Building your own exhaust. Who's done it?

I really want to build my own exhaust for my Chevy. I really hate paying for something I can do myself. It's not totally the money but the satisfaction of doing it yourself. Any tips or tricks from those who have done it? I know there will be ALOT!! of back and forth under the car to fit and measure. I was thinking of getting one of these from HF:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=99736

and bending it my self. Or I could get the angles and lengths and have a exhaust shop do it. Thanks as always, Todd

 

You can buy mandrel bend donuts and U's from Summit, it makes the job much easier.

 

I built my own, but had a shop bend the tubing where I wanted it. Not really a show winner, but it works for me. Tape measure and angle finder are a must. In a pinch, some flexable exhaust pipe works wonders in tight spots Sorry, no pics of it underneath.


Flatman

 

Buy a box of mendrel bent tube from summit, speedway or the like...I got 4 U's, 4 90's, 4 45's and 4 sticks 5 foot long for like $110 (all in 2.5")

It was just enough to do a pickup truck with a not so simple H pipe all the way to the rear. and it looks pretty slick.

pic doesnt show the over the axel section, but it's enough to get the idea.

 

those guys are right tug!!!

 

I built the exhaust on my '27, same reason, too. I just bought a few elbows, 45's and did some pie-cuts/welds here and there. It works perfect.

 

The only thing I will say as any semblance of a negative....it took me forever to get everything equal/mirrored....

but then again I'ma doomass....I just couldnt see spending the amount of money that I was quoted for a stainless exhaust ($1200) and I couldnt see spending the amount I was quoted for a mild steel system either ($600 without the mufflers) and that was the normal bending type......NOT mandrel bent.

So I did it myself, I got bout $200 in the system with the jet hot coating, pipe and mufflers...and I did it myself.

 

Built my own headers and dual exhaust for my '32 from mandrel bent tubing. Probably took about 80 hours to cut, fit and TiG weld everything. If you don't have a lot of bends and aren't worried about cosmetics, you can probably do it in half that time (or less).

 

I built my exhaust at home. First thing I'd recommend is to research online to find some quality exhaust components. Learn the different types of hangars and where to get quality stuff. Get familiar with everything out there available to you before you just jump in and potentially waste money on crap.

 

Yep just buy a bunch of 90s and 180s and start building. It takes time but it looks nice and you can snake it in and out of some really tight spots. When you start laying it all out you can use some of that flexible dryer tubing that you buy at the hardware store. Get some thats the 2.5 inches or even 3 inches and snake it around so you have an idea of how and where you want to run your exhaust. It will also help you to figure out where to cut your steel or stainless steel bends. I use that stuff when I'm building headers. It makes it easy to figure out what you need and how to get the look your after.

 

I have done the dryer tubing trick too. But, I sprayed expanding aerosol foam into the tube to form it into permanent shape to make a good pattern to model the pipe after.

 

The BEST exhaust stuff can be had from Dr. Gas .com or from Burns Stainless .com. I do lots of exhaust header work (cuase it pays) & that is who I get my stuff from.

Paco

 

I have built many sets and found that using http://www.stahlheaders.com/index.htm was about the best way. If you already have the benders and chop saw/mig you can buy a few bends and straight pipe and do it. I like the kit parts because they have every thing already there and you cut and weld and by angle cutting the U bends you can direct the tubes where you want it to go. Ihave done it this way for 40 years and the last set are on my avitar.

 

Don't waste your money on the bender. Either buy a box of bends or pay to have someone do it. Bending your own pipe will usually turn out like crap. I have $15,000 worth of bending equipment and do it for a living. I see all kinds of junk come in here that people mess up. A good shop will do a 2" system for you with glasspacks or turbo mufflers for about $300-400.

Someone before spoke of $1200 to do a stainless system. I get guys whining about that as well. First of all, Stainless pipe is $50-75 per stick WHOLESALE. Stainless mufflers are $65-150+ each. Stainless clamps are about $15 each and something custom your going to waste a bit of pipe in the process. Not to mention I certainly have costs setting up my welder for stainless. I have tri gas mix and stainless wire. Not cheap stuff. I usually figure my COST, in materials only, on a decent 50's or 60's car stainless system is about $500. That is my COST. Now I will have probably a good day taking my time building a quality system. So $1200 is a very reasonable price for SS. I always try to use a Magnaflow system or other stainless system if I can. I can buy a mandrel bent complete system for less than my cost in raw materials. Crazy! $600 for a aluminized system is pretty high. Usually I have about $150-250 in materials for the same system in Aluminized. $350-450 is about right to pay for a quality system....unless it is something really custom.

You need to have at least a little experience AND most importantly quality BENDABLE aluminized exhaust tube to do it yourself.

Best advise I can tell you is that 5 degrees in a bend is a LOT to be off and it won't fit right. It is easy to do exhaust, it isn't easy to do it perfect.

Here is a system I did for a fellow Hamber.
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I have built both from pre bends and worked with Ford's SVO director to build the exhaust system for his original 427 cobra . Cobra took us an all night build in an exhaust supplier's shop.. there we had a lift, bender band saw, etc. for the cobra we bent 1/8 in rods the shape we wanted then made the tubes. I picked up a set of Ford FE boat Zoomie , never used for $ 5 at a garage sale to use for the rat truck exhaust parts.

