EXHAUST (Part 5 of 6)
It took about a week for the first Walker to show up after I ordered it, and it was defective (split pipe). So back it went and Summit shipped me another.
The second one showed up shortly thereafter and looked OK. I removed the Hooker mufflers and installed the Walkers. The Walkers are longer overall and the inlet is offset from center along the minor chord of the oval face of the muffler. The Hooker inlets were centered, not offset like the Walkers. The offset outlets of both have the same geometry. When the Walkers were rotated into position, it caused the outlet on the passenger side to drop about an inch and on the driver side to rise about an inch. This was a serendipitous event, it caused the horizontal run of both tailpipes to be parallel to the ground with the outlets at the same height. This was another design issue that made me shake my head regarding Hooker’s mediocre design.
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Walker inlets.......................................................Hooker inlets
So finally I got the system all hooked up and ready to go (again). I installed a pair of mudflaps and some taillights so I could drive it around legally with the bed off to check all my work. The Walkers sounded quieter, but not as quiet as I expected. After driving around for a while, I concluded that I could live with the sound I was getting. After all, a big truck should make its presence felt.