if i was going to pay somebody to put on a complete exhaust system (headers to muffler), how much should i expect to pay without getting ripped off. so far i've been rejected twice, they said it was too tight to bother. i don't have the equipment to do it myself... so i need to have someone else do it..... what do you think i should pay?

 

From what I understand your looking at dropping some cash for a header install. I've heard of prices from between 200 to 500 for the install. The cat back shouldn't be too much though. I got my mufflex system done for $80 and that was with custom brakets and some cutting of the pipes to make it fit better.

Hope that helps.

 

200 to 500 for just header installation.... that's a lot.. i was told that it could be done for 100 to 200..... i could do the cat and cat-back myself, that's easy.

 

If you can get it for $100-200 go for it. Most of the time it cost a lot in shops that don't usually do 3rd gens. Those are the ones that take you for a ride since it takes them so much time to do it. If they are charging less then 200, they either have never done a 3rd gen or have done enough to know that it doesn't take that long to do if you've done it a few times in the past.

 

if you actually wanted to do it yourself you probably already got what you need to do it. if you have a set of car ramps get your front end up first. then disconect the y pipe from the manifolds the y pipe will drop and you can unbolt your manifolds then just unbolt your cat from the y pipe and pull it out of the way unless you plan on using the stock y pipe. then put the aftermarket headers on and slide the y pipe in and bolt it all together. then unbolt your cat from the rest of your exaust and get the ramps under your rear wheels and get the rest of the exaust off and replaced. then if you want it welded together itd probably cost around $50-$100 to have it all welded together. itd save you a whole lot of money even if you had to spend $30-$50 for ramps unless you just got money to throw away to pay some *** to do something you can do right in your driveway in a matter of a couple hours.

 

it was $400 for my header install and $85 for my cat-back

 

well, i can do the cat and catback myself, maybe even the y-pipe, but the passenger side looks incredibly hard...

 

Actually, for me, the passanger side was the eaisiest side to do. It took me about 20 minutes to disconnect everything, another 15 to pull all the manifold bolts and then the header just slipped in. In all it took me about an hour to disconnect, remove, and install everything on the passanger side. I was shocked when the driver side took longer. Oh well.

 

Buy your own parts, then talk to an installer for just the labor. An experienced person should charge no more than $200 for the header install, $100 for the exhaust install.

If you pay more than this, then chances are you are getting ripped off.

 

Its not really all that hard to do the headers yourself... all you really need are some wrenches and some sockets, and if you spend what you would plan on spending to have someone install the headers for you, you could buy the tools that you need and be better off in the long run. just be ready to fight some of those bolts because they get nasty sometimes, i can say that my headers will be in by later today,