well not only will you see a powergain but a gain in spool, a gain throughout the whole powerband where the smaller downpipe was restricting the flow, since it can now flow you will see gains throughout
Years ago i made a downpipe for a buddy w/ a turbo b series. It was a full 3.0 in. dp that "Y'ed". Meaning, it had a 3.0 in. cutout/valve that ran as an open dump when the valve was open or flowed back to a 2.25 in. cat back when closed. The difference between the two was Closed = 295.1 whp , Opened = 420.8 whp. So ya, night and day difference!