago just to see what they would charge. They wanted $1100 just for the y pipe alone. I'm not sure what crack they ate smoking. But that seemed a bit outrageous to me. But on a plus side. Where I work I have all the tools to do the exhaust right. No clamps will be on this system.. Everything will be welded up on it.

[68C15]

I've seen the cat y pipe assemblies in aftermarket. I would advise against that unless you are going to sell it in 2 years or less. They don't have the precious metal content of OE. But that explains why they are 1/3 the price

[68c10airstream]

Misgen auto salvage in Ellendale Mn. (southern mn). Ask for the owner Jim misgen and he may have what you need. Phone number should be easy to look up. I've known jim for 44 years and is always fair. Tell him Brian Fuller from Austin sent you. Good luck. Carney's auto salvage in Austin would be my second choice.