Gil
Richmond, Kentucky
96' F250 Supercab w/7.3L Powerstroke DIESEL

If you are going to purchase a kit, I recommend that you look at several different vendors, then look at Black Cloud Diesel's kit last. The fit is superb. I did not have to modify anything, I'll repeat that because I think that it's important. I did not have to modify anything. The installation is straight forward. The design pays alot of attention to detail, for instance:

1. The clamps on the foot of flex pipe are welded on.

2. They come with simple but well thought out brackets that attach to the bed rails. The bracket is shaped like an "L" and it has a bolt, 5/16 or 3/8 I don't remember which, staked to it. You drill a hole through the inside lip of the bed rail, push the bolt through the hole and secure with a lock nut on the back side. The other leg of the "L" slips between the Chrome clamp and the stack thus securing the stack to the bed, or you can choose an alternate method that I won't try to explain here, but I didn't care for it.

3. The welds are professional appearing and smooth.

4. It comes with any required adapters and all necessary clamps.

5. The Band clamps are chromed, the guillotine clamps are chromed, and the chrome finish on the stacks is very bright.

6. The vertical pipe that goes through the bed floor from the crossover pipe is located EXACTLY where it needs to be, exactly centerline of the downpipe. This means that your exhaust pipe from the downpipe to the up pipe going through the bed floor is straight, no bends, kinks, or joints that are a little cockeyed. Again, it's all about paying attention to detail.

7. The height above the cab is perfect, I think I remember the stacks are 29" from the top of the bed rail to the top of the stacks.

I still have my plastic slide-in bedliner. I used a 4-1/2" knockout die on a port-o-power and made the hole through the bed and the bedliner at the same time, no burs, and a perfectly round hole. My crossover pipe rests on the bedliner and after about 6 weeks of driving the bedliner doesn't appear to mind. And remember, I have a set of Bean's Stage 1's, so I flog it pretty hard sometimes and still the temperature hasn't effected the bedliner.

Yes, it is quite loud with the windows down, so I'll probably muffle it when spring gets here. The only complaint I have with my stacks is that there is a teeny, tiny dent in one. It's so small that I am the only person that has ever noticed it. It wasn't worth it to me to try to return it, I figure sooner or later I'm gonna accidently make a dent in one of them myself, so no biggie. Like I said, I'm the only person that has ever seen it.

I tried to build the same kit using parts and pieces from Airflow (see my sig), but I figured I'd only have saved about a $100, and for all of the headache to order all of the pieces it just wasn't worth it to me. Sure, the stacks cost more than my injectors, but I'd do it again in a New York minute.