Custom Exhaust...

[Project RPS13]

Okay, I have a 1990 240sx and i am looking into upgrading my exhaust system. I originally wanted to go with a full cat back exhaust from apexi or hks but could not find a reasonable price for either of them. (money is an issue) So what i have decided is to go custom. I am able to get my hands on a universal fireball style muffler and have contacted a muffler shop in Montreal (where i live), which is suppossedly the only shop in town that uses mandrel bent piping. The thing is only the elbows of the pipes are mandrel bent, meaning there will be numerous welds in the pipe and it wont really be one piece. How or would this effect performance? Also, the price i was given is $200 CDN (about $160 US) for 2.25/2.5 inch pipng. Does that sound reasonable? Comments and suggestions greatly appreciated...

[95auto]

the welds in the pipe are negligible.

one piece is better, but it isnt really a big deal.

the real restriction comes from the bends, so as long as the pipes are lined up well when welded you will be a-ok.


that price sounds fair.



adam

[speeddreamz]

Note: if your're running an SR in the future you may want to get bigger pipes like 3" size...ish. if your running a ka i don't see why it would be a problem for low end torque.

[holisticbeatz]

Those 5Zigen Fireball style made in China mufflers sound like crap.

[West]

Do a search, this has been covered 10 million times. If you really want to know my opinion then do a search with my username.

Custom Exhaust is a HUGE waste of $, especially when you want something cheap.

[rednerd]

West - I went with custom exhaust simply because I couldn't find a good turbo system that didn't have a stupid fart pipe on the back. Not having a fart pipe is cheap insurance against cops who like to break balls and vandals. Ohh and it dropped my 1/4 by a half second over my stock exhaust.

Project - Stick with your 2.25" idea. Any larger and you will lose a lot of torque and your car will probably end up sounding like crap.

[Kreator]

Originally posted by WeST
Custom Exhaust is a HUGE waste of $, especially when you want something cheap.

Blah blah blah. I have a custom exhaust on my car. Made by me. 2 mufflers, 2.5" mandrel bent piping. Dead silent till 3K. After that ppl in other cars can barely hear it. Sounds awesome. Love the hp gains. Total price: $100 for parts. Even if you throw in the price of the welder, which was $129, its still way cheaper than anything offered aftermarket. Not to mention i dont have a grape shooter (or 2 for some exhausts), which all the aftermarket exhausts come with. its been on for like 2 months, no problems yet, no noticable rust yet either (its aluminized and i painted the welds with high temp paint).

Given another chance id pick making my own over an aftermarket in a blink of an eye.

To the poster: find a friend with a welder. Or get a welder and learn to weld. And if you dont trust yer welding skills, tak weld the thing the way it is supposed to be and take it to the shop and let them weld it. I was quoted $5 for a single weld. My Exhaust has about 10. So its $50 compared to $160 u were quoted. What they are charging you for is time. Like getting the car up, measuring how it should go etc. You can do all that yerself for cheaper. Not to mention i'm pretty sure they'll cut corners (like running it under the car) which you don't really want.

[phrozen]

get mandrel bends not crush bends, and for welding ask if they tig weld mig welding is fine too. If your looking for a muffler u can get a apex n1 from phase2motortrends or if you want a nice border muffler you can get one from pdm racing. Border is a really good japan based company just incase you didnt know iono some people dont know what border is when i mention that brand

[Project RPS13]

aight, after much research i've decided to go with the 2.25 exhaust piping (staying ka for a while) taking out the resonator (don't mind the sound) and an apexi n1 muffler... now what about the cat? i know catco makes a 2.25... would this be optimal since my piping is 2.25? and would a high flow cat be worth the extra $150... like would i notice the gain?

any comments or opions are welcome.

[ryan hagen]

i had 2 1/2" that i had made, then i thought it might be too big and loosein some torque so i re did it in 2 1/4, and it sounded like crap now, before with 2 1/2 it had a nice deep tone, but now it got quiter but more raspy......sounds like a old rx7 witha broken muffler now or a honda with a shit can......im gonan try changeing the muffer out under the car, its 2 1/2" with adapters made to adapt it to 2 1/4 on the ends, and leave my ti end muffler but if it still sounds bad......i m going back to 2 1/2"

[RedlineRacer]

I have a custom cat-back exhuast with 2 1/4 inch piping with a "turbo" muffler (an aftermarket resonator mostly). It only has three bends, and the none of the bends are more than 45 degrees. It sounds really nice, fairly deep, not raspy at all. I just put some cheap muffler off ebay on it. Really tho, most mufflers are the same, the designs aren't really that different.

[Ghettokracker71]

Project....good luck with it! (I stole this guys thread called loudest exhuast,I'm still trying to firgure out what the hell to do with my exhuast system...hah hah)

[ryan hagen]

mine are both straight through muffler thats one reason i think its raspy, if i got a turbo muffler or any one with the plates in sdie that defelect air i think it would help.

[Startours7]

My pos system is made up of 21/4 manderl, car sound high flow cat, no resinator, magnaflow muffler. I put this togeather peace by peace. Starting with the muffler, then the cat, and ending with new piping and no resinator. If I had it to do all over agin I would do it all at once. I have a friend at a muffler shop who did everything for me and he tried to tell me the hole time to do the whole thing but I didn't listen untill it was almost said and done.

Nice and quite untill about 3300, after that still quite but noticeable. At WOT it's louder then 10 drunk highschool chicks.
Not nearly as annoying though. Cost=260 give or take.

[smolik769]

i dunno what to do with my muffler eaither haha i got hks carbon ti muffler for free from a friend or not free he just went to military so i just took it off his hands but its huge tip is 4 and half inches im still with stock ka pipe is 3 inches so i might just take it to a shop and get them to make it down to 2.5 adapted or w/e they call it anyone know what the carbon ti sounds like on ka ?