The Monroe & Meineke's in my town both said they won't install my SFCs, or anything I don't purchase through them for that matter.

I had a locally owned Muffler/Brake shop install my hooker exhaust and they also said they don't wouldn't do it.

What's the deal, it seems every place with decent welding equipment won't install them. Any other places I should try?

 

Could try a body shop, they would probably do it for you.

 

I dunno if I'd want Maaco doing something like that. The only very reputable shop near me won't touch my car, I already went there to see about them doing body/paint work to my car and they said they wouldn't work on my car because it's too old.

I almost have half a mind to buy a cheap MIG welder and practice on some stock then just do it myself.

 

call up a local speed shop and they'll be able to point you in the right direction.

 

Ill give that a shot....how much should I be willing to pay for the installation? I'm kinda worried at this stage since I'm finding it so difficult to get someone willing to do it.

 

no seriously....keep it under $150 regardless. i know local guys who want 2 cases of beer and someone to bitch about their wife for a few hours while you sit there.


Then there's the local track guys--shoot them $75 or so. then there's the welders for the roundy round guys, they already have funds for a circle track car, so they'll just want some beer money again. etc etc.

regardless don't pay more than $150-200 or you're getting screwed. local guy by me will do them all day long for $50 and my name.

 

Contact Jay Fisher Pontiac in Elmer, NJ. They would be able to do it for you, if not they can point you in the right direction

 

What does the age of you car have to do with not welding up a couple pieces of metal?

 

I dunno, but they said they won't take in any car that is more then 10 years old. I also don't understand why 3 muffler shops have turned me down, they all have lifts and plenty of welding experience/equipment. It's straight up welding, I don't see why people won't do it. My buddys dad has a 2000$ TIG welder and a lift in his garage and his dad won't do it either for any amount of money I offer him. 150$ is fine, that is what I expected to pay, now I just gotta find someone to do it.

 

If you're willing to drive like 45 minutes my way I know a good chassis shop that'll do it cheap. Lemme know I can get you some pricing. They're in Vineland

 

Some paint & body shops wont touch a car older then 10 years because either they consider it has too many body defects to return to proper condition, parts avalibility or the big issue most cars that old dont have full covrage insurance they can bleed dry. I might consider talking to that body shop again since no actual body work is being done or ask them if they can reccomend anyone to you, I'm sure they send the older cars to other body shops so they should be able to reccomend someone for the paint work at least. They might weld in your SFC's since no actuall body work or painting needs to be done. As far as the muffler shop that did your muffler install you might just want to swing the SFC's by and have them look at what needs to be done, its possible they dident have a clue what you were talking about or how simple it is to install them, they might just chainge thier mind who knows. Another possibility would be a local farm equiptment shop since most of them weld up tractors and such. Good luck.

 

That would be my vote.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=33244

I did the initial install on mine with an old stick welder. That was fine until I got to the part where they say to tack them to the floor pan - blow-through city. I repaired the holes with a borrowed welder very similar to the $119.99 version above using .030" flux core wire.

Used the same welder to port-match my headers last spring, and weld in new mufflers last week.

 

So that CE unit will go deep enough, yet not blow through my pan? Jeez, 140$, thats nothing. It comes with everything? I've done some welding with a friends MIG, I actually think he has that same unit. I might buy it, thnx for all the suggestions.

88IROC - Lemme know about that place. If its cheap enough I'll drive up there.

 

It doesn't come with .030 wire, but you should be able to pick that up at Home Depot or the like.

 

Look at this one...How come they can sell these things so cheap?
Are they good welders or not?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=6098

 

I had the same problem getting mine installed, nobody wanted to do it. Half of the places I tried had no idea what they even were. Finally I tried my local GM dealer (out of desperation) and talked to the head body shop tech. Turns out he was a huge firebird fan and had no problem with installing them. Did a great job too, so keep trying you never know who you'll run into.

 

I called around today as well looking for someone to install them...no one would cuz they didn't see how SFC's can help a stiffen a car. Then I realized something...my neighboor is a welder. I asked him and he said "sure thing, I drink Coors Light". He is installing them this weekend, payment is a nice cool 24 of brew.

 

The reason a lot of shops won't do it is because it's a liability issue. They just don't want to be responsible in case the welds crack and you end up catapulting your car. Can you say...lawsuit?

I had one guy tell me that he'd do it, but only if he built the sfc's himself - he'll install those...

I'll end up doing it myself.

 

They are "hobbiest" tools, not production. They have a limited duty cycle, but it's plenty adequate for welding in subframe connectors (or welding up exhaust). That one you linked, by the way, is one of their more "expensive" units, can use either shielding gas or flux core wire.

They sell a combination of foreign-made (try finding anything else these days), inventory close-outs, and factory refurbished equipment. That's why their prices are relatively low (ignore their crossed-out prices - nobody sells it for that price).

I've never had any trouble with any CE stuff I've gotten from them.

