OK, does anyone know of an exhaust shop somewhere down in Texas that can build me a custom Y pipe from the manifolds to the cat?

I'd like to start from scratch and bring my own high flow cat and my own muffler and have someone that does good quality work (you know, welds that won't leak!) rebuild my exhaust using 2.5 inch pipe, or at least 2.5 from the manifolds to the cat (I guess we could use 2.75 after the cat)

Problem I'm running in to with locals shops where I', at is... my truck has a pre-cat before the cat and I don't want that on there. Earlier model trucks like the one I have did not come with a pre-cat, so I don't see what the big deal is, since it'* still going to meet emissions standards.

At any rate, they won't do it. So, if anyone knows of a good exhaust shop willing to do a job like this I'll pay their full retail pricing and if they do a very neat, good looking job... I'll throw in a nice cash tip!

If you know anybody, let me know and I'll take a road trip to go see 'em!

1975 is the year cat'* became mandatory. Most shops operate under the rule, if they see a cat they think its mandatory. Remove your cat, then reinstall the existing exhaust. Then find a shop that will do the work.

This cat rule puts a lot of shops in a bind when it comes to doing exhaust work.

Mike is right. They can't remove the cat, but you can. Once it is off they will install whatever you want.

I know someone who lives close to my favorite exhaust shop, so I may just strip the entire exhaust off in their drive way and then hire a wrecker to take it over to the shop.

From there, I can show them a pic of the Walker Y pipe which does not show the pre-cat (which is all I'm trying to get rid of) so they can build a nice Y pipe with a slightly larger diameter than the one Walker sells and I'll install just one high flow cat... and them have them built it on out from there along with my new Walker Quiet Flow SS stainless steel muffler.

Then, this should outlast the engine (172k on it now, and runs great!)