1. should and x-tube go before the Cats, after the cats, or does it make a difference, no room ahead of the cats, but plenty between the cats and my flowmaster 40, Muffler shop, did not suggest an X-tube until he says it was too late, will it gain any H.P. so that my 350 5.7 will better pull my 30 ft. fleetwood.

2. I went from 285/75R16 TO 305/70R16'S & they are rubbing at times, I have a trialmaster 3" lift in a 99 Suburban, can I gain approx another 1" from the torsion bars, without affecting alignment, etc. or must I cut and wack on the air dam, etc.

Opinions vary on where to install X-pipes or H-pipes on dual exhaust systems. On 4X4's locations are pretty limitted unless you are ar artist at exhaust systems ( or take it to one ). Usually the very 'artistic' solutions result in a more restrictive exhaust flow than is normally desired - resulting in the opposite of what most people were looking for in upgrading to a balanced exhaust system.

Most manufacturers of these kits tell you to try to install the cross-over as close to the Header flanges as possible. In my case, ( '77 K5 Chevy Blazer 4X4 ) that was just NOT possible. My only other option was behind the Transfer case. The only limitation I have heard about this type on install is that the cross-over should be at least 18-inches before the inlet to the mufflers. I had no problem there. I could have gone with a more restrictive, and 'artistic' X-pipe but I decided on an H-pipe. I installed it myself, and did all the welds myself. You can also do this with exhaust clamps which are commonly used these days by people who don't weld, or want the system to be easily removable.

I bought my kit from Summit for about $40.00 - a very inexpensive mod these days! I also had to use the "V" pipe to clear the bottom of the T-case - I installed it as far forward as I could. ( the kit comes with a straight section as well as a "V" section for the cross-over.

Contrary to what a few "experts" told me, I gained some very noticeable low-end torque on my Truck ( 350Ci with a Holley 750 CFM double pumper carb, and TH-350 tranny ). Some people had told me the mod was not worth it, as I would only notice a 2-hp increase at most. The only thing I can think of is that this may have been the case if I was packin a more sensible carb like a Holley 600 CFM. The 750 I have gives you a lot of high-end while sacrificing some of the low-end. I was very happy with the results. It did modify the 'note' (tone) of the Flowmaster Super-40's somewhat as the instructions stated, but once I got it on the road and opened 'er up, I just couldn't get the silly grin off my face!

Theoretically the X-pipe will give you a lot better flow if you have the room for it, and don't have to turn it into a flattened X, or a pretzel shape.

As far as the 'cats' - I can't help you - I never had 'em, and never will. - One good thing about having a '77 truck. I don't know about torsion bars either. I'm a good 'ol straight axle, corn-fed, southern hick. Hope this helps ya some.

Good info, thanks, I can get em close to header flanges, just gotta let em back down, that is all, and guess what, I have a miller 175, I can do the welding if only I can get above em, dont mirror weld to well. Thanks for the info though, I heard the same, no gain to a little on the lower end, with a 30' 7700 lb trailer behind me off to the races, I will pay $40 for 3-5 horses. I need every single Equine I can get. That is why I spent $65 for the Thottle body spacer that I was told will do nothing.  You can't bolt something on, and then expect to be thrown into the back seat, it is not that simple.  The subtle gains may be under the hood, but not necessarily in the seat of you britches.

Your '77 sounds nice!

Within the next few years I'll be forced to buy a vehicle for commuting that I will hate. That's because there's something about every vehicle made after 1987 that I don't like. I need a reliable vehicle and chances are good I'll have to still be living in the rust belt. Every pickup has something I strongly dislike that was made since at least the late 90's. The newest ones are the worst. So since I won't want to spend 10 grand on upgrades for a newer truck, nothing will be enjoyable to drive.

It's possible I might end up buying a stupid small car to save money; if I can't enjoy what I'm driving, at least I can be saving money.

I wish I could be a straight-axle, corn-fed southern hick instead...

I agree about the later than '87 stuff. I like the older styles myself. Something about the body lines on the 75-79' chevy's that I like. I also prefer the stripped down look to the factory trim look. I've always pulled all the aluminum body trim off my trucks and made them smooth. Nothing else like it in my opinion. I know this makes the restoration purists gasp, but I'm not restoring to factory specs and most ot the trim I've pulled was rusted, dinged, and trash to begin with.

You shouldn't give up your dreams for work and commuting though, in my opinion. My trucks are purely for weekending, off-roading, and a little show on my old '77 war horse. My daily driver is an '02 S10 that I haven't done a thing to, except for a K&N Cold Air Intake kit.