 

I feel your pain! When I got mine installed I went to every body shop and muffler shop within 40 miles of where I live noone would touch it. Every time I went to a Body shop they said go to a muffler shop , and vice versa. Finally I found this old man that has a muffler shop and just lives to earn a dollar . I took it by there and he charged me 130 bucks to put in my subframe connectors and exhuast cutout . With a 2 hour turn around time.

And did one hell of a job at that. Very clean honest installation. I was expecting a crappy job for the pirce and turn around time, But he proved me wrong, this guy did very honest work. I have been a customer of his every since. Bottom line is all these trades Muffler,racing,bodyshop, ect ect.. are dying out. Hell took me allmost two years to find somone who knew how to put a 383 together. So its getting harder to find people that can do this type of work

 

There's just something about having the equipment and doing the job yourself.

The chain exhaust shops are after the 2-income, don't-want-to-get-my-hands-dirty yuppie-types who don't sneeze at pulling the plastic out for an $800 bill (of which $200 is parts that you could buy yourself for $100). Our cars are fast becoming hobby-only material.

As some above have noted, "body shops" are going after the insurance work. I had more than one tell me to take the Camaro to Maaco for paint. So, I did. But, even they contract out body work, so they aren't a good choice for custom welding work like SFC's.

However, sometimes you can find someone who works at such places that moonlights on odd jobs such as this.

Still, there's just something about having the equipment and doing the job yourself...

 

doing your stuff is the best way to go, allso best way to learn. If you have a shop or car lift ect, even the tools, working in the mudd and rain, or dust and heat sucks not to mention the misquettos biting the hell out of you

 

i can tell you why muffler shops wont do it. they got some wack *** welder thats used for doing thin pieces of pipe all day long. the welder wont do hard steel correctly. i had some subs welded in at a place that does mufflers, they came right off on the drive home. no pretty let me tell you. so i asked my ol' pops to do it. 30+ years experience and an arc welder from the early 70s made for putting up buildings. im talkin a big welder here, any other person would be blowing holes with this baby

 

Ahh, a newer stick welder...

My grandfather had the one I have now before I was born. I only blew holes when trying to run a bead between the SFC's and pan with it (and not all the places I tried...).

 

That is the great thing about being in the Marine Corps, had a welding shop right behind the auto hobby shop. Had my Z all apart anyways, so had a friend help roll her in, put her on the lift, and in about two hours and $20 dollars later, had a set of SFC put in professionally. Helps that the exhaust wasn't installed yet, with making clearence since I chose the Hotchkis set. Need to adjust the Y pipe by about 2" for clearence on the passenger side.

 

lol yeah this thing is giganto! its got a crank on the front like one of those 1920's cars lol.

yeah out hobby shop was miles away from my barracks. it was like 11 bucks to rent a lift and all the tools you needed for the day. too bad my cars were 3400 miles away back on the east coast

 

I ran into the same problem a couple of months ago with my TDS SFCs.

As a last resort I went to a shop that had been suggested did poor work & the guy did it the same time I asked him to look it over & it was only $40.00.

I don't know why a couple of guys put this shop down, but I'll more than likely be going back after this!

Keep looking.

 

You guys are forgetting the best asset that we all have...

Local Community Colleges...

Get to know the Body Instructors and/or the Auto Mechanics guys, they are always looking for projects for their students to work on.

Yeah you are getting someone who's learning to do the work, but they always get their work checked.

And You normally only have to pay for materials, no labor.

I've had tons of body work, and my dad had his engine rebuilt at our local college, all the work was first rate, just make sure your school does good work before you send them your car, best way to find out is start off with small things that you can notice if they screw them up, but that won't be too hard to get fixed elsewhere.

 

yeah the local vocational schools will work. takes a long while for them to get to the job though. i have one right behind my house. they told me 2 months to have my block bored and cleaned... plus they are a bunch of newbs. if you dont mind them "practicing" on your car, then i guess its the way to go

 

Hell, I just drove my **** out to PA and had Steve and his father do it themselves at Spohn Performance.

 

Man, hearing all these stories reminds me of how irritating it is to deal with any of the big franchise shops. What a bunch of candyasses! Especially those guys mentioned from the bodyshop who wouldn't work on anything older than 10 years. They're probably in the game for the almighty insurance dollars, besides the fact that they're scared to work on anything older because their skills are too feeble to tackle any rust repair. What a bunch of sissies. I wouldn't take any of my cars to Meineke or Midas either. Not after all the stories I've heard from other people who went in for a simple brake job at the low advertised price of 50-60 bucks per axle, and they give them a grand total in the neighborhood of $600 for the entire job, saying everything from the brake booster to the rotors is shot! I was lucky enough to have gone to high school with a guy that works in a locally owned exhaust and speed shop. He was the first guy I asked about welding up my sfc's, and he did a great job for a mere $60. My suggestion is to try the smaller and locally owned shops to get yours done. Those guy will usually go a lot farther to satisfy the customer than the big shops, and they're also used to requests for more varied and unusual types of jobs as well. Good luck and happy hunting!

 

Speaking from a computer repair perspective, I'd much rather work on newer models than older ones. There are far too many headaches with old crap (well, with computers, anyway )