86 t4r 22re... confused about this exhaust situation...

[T4Mike]

Ok... First off, in new to the forum. I'm on my second t4r. First was a 95 and now an 86 that's my daily driver and I freakin love it!!!

Ok so I've read thru this forum about exhaust. And noticed doing 2.25" cat back with a Flowmaster 40 seems to be the way to go. Not to mention LCE performance also runs 2.25" for their exhaust systems. Well I was asking in a Facebook group, and a guy was telling me that I should stick with 1.75" for better torque and back pressure.

Now... All I have done is added a cone filter. I put it in the shop cos it needed a heater core and a.c. evaporator. I'm recovering from a spinal surgery right now so can't do any work for a couple more months. So, I told them to check the truck bumper to bumper cos I'm moving to the mountains soon and don't want to have to worry about anything. (Mind you my step dad knows the owner or else I certainly would NOT have told them to check it bumper to bumper lol). Anyways... They found a crack in my exhaust manifold. Luck has it that I took a ceramic header of another Toyota truck 22re. So they're putting that on as well.

Ok... Now that you all know the deal... What should I do with the rest of the exhaust? I'm looking for low sound but mostly performance to help with the mountainous driving.

Do I need to upgrade the cat also? I was told no because it would be better for performance to keep the stock cat.
Do I need 2.25" or 1.75"?
Is the Flowmaster 40 what I need, or different muffler?
Or do I not even need to change my exhaust system at all? (Which I don't think that's true since I'm putting headers on).

(After I move and get settled with my new life, I'll be playing with her more... But I'm just looking for simple, cheap bolt on mods right now to help with performance. It's costing me almost $1100 in the shop now, so I'm not trying to dig in the motor, or drop a lot more money until the move is complete). Thank you guys in advance for your help and responses... Also Iapologize in advance cos I'm sure you guys have discussed all of this numerous times already lol).

 

[Back_Draft445]

I would stick with 1.75" pipe, there is no need for 2.25" on these small displacement motors. Messing with the exhaust on these trucks wont help in the power department much, but then again nothing really helps for power. If your not going to live in a state with emissions testing, leave the CAT out of the equation, less stuff to go wrong and better airflow. As far as the muffler goes, a 40 series would be pretty loud and ricey sounding. I would stick with a quiet magnaflow, or maybe a 50 series flowmaster. Hope this helps.

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

Wait, What?!?!?! Good headers make a big difference in power on the 22RE engine! Now, using cheap-ass headers that aren't tuned at all, you will not feel much of anything, but a good header will make a lot of extra power/torque!

I have been running a Thorley header on my 22RE for over 10 years now, and with a 2¼" system with a magnaflow muffler, it literally walked away from my buddy's 4 runner on a road trip we did years ago!

I also welded in flanges to swap out the cat with a test pipe, and that alone made it stronger, albeit louder and quite stinky for whoever is behind me, as I hear about it whenever I'm on the trail!

That said, I can't tell you what the hp/torque before/after was, but I'd venture to guess at least an extra 10-15hp and a lot more torque. Its also necessary to note, the power band was drastically increased. I remember quite well that there was really nothing at the lower end of 1500rpm and it dropped off hard around 4500rpm, after exhaust system was in, it feels torquey around 1200rpm and pulls right up to almost 6 grand.

One final thing to note, even with 35's, if I baby the truck and keep it under 60mph, I can get 21mpg (no cat), but if I'm pushing it, I'm down around 18-19mpg.

Just a tip on headers for the 22re, a tri-Y header will produce more torque at a slight reduction in hp, while a 4-into-1 will have lower torque with higher hp (and I see most of that on a buddy's 4 runner up around 3500rpm), so if you're going with a 4-into-1, keep the piping small to gain a bit of torque back, or just spend the extra money and get a tri-Y, that's my own personal opinion.

 

[nevada]

2.25" is pretty big. I wouldn't go over 2" if you are wanting to step it up. otherwise just stick with 1.75"

you will notice a slight increase with the larger pipe, but it will be higher up in the rpms.

what does the exhaust shop have to say about the size of pipe?

 

[flyinhawaiian01]

Sorry, but I disagree with that. Here's a chart to figure out where one should be with their exhaust:

This does NOT take into account having a catalytic converter installed, which will reduce total cfm by a good percentage. So, unless you are looking at keeping the exhaust at the very end of its limitations at 108hp, I'd still suggest going up to at least 2".

Now, if you're keeping it all stock with no header, then sure, keep the stock 1¾" size! If you're gonna add a header and you put either a hi-flow cat or no cat at all, then 1¾" piping will give you lots of low end torque, only because its got more back pressure than it should. Open it up to 2¼" and you'll lose a bit of low end torque, but you'll increase the overall power band and gain mpg while you're at it--if you can stay off the gas!