Help me help her....understand. (1 Viewer)

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After taking everyone's advice I am taking my landcruiser in to get it's 21 year old piping and muffler upsized to 2.5" and a magnaflow muffler.

The hardest part in all this is convincing my wife why we need to update the exhaust and not buy her a DSLR camera until we have more money saved. (I know, tough one).

So can you guys help me explain to her why upgrading the exhaust is beneficial? She will be reading this forum post so please keep it tasteful :)

Oh, and I'll say it before crushers does..."Wait until the head goes, you'll be selling all of her camera equipment!"
 
go 3 inch...
keep things even cooler.
Pyrometer if you don't have one already.
 
unless it is turbo'd then leave it alone and buy her the camera ...
install a pyro.

2.5" is fine.
3" is all the rage with no real facts to back it up.
 
It is turbo'd and a pyro is on the to-do list. I have also ready that 3" is overkill and adds unnecessary cost and harder to make the bends so I went with a 2.5".

Wayne, did you put a 2.5" on your wife's LJ78?
 
if i remember correctly i ran 3" out of the dump to the flex and then reduced to 2.5 for the rest.
it worked well.

the decision was made to go to the 3" for a try and the 2.5" was for convience of running it under the body.

what truck are you running this on?
 
With a 2LTE a 2.5" exhaust is already way more than it needs - a 3" would be silly on a 2LTE an it's more challenging to plumb in - expect a full day of shop time for fitting a welded mandrel section exhaust.

Or, go mandrel for the first part, and then press bend for the last part - which will save a fair bit of $$.

I have done several 3" mandrel section exhausts lately on HJ60T and HJ61s and it's quite a big improvement in performance over the stock "drinking straw" exhaust. The turbo spools up way faster and the engine runs much cooler on the EGTs.

~John
 
John Wayne, reading some of your other posts on this forum led me to go 2.5" instead of 3". How much of a gain should I be expecting from the exhaust upgrade regarding temps and power?
 
more torque and cooler egts by a few hundred degrees.
You'll be able to push hills for a bit longer than usual at cooler temps than before.
 
there is no improvement in torque or HP with a larger exhaust, period.
it does allow the turbo to spool up quicker with a cool sound but the final ratings are still the same.

what it does allow you to do (and NOT recommended on the 2LTE) is to crank the fuel up since the heated air is escaping much quicker through the larger diameter exhaust.

for you, the important item about the exhaust is to get the heated burnt gasses away from the head ASAP to HELP prevent cracking of the head.

but

i would suggest an upgraded rad, make sure the clutch fan is working properly and ditch the AC before concerning yourself with the exhaust.
 
I've ran into a snag with the new muffler installation. Someone (God knows why) welded one of the two nuts holding the flex pipe to the turbo manifold. The muffler guy delicately fought with it for an hour but it looks like I'll have to take the turbo out to get a real shot at removing the nut.

So for now, we are going to cut the pipe below the existing flex joint and continue with 2.5" finishing the job.

I'm hoping you guys could give me some ideas on the best way to approach th next step. Obviously I'm disappointed because I couldn't have the entire run done in 2.5" right off the turbo. And I still want to accomplish this.

The truck doesn't have a pyrometer in it so I am thinking of ordering a new CT20, installing it with the pyrometer and then the muffler guy will attached the new flex pipe while I have it apart.

Can anyone tell me ballpark what I've lost in performance by not replacing the existing flex pipe right from the turbo?

I have to ask myself, is that bit of flex pipe worth it? Or should I wait until the turbo starts packing it in to continue the work?
 
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Maek,
i don't want to come across as an ass this time around, how many km have you put on the truck since you bought it?
do you honestly think it is a wise investment to replace a working turbo at this point?
you have not lost any performance increase at all, what you have lost it the free flowing heat remover and that is needed in your application.

personally, i would look at a rad upgrade, AC removal and as much air flow around the engine that you can find.
 
Maek,
i don't want to come across as an ass this time around, how many km have you put on the truck since you bought it?
do you honestly think it is a wise investment to replace a working turbo at this point?
you have not lost any performance increase at all, what you have lost it the free flowing heat remover and that is needed in your application.

personally, i would look at a rad upgrade, AC removal and as much air flow around the engine that you can find.

You have sound advice Wayne. I think the rad has been re-cored, what should I look for to determine this? The truck hardly ever gets past the half way mark on heat gauge. Only on the longest hills have I seen it get past 1/2 way.

When you say:

"you have not lost any performance increase at all, what you have lost it the free flowing heat remover and that is needed in your application."

Do you mean that I haven't gained anything by having that 2" piece still in there? I would think that the new Magnaflow muffler and the rest of the piping upgraded to 2.5"will still improve expelling the heat. No?
 
Mark,
you do not gain "performance" by increasing the diameter of the exhaust pipe, that is a myth that has been around for decades.
you gain the ability to remove heat from the head which allows you to increase the amount of fuel being metered into the engine.
by increasing the pipe from the flex pipe back you have reduced the back pressure so you "might" have increased the ability of the exhaust heat to move away from the head quicker but the main requirement is to get the heat away from the head so i would take that turbo off, remove the welded nut and replace the flex pipe and the short piece of remaining 2" ... sooner than later.

remember, the factory gauges are exotic idiot lights, you really need to install a proper water temp gauge, a pyro and an oil pressure gauge into that rig ASAP. i sell a cool ass 3 gauge insert that goes under the radio but i hate shipping stuff. to be serious once again, you have NO IDEA what is happening inside that head with out the proper gauges installed.

you will have either a 3 X 3/4" or 4 X 1/2" core in the rad if it has been upgraded. i have found the 3 X 3/4" to work the best.

cheers and good luck.
 
Wayne,
I'm with you on the no performance gain. I guess everyone uses the term loosely. I just see it in a way that if air is flowing easier and reducing the heat it's 'performing' better. Semantics :)
As an electrician I correct people sometimes when they tell me their stories of being 'electrocuted'. I have to tell them they we're 'shocked' because if they we're electrocuted they'd be dead.
But yeah, it's hard to get the point across sometimes without seeming smug.

I'll have to fight with the nut when I have some time. Any pro tips on how to work that weld off? I'd like to keep the bolt in tact.

I forgot to add, what is the brand of gauge you have?
 
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The hardest part in all this is convincing my wife why we need to update the exhaust and not buy her a DSLR camera until we have more money saved. (I know, tough one).

So can you guys help me explain to her why upgrading the exhaust is beneficial? She will be reading this forum post so please keep it tasteful :)

Uh ... reading thru this thread ... looks like the DSLR might have been a better bet ... sorry no offense ...
 
Uh ... reading thru this thread ... looks like the DSLR might have been a better bet ... sorry no offense ...

Well, the muffler had to be replaced, the point was how can I make my wife understand that. She asked why I took it to a custom muffler shop (for a bit more money) rather than budget brake and muffler or Canadian Tire.

I suspect that the bolt may have been stripped so the mechanic at the time did the quick fix and welded it. :rolleyes:

I took a picture of the welded nut:

IMG_0880.jpg
 
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put a 6 point on with a long extension and a power bar, if it breaks off no biggie either way.
i suspect the nut and the stud will come out as one.

interesting.
 

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