How much would you pay for a complete, manifold back exhaust?

[Crazy_pilot]

So I've been thinking of using the exhaust I built on my car to make some tooling that will enable me to reproduce it on a workbench. I want to make a nice new system for myself (stainless steel and all that), but could also use it to make systems for members here if there is any interest. My jigs would enable me to change out the components used (mufflers, resonators, cats or catless...), so someone could select a really fancy set of Borla mufflers and stainless tubing, or a more budget friendly Cherry-Bomb setup with aluminized tubing.

The design would be a lot like what my current one is - 2" off the manifolds, pre-cats (if desired), 2-1 main cat, 2.5" tubing, resonator (if desired), y-pipe into two small mufflers, and whatever tips you'd like. I would add flanges where the tubes meet in order to make installation as smooth as possible and to reduce the package size for shipping. Everything is MIG welded. I would love to have a TIG setup, but that's beyond my expertise and budget right now.

Please pick an option in the poll and include a comment indicating what sort of system you would be interested in buying, if it were to happen.

[92snowmachine]

i don't know where it would put me cost wise but i would want all stainless tubing, no cats, two small borlas or one large magnaflow. i currently have stainless cat back with a magnaflow meant for a camaro.

[Crazy_pilot]

It would depend if you wanted to go with 304 or 409 stainless. 409 is the OEM standard for pipes and much cheaper, but not as rust resistant. 304 is the serious stuff, extremely rust resistant, but significantly more expensive. It takes 4-5 2" J-bends, one 2.5" J-bend and 1 2.5" straight section to build an SVX system. With 409 that comes out to a little under $200 worth of tubing but with 304 the price roughly doubles for tubing and skyrockets for flanges - Vibrant seems to be the only manufacturer and charges $25 per flange (with 8 required for a whole exhaust). Borla mufflers run around $100-150 each.

The cost of flanges is so nuts I might even look into having them made at a local machine shop. If I was still at school it would be dead simple to crank them out...

In any case, a 409 system like you described would probably be in the $550 range for parts while a 304 system would be more in the $800 neighbourhood.

[Stevebsy]

Do you have a tube bender? Or are you going to cut & weld the bent sections?

I could help you with the flange making if things proceed.

[92snowmachine]

how much for just manifold to behind converter without cats?

[Crazy_pilot]

Originally Posted by Stevebsy

Do you have a tube bender? Or are you going to cut & weld the bent sections?

I could help you with the flange making if things proceed.

I was actually thinking of giving you a shout Steve! If there is interest then for sure, I would love your help with getting this going.

I would be buying pre-bent tubing to cut and weld. IF (big if) this ever turned into something with enough interest I would investigate having a shop pre-bend some tubes onto which I would weld the components. It would definitely save fab time and resources for me, but would all come down to the cost. For a handful of builds it's not going to be worth it.

Originally Posted by 92snowmachine

how much for just manifold to behind converter without cats?

A fair bit less, but that's not something I would want to do. Without having access to your car I could never guarantee fitment with your current exhaust. Unless I got access to a car with a stock exhaust to R&D I couldn't make any kind of partial system.

[bheinen74]

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

The cost of flanges is so nuts I might even look into having them made at a local machine shop. If I was still at school it would be dead simple to crank them out...

.

When I had to redo the front pipes on my 97, everything ahead of the cat, both pipes to the header, were made to duplicate factory setup, I was able to reuse my cats both left and right. The flanges where the 2 pipes connect to the center cat, were also both bad.

My local tire guy, had 2 thick good quality flanges, with the right bolt spacing, on his shelf, they were 2 bucks a flange to buy raw.

Then I took the flanges, the 2 front cats, and the center cat to a exhaust shop, had him remove the bad pipes, bend new pipes, weld to the front cats, then weld the flanges to them. Each side new from Subaru was near 550, so re-using my cats saved tons of money.

I brought that stuff back home, and bolted them up to my car.

Total was about 290 bucks or there abouts…for the custom stuff, and the 2 front cats/header gaskets, and center donut gasket, OEM from Subaru was another approx ~79 bucks….


but, if someone on here is making factory replica stuff, with good stainless material, and everything has flanges, and uses same replica bends as factory did, I would pay upwards of 800-950…. I simply will not take my cars to exhaust shops, they weld piping together, making it non replaceable by a backyard mechanic. All my cars must have bolt togethers stuff, using factory style hangers, etc. No slip fit clamped sections etc. ALL STOCK LIKE for me, that is for ALL my cars, CRX, BRAT, SVX, etc.

