hey guys like the tittle says right now i have true dual exhaust on my 85 z28 with a 350 in it. at the moment it is straight piped and i love it but when i got the car the exhaust was kinda shitty. the welds keep breaking on the driver side lol but i went to a high end performance shop. to do a true dual exhaust the right way all stainless steel hand tig welded life time warranty with some nice straight threw mufflers n 2 electric cut outs would cost about 2000-2500 is it worth it? my car has custom paint n plan on making it a sweet driver n show car

 

Hell no not worth it.

Get aluminized unless you plan on polishing stainless otherwise hard to tell the difference. My last alum. system lasted over 15 yrs just got rid of it to go bigger it never rotted

 

Owning a performance shop I would highly disagree with there being little differences, to start the electric cut outs are not cheap and neither is quality stainless and mandrel bends nor is the time it takes to pie cut a bend together if needed and the fab time it takes to make the exhaust. We have done many full stainless exhausts and the quality and sound of a full custom to off the shelf system cant be compared in both materials, fit and finish. There are a couple mass produced off the shelf stainless systems that are decent quality but nothing true dual for an f-body and those too are $1k or more

1badgenesis- $2000-$2500 seems about right depending on what kind of cut outs and mufflers are being used, we just did a single 3" for a 944 turbo from downpipe back using a bassani with vbands and that was $1400

 

That's a good price for the job, if the quality is good and the ground clearance is good afterwards.

If you are making a show car and plan to keep it a long time, sure, go for it. If you use it as a DD, there are better plaeces to put that money

 

they actually dont have a mandrel bender they do everything buy hand, i look it at this way i already put 400 into the exhaust on my car because i keep breaking it. i really love the sound of the true dual exhaust straighted piped really wish i could just get a true dual system made for our cars be alot easier lol but to do it with regular piping is like 600 to 800. if i dont do the cut outs it would be 2000. the guy said materials alone would be about 1k

 

If it includes a turbocharger, then sure! Otherwise? No.

Squires sells a Universal kit for that price & makes a kit for 93-97 F-bodies that I'm sure is a VERY close physical kit. Would just require different tuning.

 

Are they just going straight out and dumping before the axle?

I spent about $1700 on piping/headers/mufflers/ and my combined man hours would add up to about $2400

I just did it myself to help me save money


So go for it I would say, and he's no BSing you on materials




Here is an example of what paying cheap gets you


Back about 7 years ago my father took his trans am to a exhaust shop just because he didnt have time to do it himself. They only charged him $600. When he got it back exhaust hangers were just drilled up into the bottom of the car wherever, spotty welds, unevenness all around.

Now that car is sitting in the back of my house where some neighbor hood kids set it on fire..

 

Wow 2 grand for exhaust? Does that come with a ******* too, im geetin 3in stainless duals front to rear for $325.

 

After buying stainless headers/exhaust piping/stainless mufflers/tips/man hours/x or h pipe...

Its going to come out alot more than $325..

 

WOW.... i guess you have no idea how much quality materials cost and how much labor goes into making a GOOD custom exhaust.
Please post a picture of your 3" stainless duals after its done so i can get a good laugh.

 

I dont have a mandrel bender either by hand is how we do it so my advice to you comes from experience. $2k is fair when you take into account the amount of work a true dual system for an f-body takes to make, and make correct.

 

Ill post a pic if i remember too. Laugh all you want my exhaust is ment for goin not for showing.

 

I built my own dual exhaust for my car its only a dual 2.5" though. It's dual 2.5" with an x-pipe with magnaflow performance mufflers dumped before the axle. It performs well enough to net me 11.90's in the 1/4 with vortec heads. I probably have $275 in it. Here's a pic and a video that shows the exhuast more with sound.



And then the video....


Not show quality but i built the exhaust myself and it gets the job done. So for performance it can be had alot less. Not sure how much the "show car" look adds on to the price though.

 

A full Borla system is pricey like that, but lasts a lifetime. You can get it to sound pretty awesome, too with the cutouts that are adjustable on the RH tailpipe.

I'd say the price is fine as long as it's a "forever" type system.

 

Im not knocking the idea of your exhaust you want to get, i bet the 304 stainless $2k exhaust will look awesome, but in my thought is how many times do you plan on rollin your car on its side to show off the exhaust. Whatever you choose will be the right choice for you and your car.

 

$2000 is a fair price for a quality setup, with quality parts and good ground clearance. As long as you can see some of their work nd verify the quality I think it'll be worth it.

 

Seems pricey depending on how they do the system. What material? 304 316 or something else? Mine is all 409 stainless and wasnt that much in material cost. 409 was alot cheaper few yrs back but my local supplier says its nearly doubled now in price. Labor would still be under 2g total and i have v bands on it which are pricey. For 304-316 or 321 i think it could add up alot tho. Really depends on how they lay out the system

 

this is what my exhaust looks like now lol you can see why i want a new one, this is when i was fxing the driver side that keeps breaking






n heres a few pictures of the car n my 87 trans am too

 

Beautiful car mate, completely worthy of a top notch exhaust!

 

For a hand built stainless system and good quality cut outs, I was not offended by the price you listed. You can design a system way better piecing it together than bending up large pieces of tubing. If I were you I wouldn't hesitate to have it done.

 

Honestly IMHO I dont see anything there worthy of a 2K stainless exhaust.

Before I put a nice stainless tig welded exhaust under the car, I would make sure the underside has been properly taken car of. Stripped, re-coated, suspension components stripped, cleaned, and coated. Ect...

Otherwise whats the point your going to rip the whole exhaust out and store it somewhere to do all that or your going to have an ugly belly with a nice looking exhaust.

A nice clean mig welded mild steel exhaust ceramic coated is all you need. Even that will look out of place with a dirty underbody.

Look at mine and how out of place it looks under a dirty and basic under body. The difference is mine did not cost 2k. It looks good and it cost me $600 in materials.



Also what does your power train look like? Is it necessary to have cutouts?...True dual? Why not do a straight 3" back?

And I have to ask, Why is one of your rear tires bald and the other is not?

 

That's an excellent price for a professionally done exhaust. If the car is worth it and you have the cash i'd go for it in a heartbeat.