You may just have to take that vacation to where us 'corn-fed hicks' dwell, and set a spell, take yer shoes off, and pick up a nice old "diamond in the rough" Chevy truck for between $1,500 or $2K. Then just tweak her to where she will get ya back home and you'll be 'happier than a pig in slop' as we say 'round these parts.

"Life is short, ya gotta grab it by the horns" - to steal a quote from a car commercial.

If you can't get in that area with a welder you may want to try some in-line exhaust clamps. They work pretty good, don't leak, and are removable if you keep the bolts from rusting with a little maintenance.  Just don't get the cheap Auto-parts ones they will break on you sometimes. Jegs or Summit Racing carry some good quality ones.

Some other relatively cheap little horsepower gainers are - advancing the timing on your distributor, an underdrive pulley kit, and a cold air intake kit.

Your'e right about ther being no magic bullet that will bolt on and 'pin you to the seat', but on the other hand, if you throw enough money at something you can usually acheive the desired result.

YES SIR thier is a magic bullet its called  N O S ....  

Touché

I might do that. I guess the main issue for me would be if I have room to park two vehicles at home. But maybe I could just sell my commuter when I get back and drive the rust-free truck instead. (and into the ground within 5 years; road-salt, lol)

I'm starting to make more money now. I'm close to being a licenced inspector and that will help with even more work and higher pay.

Although the cost of living and tax rates are higher here, I've heard that in the U.S. people usually get between $12-18/hr doing the same job we would get $25-33/hr doing.

 Our Canadian dollar is also worth a lot more now. In 2001 it cost us $1.59 to buy an American dollar and now we can buy one for $1.12.

I'd like to live and work in the South but I'll probably hold off on moving for a while, since it's likely that'll involve a big cut in pay and probably a significant cut in my "take-home" (after taxes and expenses) pay.

We're starting to get some nice weather up here. As late as May 22nd we had a day where our afternoon was only 52 F with a very brisk north wind, yet exactly one week later we hit a muggy high of 97 F, heat index of 108 F.

We had two days above 70 F before that, and we've had four days since between the 70's and 80's. In four more days our daytime high is once again forecast to be chilly; high of 59 F!

(ah, the wacky northern weather... I bet you don't miss it one bit Redbeast, LOL)

I would love to trade places with you at least the next 5 months till hurricane season and this heat is over. Do ya'll have no seeums and yellow flies. you can't enjoy this weather down here in the fl. panhandle you can't make it ouside to your truck before your clothes is soaked and stuck to you. the mosquitoes is bad but them no seeums and yellow flies will make a sane fellow go crazy ive seen grown men go to screaming like a dog sh--ing a double edged razor blade. them yellow flies i think is called yellow not just becouse the color their sneaky. do ya'll have any thang like these? if so never mind. are they alot of places to wheel and hunt and during hunting season can ya'll run dogs or hunt out of tree stands  and is the yellow flies if ya'll have any are they bad during hunting season.  

No seeums? I believe I've heard they're bad north of here. But I don't think we have many or any in southern Ontario, which means within a 3 hr drive of here.

The heat... ahh, I'd love to have some more. I actually am often annoyed with any summer day below 75-80 F and I even find what the U.S. Weather Channel describes as a heat index of 110F as quite comfortable weather for relaxing. (not working, that'd be tolerable, but annoying, lol)

When it comes to sweating I see to have been born with a gift; even with no wind, 98 F and over 50% humidity the biggest sweat spot on a t-shirt I've ever had was maybe 3 inches in diameter. An exception are if I've had to drive without air-conditioning with muggy weather in the 90's that I've had a sweat spot covering most of my lower back. Now I have a beaded seat cushion to go over it and lower back sweat spots are a thing of the past.The most sweat I get from muggy weather in the 90's or even low 100's F is a feeling of dampness or stickiness all over, which is never enough to soak my clothes.

While it is impossible for me to be too hot up here, we always get at least a dozen mornings cold enough to hurt my fingers or toes. They can hurt from the cold whenever it drops into the low 50's F. *frown* They can also almost be hurting when I step into your average south Florida air conditioned retail store or restaurant if I'm wearing sandals. *frown* (lol)

There are a fair amount of places to wheel up here. Remember hearing someone mention in the Canadian coverage thread the Ontario "Power Line Runs?" There's an offroad club about 25 miles from me. They do a lot of wheeling in places usually not more than 60 miles away. For hunting, I hear there are plenty of opportunities away from the city, and it's especially nice about 3-4 hours north of here. (I've never had the chance to go hunting yet, but I've done a lot of fishing)

That 'magic bullet' is pretty much an expensive ticket to the repair shop for most old engines! I know so many people who "just install a Nitrous kit to get some real power quick and easy" and blow the *** out of their engines. It's great for those few minutes when everyone is cheering and whistling at you when all that steam is rising from your engine compartment, but a few minutes later reality sets in, and you realize "I'm f*#ked! - I've got no money to get this thing fixed!"

