Hey, guys. Adam here with americantrucks.com and today, we're taking a closer look at,
listening to and installing the MagnaFlow Street Dual Exhaust System with the Chrome
Tips and the Middle Side Exit, available for the 2015 and newer 5-Liter F150.
Now, as you just heard from our sound clips guys, I'm given this three out of five on our
loudness meter. It's one of the more aggressive daily driver exhaust that isn't gonna be too
loud inside the cabin despite being a middle side exit. Typically, when you have a middle side exit
because the exhaust is closer to the cabin itself instead of being toward the bed of the truck,
it's typically a little bit louder inside the cabin. And while that may be true for this,
it still doesn't have a lot of drone inside that cabin. So, you can easily go on long
road trips with this exhaust, you can have a conversation with your husband or wife in
the passenger seat and your kids will have an easy time sleeping in the backseat as well.
It's aggressive when you get on the exhaust, wide-open throttle. It's got a loud bark,
red light to red light though, it's pretty tame to giving you a deep throaty rumble.
Now, with our revs guys, as you heard, it's got a little bit of backfire there. So, you get some of
that snap, crackle, and pop that in my opinion just sounds so good. As a matter of fact, and
completely being honest, I think this is one of my favorite exhausts for the 5-liter that I've done
for this F150 generation. It's just something that sounds really, really crisp and really aggressive.
Now, the middle side exit here is extremely unique. Usually,
in the aftermarket, you get dual rears that come out under the rear bumper,
dual split side exits that come out behind the passenger tire. The middle side exit however is
gonna dump out in front of the passenger side tire with dual tips. Now, these tips are 4-inch side
slash-cut. So, instead of getting slash from the top down, it's from the side. So,
it's very unique looking. The polished stainless steel, kind of, keeps that more traditional OEM
look in terms of the stainless steel polish chrome. But if you want something a little bit
different and a little stealthier, there's a black version as well with a black powder-coated finish.
Now, the price tag for this guy is gonna come in right around 950 bucks. It's not really an
entry-level exhaust, but it's not one of the most expensive in the category either.
Perfect for guys who are willing to spend a little bit more money for the top quality 304 stainless
steel without really breaking the bank on a full cat-back that goes all the way to the rear.
It doesn't have a lot of material included in the kit because it's such a short exhaust
going from the cat pipe to just in front of the tire. Now, like I said, 304 stainless steel,
3-inch mandrel-bent tubing, it's something that will hold up especially useful in
the wintery months seeing a lot of road salt like we do here on the East Coast.
It's got corrosion and rust resistance as it is one of the higher quality materials.
Install wise, I'm giving it two out of three wrenches on our difficulty meter.
Anybody can tackle this in the driveway at home. You don't have to worry about feeding
pipes over the rear axle or anything like that. All you got to do is get your factory
exhaust out of the way and this is gonna bolt up, right in its place.
There's one caveat to the install that doesn't really change the difficulty or even the process
at all. But the 2021 and newer F150s, the 5-liter newer F150s have a different pipe included in the
kit that attaches to the cat pipe. The flange is just a little bit different on the '21 and
newer vehicles. We're working on a '15 to '20 vehicle here in the shop today which is gonna
use a different pipe. Both pipes are included in the kit. Just make sure you're picking the correct
one for your vehicle. Install process is nearly identical. Just keep in mind that ours may look
a little different than yours if you're running a 2021 or newer. With that said, I'm gonna walk you
through the process. It'll take you about two hours from start to finish. Let's get started.
Tools used in the install include an impact gun, a ratchet, a couple of different size extensions,
13-millimeter and 15-millimeter deep sockets. Recommended are a
10-millimeter and 13-millimeter swivel socket, 15-millimeter wrench, and a hanger removal tool.
Step number one for the uninstall: head back to the factory flange,
connecting it to the cat pipe, grab a 13 socket,
I'm gonna recommend a swivel socket just to get in these tighter angles, get both of those bolts off.
Next up, you could try to pop this hanger out of the isolator, but it's really easy
to get this off the frame. So, I'm gonna use a 10 swivel socket to get those two bolts off.
Now, it's easier to do this next part if you lubricate those hanger isolators with some PB
B'laster, WD-40, or something similar, grab a helping hand and get the entire exhaust off in
one piece. It also helps if you have a pry bar. You can get a little bit of leverage.
