The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → cheap exhaust?
We need to get a new exhaust pipe bent. Of all of the muffler places, where do people think the cheapest would be?
We used exhaust repair flex tube. It's lightweight, cheap, and you can bend it with your hands 
Just gotta find a place that sells long sections (Mills Fleet Farm, here in the upper Midwest), and use plenty of hangers to prevent sagging.
We used exhaust repair flex tube. It's lightweight, cheap, and you can bend it with your hands
Just gotta find a place that sells long sections (Mills Fleet Farm, here in the upper Midwest), and use plenty of hangers to prevent sagging.
I have to say that we look at flex tubing with a jaundiced eye. We've seen way too many failures, for the sake of passing tech inspection, stay away from flex tubing.
Check Rock Auto. I needed only a short section of the exhaust on this year's car (just the flange after the cat and a few inches past it), and was able to buy something very close, the flange and about 2' past it. It was only about $30, though it is a common car.
Take a look, never know what you'll find.
Also, most auto parts stores have some basic bits to piece something together, depending on how big the part is.
In the south, it's Pepe's or Joe Bob's - the more run down the shop looks, the better the work is usually.
You know that part of the slightly out of the suburbs that you think is hick? That's where the best exhaust shop is.
In the south, it's Pepe's or Joe Bob's - the more run down the shop looks, the better the work is usually.
You know that part of the slightly out of the suburbs that you think is hick? That's where the best exhaust shop is.
The more abandoned cars the place has collected, the better.
Summit sells random pre-bent bits of exhaust tubing. Purchase, clamp/weld, enjoy.
Or find the run-down trailer with the ferile dogs and children and the '78 Camaro "shootin' car" in front.
Ask around with your co-workers and car buddies. Somebody knows a shop that will build you a suitable exhaust for a good price. I already know where I'm taking the Jagillac, but it won't help you unless you're in Oklahoma.
I have to say that we look at flex tubing with a jaundiced eye. We've seen way too many failures, for the sake of passing tech inspection, stay away from flex tubing.
That's true; flex tube is a bad idea and you probably shouldn't use it. I should preface all my Lemons "wisdom" with a similar disclaimer.
Our original exhaust was completely rusted out; we tried a side-exhaust for our first race and weren't happy with it (poor ground clearance). We wanted to route the pipe in the OEM path up over the rear suspension. Our best mechanic (not me), who is also the guy with the welder, argued against the flex tube because it's tricky to weld and tends to sag without lots of hangers to support it. I think he may have also said that flex tube is the wrong way to build exhaust and that this was another example of me being cheap in areas that were Lemons budget-exempt. Or something like that. I already had all the parts, so I said "let's just get this done tonight" and the flex tube ended up being a quick and easy solution. It has been durable; some joints are both welded and clamped in place. We may make another attempt to "improve" the exhaust before the next race, and if it still involves flex tube, I will send pictures ahead of time.
Pick n Pull
If they don't have your car, you can at least find something that's a pretty close fit for $27.
I bought a Dynomax mandrel U-bend ($12.99) and a 3' section of straight pipe ($cheap), did the free "loaner tool" thing for a pipe expander from Advance Auto Parts, used a sawzall to cut the U-bend to the right angles, the tail pipe expander to make them tightly slip fit, then welded the joints. All told, less than $25 and I had a nice exhaust system. (It helped that I already had a muffler in the right size.)
If you can weld, and can use a tape measure, you're good to go. Don't get the flexy stuff if you're going to have to buy something anyway.
we ended up just buying off the shelf at the auto parts store. our exhaust cat had decided it was no longer needed and disconnected itself on the way home from purchasing it. So without the cat we were able to put the glasspack where the cat originally was mounted and only needed a straight piece a 90 degree turn and a downturn plus a bunch of clamps. Going out the side was alot easier than cheaper than going back over the suspension to the stock locations. and since the glass pack was in the tunnel we didn't have a clearance issue, but by following the stock patch most of the way we could still use stock mounting places.
obsolete your running the Corsica right? Can't see there being much difference between my Ciera and you Corsica especially since I think we both are running the old 2.8. i have some pics of how we ran it if you want to try the side exhaust again.
Issue with the e30 is it is two pipe all the way. The exhaust is cut right before the cat. Is the a fitting that you can put over the two exhaust pipes to bring it down to one?
yeah there are splitters so you can go 1 out to 2, or 2 to 1
obsolete your running the Corsica right? Can't see there being much difference between my Ciera and you Corsica especially since I think we both are running the old 2.8. i have some pics of how we ran it if you want to try the side exhaust again.
Oh, you have the Murph and the Magic Tones Cutlass? That car is great! I'm sure we could go on all day about the endurance racing virtues of the 2.8 MPFI, but I'll spare the forum of that for now. Our car is a two-door Corsica with sport-inspired styling (a.k.a. a Beretta) and I'm not sure how similar our L-body is to your A-body, but if you'd like to e-mail me pictures or direct me to them, I'll check em out.
Back on topic, for the original poster, I think something like this would do the job: http://tinyurl.com/48g7jht (link to an eBay auction)
Here is the blog entry for it, I guess there isn't that much in the way of pics but I think its straight forward enough that probably don't need it.
http://racing4nickels.blogspot.com/2010 … video.html
My suggestion is looking for the simplest and easiest way to run the exhaust and do it that way. Typically with the exhaust the simpler it is the better job it will do.
We got a bolt on flange that connects to exhaust manifold and then went to Pepboys for the cherry bomb and other hangers and exhaust bits. I think we spent $40 for everything.
we call them weed burners
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