Gibson Exhaust - HHP

My Gibson exhaust is installed, and I've put about 260 miles on it.

First, delivery. 8 days from placing the order. Just 6 when you consider the weekend. GREAT JOB HIGH HORSE PERFORMANCE! (Direct ship from the mfg.)

The product. Great quality. The stock muffler has rolled seams. The Gibson is welded. Very nice welds I might add. Good clean bends, heavy guage steel, quality heavy gauge clamps, not a thing to bitch about as far as quality or workmanship. A noticable upgrade from the stock parts.

Installation, again A+. Everything fit, exactly as it should. I didn't follow the directions exactly. They called for cutting the stock exhaust behind the muffler to aid removal. I just couldn't bring myself to turn a perfectly good exhaust system into scrap. It took some twisting, cussing, the removal of the rear sway bar on one side, and jacking the body up as far as possible on the suspension, but I got the original out in one piece!

Results. Ok guy's and gal's, here's where it gets difficult. I don't have access to a dyno. I can't take my Nitro to a dragstrip and run the clock. So how do we measure performance? First of all, the Gibson promised 10hp and 14 ft/lbs.
Lets be honest, can we really feel 10 horse on a vehicle this size or measure it without going into tenths or hundredths of a second? And are we looking for performance, or just better sound. With no other method here's what I did for my "before" parameters: Using the onboard timer, and being no more scientific or precise then simply pushing the reset button and stomping the gas pedal I made 5 passes. 0-60 showed 9 seconds on the timer all 5 times. 40-80 gave me an average of 12 seconds. AFTER the Gibson install, 5 passes of 0-60 gave 8 seconds for 3 and 8.5-9 for 2. (guessing on the half second) The 40-80 results showed no change. Subjective "feel" says she responds better on the highway. The next discovery was a pleasent surprise. At least according to the digital readout, my fuel mileage has made a noticable gain. Those 260 miles have all been highway miles, and the indication is that mileage has come UP 1 to 1.5 miles per gal at high speed (80+) and as much as 2 at 65-70mph. I didn't really expect to see a big performance boost.

Now the last part, and the reason I bought the system in the first place
Sound. Here, for me anyway, I'm a bit disapointed. Oh it's not to loud, don't get me wrong. Nor is it not loud enough. Let me explain that my complaint was that I could hear "intake roar" over exhaust. When I floored the gas, or downshifted to pass, all I heard was the engine sucking air, not the exhaust.
Now I can hear the exhaust. My disapointment is the sound it makes. Better said the "note". To my ears, it sounds like a horn, you know, like the exhaust is being played from a brass band instrument. Several people have asked "What did you do to your truck, it sounds funny?" It's a personal thing, others might find it a very plesent note. I'm going to have to get used to it!

If you are looking for big bad power gains.........why are you driving a 6 cylinder SUV?

If you are interested in changing the sound of your Nitro, I'd suggest you make an effort to actually hear the systems you are interested in.

Bottom line though, you can't go wrong regardless of which system you should choose, by making your purchase from our friends at HIGH HORSE PERFORMANCE.