I live in the rust belt, where a good factory oem will last 10 years max. Then if you go to off the shelf oem-like stuff, that stuff from parts stores is JUNK and will only go 1-2 years max, and it gets pricey to keep old cars on the road.

So, that is my reason to go OEM, or nothing at all, but the SVX, the one front side is no longer available from Subaru, and the other side is but 500 bucks..

Someone can make some serious dough on here….lots of these SVX on the road have needs for replacement exhaust...

[Crazy_pilot]

That's exactly where this all started for me. The pipes had rusted through behind the pre-cats and the shop quoted me over $2000 to replace both sides ($750 apiece for the parts alone) and do a couple other things. I McGuyver'd a quick setup together and brought it to a friendlier shop for inspection.

As someone in manufacturing I definitely appreciate having flanges on things. My setup uses 3 flanged joints currently - manifold to pre-cat, pre-cat to main cat, and mid pipe to muffler. I could add another joint between the main cat and the mid pipe. I don't think it would add much to ease of installation but could impact the shipping cost - a Magnaflow main cat is about a foot long, so being able to reduce the package size would be beneficial.

Hanger points would be almost identical to stock - the two brackets to the transmission, two hangers after the main cat, one on the midpipe and two on the muffler. I differ from OEM on that last one; the two rear hangers on the stock muffler are extremely strong and my muffler weighs less than stock. When I build the tooling I would incorporate the 4 hanger points though so that they would always be an option.

[SoobCrazy]

I'm all about using the highest quality componenets possible, but I'm also budget conscious.

One thing I've never understood is dual exhaust tips when the system necks down to a single pipe under the car.

I would be interested in a full 304 stainless, with cats, SS flex joints, and a single exit muffler. I could be coaxed into a dual exit exhaust, but it seems unnecessary and adds weight/cost.

[Crazy_pilot]

A single exit muffler is something I would have to investigate. It could be done fairly simply by omitting one of the two mufflers and using a slightly larger inlet/outlet on the one to keep. That doesn't really strike me as the most efficient layout though. I would prefer either an angled muffler or a short/fat one farther out to the side like the one on my Legacy.

I could actually make it a modular option by putting the rear flange in the right spot. This would allow me to build everything in jigs (having to build every one under my car is unrealistic), and offer different options to anyone who wants a system.

[Cotton]

Originally Posted by bheinen74

When I had to redo the front pipes on my 97, everything ahead of the cat, both pipes to the header, were made to duplicate factory setup, I was able to reuse my cats both left and right. The flanges where the 2 pipes connect to the center cat, were also both bad.

My local tire guy, had 2 thick good quality flanges, with the right bolt spacing, on his shelf, they were 2 bucks a flange to buy raw.

Then I took the flanges, the 2 front cats, and the center cat to a exhaust shop, had him remove the bad pipes, bend new pipes, weld to the front cats, then weld the flanges to them. Each side new from Subaru was near 550, so re-using my cats saved tons of money.

I brought that stuff back home, and bolted them up to my car.

Total was about 290 bucks or there abouts…for the custom stuff, and the 2 front cats/header gaskets, and center donut gasket, OEM from Subaru was another approx ~79 bucks….


but, if someone on here is making factory replica stuff, with good stainless material, and everything has flanges, and uses same replica bends as factory did, I would pay upwards of 800-950…. I simply will not take my cars to exhaust shops, they weld piping together, making it non replaceable by a backyard mechanic. All my cars must have bolt togethers stuff, using factory style hangers, etc. No slip fit clamped sections etc. ALL STOCK LIKE for me, that is for ALL my cars, CRX, BRAT, SVX, etc.

I live in the rust belt, where a good factory oem will last 10 years max. Then if you go to off the shelf oem-like stuff, that stuff from parts stores is JUNK and will only go 1-2 years max, and it gets pricey to keep old cars on the road.

So, that is my reason to go OEM, or nothing at all, but the SVX, the one front side is no longer available from Subaru, and the other side is but 500 bucks..

Someone can make some serious dough on here….lots of these SVX on the road have needs for replacement exhaust...

I am going to have to bump this thread and post if/when I actually try to repair mine as my left front pipe is no good due to the flange being rusted out. This is good to know.