Just had mine welded open today at the shop. Sounds louder when accelerating, but levels out once your coasting.
I also had the squashed y pipe replaced with a round pipe. Smoother shifting and an increase of a mile or two mpg
I just changed out that squashed pipe on my 2021 Silverado 4.3 v6. Also had the tech weld open that silly muffler flap. These are the results:
*sounds a bit louder when I accelerate
*the engine doesn’t sound like it’s struggling, in fact - the shifting in gears is much smoother for some reason
*maybe a mile or two increase in mpg