If you don't have all the money it takes to beef up your engine before you add that NOS kit, then it's no "magic bullet". I can blow the doors (and gaskets) out of anything with "just an NOS kit" in it without all the other work, and money that's necesary.

If ya can't hang with the big dogs, stay home and inhale the laughing gas instead!

You got that straight brother! I don't miss crackin my knuckles trying to scrape that ice off my windshield in 15-degrees with a cheap plastic scraper! I don't miss those 15-20 minutes shoveling snow to get my car out, leaving it running so it don't stall just to come back out and find the plows just drove by and you have move shoveling to do before you can get out! I don't miss bustin my ass on that invisible black ice either - no matter how hard you try not to fall, your going down brother!

Things are no bowl of cherries in Fla right about now. The bottom fell out of the real estate market. ( the bubble burst just like the internet bubble did a few yeras ago ) A lot of experts said that it wouln't happen cause real-estate is not like the internet, but there it is! That's not shine-o-la your stepping in there! ...Meanwhile, property values are falling rapidly and taxes on the properties continue to rise dramatically!! I wish some quantum physics expert would explain that one to the average tax payer!!

I know what you mean about the average wages in jobs down here. In the field I was in, the absolute ceiling was 50K down here while people up in your neck of the woods were makin 60-70K for the same job. I had a few friends who moved north because of that.

You might want to invest in some undercoating until things get more civilized here, if they ever do. ...although I don't know if anything has been invented yet that will work on that northern road salt.  One good thing about owning and working on a lifted truck yourself is that you tend to spend more time under your truck making improvements and fixing things, so that rust won't just sneak up on you one day when the mechanic puts you vehicle on the lift. I wonder if coating the bottom metal plating with something like a coat of heavy grease or roofing tar would work ?

The main thing that'd bug me about making after tax/expenses income is the fact that I'm so far from any family and could possibly be deported if something bad happened.

Up here I can't be deported, and if I don't have work for more than a month I can collect government "Unemployment Insurance."

 There are ppl I know who make $40-80K and have still been eligible for unemployment insurance payments. It's because in our industry we earn fairly high hourly rates with lots of nice rules for overtime, double overtime and non-taxable expense pay yet at the same time could be unemployed for a month or two.

I love being outdoors but most of the time I find our weather a mood killer. Often there's nothing I feel like doing unless it's at least 65 F outside. So I like to keep myself as busy as possible with work, since most of the time and most of the year I'd be bored during my time off anyways.

It was great hearing from you again redbeast!

I have no promblems with the big boys im one myself and run well with or without NOS with the best. in my time class. the people you see blow the f#@$  up is some one whoe did'not do their homework on NOS or set it up right in the first place. and either it was activated when they fired it up are they leaned out when it was activated or leaned out in the middle some where but it just comes back to whoe built it or how it was set up.it an't something you just bolt on and go. and as far as the motor having to be built to hell and back yea if you are running more than 200HP shot i run 175hp shot in my camaro the whole motor is basically stock,GM stock crank. GM flat tops with moly rings the old school 327- 350hp cam, stock GM882 heads with 194 int. 1.5 ex. old camel toe 1.5 rockers with heaver springs, the old school tarantula edelbrock intake with a 750 holley double pumper with bigger squirters and down legs 78 jets in the primaries and 81's in the secondaries with exe. on the back. a set of long tube hooker super comp. 1 7/8  backed by a 350 tranny with some valvebody modification shift kit and a 3500 stall a factory10 bolt posi 342 rear end frame connectors, super comp. traction bar's. i leave the line at 3200 rpm with NOS full on . this is a drive anywhere anytime every day driver with full fact. interior cd player and speakers.that has to run 100+ octane or will ping like crazy mid 8's 1/4 mile car i even drive it to the track 48 miles one way and back no trailer queen here. and don't need anybody telling me how tuff a chevy is i put them thue hell and thats alot of pressure on a 1973 fact. rearend with micky e.t.'s so you can bring on all that an't chevy and get some i'm game. just becouse you don't understand NOS don't make it bad and before you get carried away you better get some or stay on the porch till daddy gets home. and im not trying to start a argument wth you this is just a discussion on the topic and how tuff chevy is. i have a 69 nova thats got all the goodies and leaves every thing i own by far i just don't run it at the track it's for the street and whoe wants to try it.$$$$$$$$$$ you can.