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Started fabbing my exhaust. Plan is make a y pipe and try and follow stock location as you all know, there isnt crap for room under these cars. Up and over the axle, through a dynomax and a single tip tucked up. Finished tacking up the y pipe. Started with the drivers side which was a breeze, and made the merge pipe. Sense that set the 2 points for the pass side, from collector to y, it was a lot of messing around. It's far from perfect but i think it will be just fine. Debating on how many v bands I wanna use mainly cause after researching they all suck and I'm not spending 50 bucks a pop or more on some fancy stuff. If they leak, I'll weld the sobs up. Yup, I wont dump a bunch of heat in them. Anyways here are some pics. Made my own tran/torque arm mount. Learned a lot. Next time i will do it differently so it leaves more room for exhaust. Its tight. But have .75 inch clearance from bracket. Can grind and cut it back if necessary. First attempt at working back from y to collector. Fail. Didnt like it and dont want a bunch of pie pieces. Lots of welding if i went that route. Lots more.... Finished. Its ok. I have 3 1/2\" of ground clearance. Would of liked more but it is what it is. Ready to be final welded. Going to jump around and around as to not dump heat into it. No purging or any of that. Its just exhaust. Dynomax claims over 2k cfm through this guy. If its too loud, i am leaving room down by the driveshaft so i can put another round cylinder type through muffler to tone it down. Well just have to see.
I'd purge if it's within the budget otherwise your budget might consist of doing it again!
Progress so far looks top drawer.
The ice cream truck jingle would be a bonus either way!
I'd purge if it's within the budget otherwise your budget might consist of doing it again!
Progress so far looks top drawer.
The ice cream truck jingle would be a bonus either way!
Mmm. Purge welded goodness.
I hear ya, it's just, man, I cant imagine it failing. Just the measly tacks I did prevented it from breaking when I dropped it from 5' by accident. Also, a master welder at work said he wouldn't waste the gas on it. It's not a structural weld. I'm sure there are many many exhaust systems out there that have not been purged. Well see. Maybe I'll stick my mig gun up there with a zip tie around the trigger. Lol, wire unhooked obviously.
However, I understand the process and why it "should" be done.
I get all of that too and truthfully unless it's on the hot side of your turbo build where a chunk of slag could be expensive, maybe there's not a lot of call for it. Then again, if I'm beating the snot out of my car on the road course (read that as abusive to all parts car related) then maybe I would care if the exhaust came unglued. Just saying...How expensive is gas anyway...?
Now to qualify those statements, I intend to build my next iteration of exhaust on the super cheap with mild steel and whatever MIG welder I can get my hands on. (I really miss the old shop).
Think I have it how I want it. May do something different with tip section if not long enough or too much droning. Back section is just tacked so I need to finish that. Also hangers.
That's really well done. Now make me a dual please?
Thanks man. Coming along. Hope to have car on the road in a month. Just got all the carpet, headliner so as soon as exhaust is finished I'm on to the interior. Lots of little stuff to do..
Got some welding done. Few more v bands to finish welding, few hangers and it's a wrap.
Getting better at welding around tube. I tacked a 10" long piece to my table to act as a stand. Put v band on with both pieces and it slips over the piece welded to table. Worked great. Trick with these bands is not only do you want them assembled b4 welding but snug them up and take a soft dead blow and smack it around the clamps perimeter. Tighten it some more, smack some more, tighten more, etc. No need to go crazy tight. When ya rattle it with the smacks, it clamps tighter. Enjoy.
my 84z. Been a long time coming. Garage is a hot mess.
I never back purge welding exhaust. 304 and 409 get a nice sugar on the inside depending on how hot u go. Did my hotside on my 5.3 turbo in my 87 and never had an issue with heat or vibration. You'll
be fine.
Have you verified ground clearance? Anytime I’ve seen pipes run over the trans subframe it gets close to the ground unless you go oval or small tubing.
vbands work better when you have 1/8-1/4” tubing sticking through to create a slip fit and then you won’t have leaks. You can also make
gaskets or purchase them for 3” as I’ve run them. I had some custom copper ones made for my 2.25” crossover. If you still had a leak with the vband and tubing sticking through like a slip fit you could make gaskets from gasket sheet (header style or graphite 1mm sheet off eBay.
Ended up w about 3" of clearance. Would have liked more but it is what it is. Doesnt hit coming off my lift and this car is not my dd so it's good. I can always do something this winter. Wanna get it on road!
I had welder set at 70 amps. Worked great.
Had 2 warp on me so I clamped them together and heated up with my torch. They are nice n flat now. No leaks or rubbing anywhere.
love the sound the dynomax makes.
I never back purge welding exhaust. 304 and 409 get a nice sugar on the inside depending on how hot u go. Did my hotside on my 5.3 turbo in my 87 and never had an issue with heat or vibration. You'll
be fine.
Others have had issues. Primarily from the slag (or sugar) that's formed because of the lack of the inert atmosphere. While it's OK in a exhaust system, having that slag potentially break off upstream of the turbine can (and has) damaged more than one turbo housing. Just saying. That you haven't had issues may be a credit to your welding skills.
07-06-2020, 07:45 PM
