midsouthduckhunter

Let me first say that I am thinking of swapping my '03 FX4 Expedition for an FJ and the FJ is a right fine truck!

I was just at Wolfchase Toyota in Memphis yesterday trying to look and drive an FJ. All were sold but I was able to look inside & outside, but not sit or drive.

What I noticed was that where the driver and passenger side exhausts met at a Y-pipe, the collector pipes were pinched down slightly. The collector pipes looked like they were about 2". I had this same thing on my Expedition and simply cut out the Y-pipe section and crimped pipes and welded in a 2x2.5"-3"Magnaflow Y-pipe and some mandrel bent 90's and straight sections. I made a mandrel bent cat-back from a mixture of Gibson tailpipe and Flowmaster big-block muffler parts. The truck picked up 1mpg and dyno tested +12.35rw hp increase. I bet doing the same to the FJ would yield a similar, proportionate result.

The blue FJ I saw had a TRD cat-back exhaust. The tip looked very cool, but where the pipe went over the axle, the pipe was crimped a little for clearance and there was a heat shield installed on the underside of the body. To say I was surprised a $525 cat-back option was pinched a little is an understatement. The price for an reputable aftermarket cat-back might be a little more $ or a little less $, but the pipe would be mandrel bent all the way back. I'm glad I saw that before I pull the trigger and order a Black Cherry. Toyota is known to change stuff mid-year, so that might get corrected.

BT17R

Not only that but it weighs 35 lbs., looks prone to snagging or dragging, might actually reduce low-end torque to gain high-end hp, and is spendy. I'm especially glad I deleted the TRD exhaust off the order after hearing the throaty stock exhaust. It sounds better to my ear than a Tacoma or 4Runner 1GR V-6, and makes slightly more power. Also, if the stock muffler is similar to the 4R muffler, it has an internal Iconel flapper valve designed to open under heavy load to bump both low and high end power. Maybe take a listen to a stock one first, they sound pretty good as is, are full stainless and warrantied for 5/50K.

Careful where you cut the Y-pipe. In all the literature, Toyota makes a big deal about their "ball joint" that reduces NVH. I'm thinking that without it, there might be some kind of nasty resonance that could wind up splitting a straight pipe.

And welcome to YotaTech!