 

Keep in mind mandrel tubing is usually 20 gauge, maybe 18 if you get better quality stuff. I use 14 gauge aluminized tubing in my shop. There is a HUGE difference in quality. A lot of mandrel bent exhaust pipe isn't even aluminized. If you want a system that is going to last on a car that is going to be driven a lot, quality is important. Not to mention that the thinner wall you go, the more noise will get through the pipe.

Now stainless is the same way. A LOT of stainless mandrel bent tubing is very thin wall. I have seen some of it that I can even bend by hand. I use about at least .077ish 409 stainless. Some is in the .083+ range and I have found that the stuff that is around .055ish is impossible to bend at all. Even thick wall stainless is difficult to bend over 50 degrees with my bender and I have some serious tricks I use when I have to bend that far.

You 125% get what you pay for when your talking about exhaust tube.

 

That sounds real, real nice!! I am running a 250 straight 6. I want to do my system with 1-3/4" pipe to the glass packs and then 1-1/2" after that. I will look at Summit and Speedway and see what they got in that size. If not I may talk to the local gut about bencing me up a bunch of different bends and go from there. Thanks, Todd

 

You doing stock single exhaust or split manifold or what?

Is the 250 exhaust location the same as the original motor? If so, If you run the fenton header like this car, the one side is the same as stock, you use a stock single system. Then the other side is custom made. I have patterns for the single system, be glad to send it to you for your local bender to use. Then mirror the tailpipe for the other side and have your bender custom make you a pipe to go from the header to the muffler. That is how I roll.

 

Cliffy,

Thanks for the offer!!! Actually I'm going to be running a stock exhaust manifold that has been split. Kinda like they did on the early Vettes. Todd

 

Go with the mandrel bends (as every has already said)-I get mine from summit but I think anyone reputable would be good. Then get a baseline idea-try to visualize it, then go at it. A piece of welding rod does wonders for matching bends. Do one section and side at a time, then bend a welding rod to match the curved area you need to repeat on the other side. This helps a ton with symmetry if you don't do this kind of thing everyday. Also, if you're interested in making sure its tuned/or equal length-string and a tape measure works for that. What I do (still do) is tape the joints together first with masking tape and then when I'm satisfied tack them together-then making sure that everything is still cool, THEN final weld everything. I prefer TIG but MIG is just fine. Another thing that I make sure I do-when you cut the bends find the center of the radius of the bend-cut along that line to make sure the opening of the cut is a perfect circle. A lot of hand fabricated exhausts I see (pro or home-built) seem to miss this-they get it close but not right. Its very simple and becomes second nature once you start doing it, but it really gives you that professional look. And for hangers-I really like what Posies rods and customs has-really clean trick looking hangers that really work well and isolate exhaust/chassis vibrations well. Just my .02-hope it helps

 

easy for me i, got one of these !! just showin off..... compression bends like these machine do are a bit ugly but work ok. if i get around to getting my 460 powered 79 f100 back on the road i will go with stainless mandrel bends and cut and paste it all together. so my answer is mandrels and lots of time. cheers....

 

Ya like Paco said. Buy the good stuff from Burns. Might cost a little more but its worth it in the end. I would go stainless. Steel will casue you problems down the road with rust. If you decide to go stainless go with either 304, 316 or even 321 which is often used in turbo setups cause of the high heat. Some one mentioned 409 up above. Thats fine but understand that its got alot of carbon in it and will show rust and corrosion in time. Building your exhaust is not hard it just takes alot of time.

 

not a bad idea to incorporate a couple of flanges in the setup too if you have the room. makes for easier work later if you need to dump the exhaust out of the way to remove a trans or whatever. here's a section i just finished for a customers truck. the sections from the flanges up to the manifolds are already in the vehicle. went with a funky x pipe on this one instead of a h section balance pipe. cheers........

 

Its easy enough to do.you dont want to but a tubing bender for this though. Exhaust is pipe not tubing. I learned this the same way thinking I could bend my own. It will kink it not bend it. Its all trial and error, just take it 1 piece at a time. Get under the car and stare at it for a while and plan the route of the pipe before starting. Good Luck

 

I jsaed the flowmaster kit , was 250 and easy and u can clamp it if u can;t weld. flowmaster knockoffs all on e-bay.

 

Absoultely buy a bunch of bends, get a few more than you think that you need. I am in the process right now, and changed ideas a couple of times, thankfully I had more bends ready to go. V-band flanges are a nice addition. I wont build an exhaust without them any more. I build mine out of stainless because when I am done I dont want to do it again in a few years. The stainless thing will only work for you if you can weld it. Mine is all Tig welded.

 

Ditto here! Start cuttin and weldin!

 

Made my own out of 3" 304 stainless, I bought twelve 90-degree mandrel bends and some straight tubing and went at it.

Lots of work, but satisfying to say you built it yourself.

 

Good info, Cliffy-thanks.

 

I bought mandrel bends from here. Good guys to deal with, great service and prices.

http://www.mandrel-bends.com/catalog/