So, we got our factory exhaust off of our '15 F150. It's on the ground here next door MagnaFlow
middle exit exhaust. I wanna take you through some similarities and differences here. And I
got to say from head to toe, it is extremely different than the factory exhaust. It's got
a higher quality material with a larger volume of airflow. It's gonna have a bigger diameter
pipe that's gonna be a 3-inch inlet and a two and 2.5-inch outlet for the dual exhaust. Now, while
it is a dual exhaust, they're still dumping out in the same direction. Unlike most dual exhausts that
go either dual side or dual rear, this one's gonna be a dual side with a middle exit. Now,
the middle exit basically refers to a dumping out in front of the passenger side tire as opposed to
behind it like the factory exhaust. So, you have significantly less material,
it's got less distance for the airflow to actually travel out of.
Now, you're gonna have the same sort of inlet pipe with a Resonator Delete.
You can see there's no resonator up by the front of the vehicle, goes right into the
muffler with no extension pipe there. So, it's a lot shorter of a muffler, much smaller muffler,
and that's gonna produce the sound you heard earlier on. And then, finally, it almost
immediately dumps out the side of the vehicle. Because it's coming out of the side of the vehicle
instead of the rear, it's closer to the cabin, it's closer to the driver and passenger seat
at the front end. And so, it may be a little bit louder inside of the vehicle. But still,
you heard that from the sound clips earlier on, it's aggressive, it sounds really good.
And then, finally, the dual exhaust, as opposed to the single exhaust, is gonna have two tips coming
out the back, two 3.5-inch slash-cut tips slashed at the side instead of the top. So,
it's a little bit different than most tips in the market, a lot different than the factory one which
is honestly pretty plain and traditional. This guy here is gonna make it a lot more
aggressive-looking. With that said, I wanna start with the install. We're gonna start by
installing that flange pipe all the way up at the top where it connects to the cat pipe.
First up here, grab your inlet pipe. You're gonna lay it up against the factory flange just like
that. A helping hand holding the other side on is definitely a huge help. Put the factory bolt
through, grab the new nut included in the kit and tighten it down to the other side of that bolt.
Do the same thing for the other side. And now we can tighten those guys down.
Grab a 15 socket and a 13 swivel socket, tighten those guys down.
Now, if you remember correctly, we removed the entire hanger assembly from the frame.
We have to put that back on. Just pop it off the factory exhaust if you haven't done so already,
put this factory 10-millimeter bolts back in here, just a few by hand, just a few threads,
grab your 10-millimeter socket, I'm gonna use my swivel, and just tighten it down. Next up, we're
on the outside of our passenger side. If you take a look at where the leaf spring connects here,
just under the frame there, you have two square holes next to two smaller circle holes. You're
gonna take these U-nut clips included in the kit. Go in the square hole and snap it in so
that the threaded hole in the clip is in that circle. Do the same thing directly above it.
Just like that. Super simple, snaps right in.
Now we can attach or install a hanger bracket there along with the rubber isolator. All right,
next, we're gonna install, again, that hanger bracket. Grab the bolts included in the kit,
thread those guys on. There's one, swing this guy up, and this is a tight squeeze. But you wanna at
least get a couple of threads on that bolt on. And then we can come in with a socket that'll reach.
All right, so now we can tighten those down. Grab your 13 and tighten this down. I'm gonna
use a swivel socket for the bottom. The top one's a little tougher to get to,
so I'm gonna switch over to a ratchet, a 13 deep socket, and an extension.
Next, pop your rubber isolator on included in the kit. It definitely helps to lubricate this.
All right, the last step here is just to hang up the entire muffler assembly and tips. Now,
this is a little bit wonky, a little heavy. I'm gonna bring it up, connect the muffler,
make sure you have a clamp on that pipe side. Then you wanna bring this
guy up and connect it to the hanger on the inside of the frame just above the muffler.
All right and can do the same thing for the outside. From the outside,
you wanna make sure that this hanger is getting connected as well.
This one's a little bit more difficult, but you wanna bring it up, especially helps if
it's lubricated. Make sure both hangers are hung up and now we can tighten down that clamp.
Last step here. Make sure your tips are aligned and then come back and tighten down this clamp.
All right, at this point, you're good to go.
That's gonna wrap up my review, install, and sound clip for the
MagnaFlow Street Dual Exhaust System with the Polished Tips and the Middle Side Exit,
for the '15 and newer 5-Liter F150. Get yours right here at americantrucks.com.