new exhaust

[VanishingImage]

Well im buying my new muffler off my friend here in a day or two and getting cat-back piping(2.25 inch) put on.If i get new piping all the way from cat,will the place that puts it on keep the resonator off or keep it ? Or should i keep it off and how much more louder will be the sound,deeper or higher toned?

[1995grandam]

you just have to ask them to take it off, and they will. and yes it will be louder.

[BBT]

Louder, yes? Deeper? Higher toned? I dunno, I have a V6. Anyway, take the resonator off and see how it sounds. If you don't like it, it is easy to put a resonator back in. I did that with my cat-back and was happy with it.

[USMCspy]

Make sure you use Mandrel bent pipe and not bench bent, or you'll be sorry. They shouldn't charge more than $300 for a mandrel dual exaust plus mufflers.

[VanishingImage]

Well that place that i called for a quote(they have records of most cars and they're exhaust layouts) and asked for piping from the cat and back and i already have a muffler and for single exhaust he said it would be 60 plus tax.So when i get there i'll just see how much more mandrel bent would be.

[BBT]

Unless you're doing a lot of other performance related work (hi-flow cat, intake, head work and so on) mandrel bending is probably not worth the cost. Your money, your call though.

[rollbonez]

Originally posted by VanishingImage
Well that place that i called for a quote(they have records of most cars and they're exhaust layouts) and asked for piping from the cat and back and i already have a muffler and for single exhaust he said it would be 60 plus tax.So when i get there i'll just see how much more mandrel bent would be.


DAMN! I was just quoted $100-140 for press bent aluminized steel piping from the cat back to the muffler!

Man, am I getting ripped off. The guy justified it by saying that you can find someone to do it for cheaper, but you get what you pay for......

[1995grandam]

yup, your getting ripped.

i got 2.5 piping, a flowmaster muffler put on, removed cat and resonator. all that for 85 dollars.

[Greed4Speed]

I agree, mandrel bend is highly over rated. I have yet to see hard HP/TQ numbers that show how much mandrel w/ aftermarket muffler gains over pressure bend w/ the same muffler. Since people who replace only the muffler gain ~5 hp which is ~half the HP gains as a complete mandrel system claims over stock, I'd guess that a larger diameter than stock pressure bent system would see at least 2/3 - 3/4 of the HP of a complete mandrel system. Since a mandrel system only adds ~10 maybe 15 hp the pressure bent should gain ~8 possibly 10 hp. Then you'll have $ left over to gain that ~2 - 5 hp elsewhere and then some.

Seriously, the cheapest mandrel system for the GA is SLP which is ~$450 shipped. Then another $75-125 to get it installed. I could get a custom primary pipe y'd to dual stainless magnaflow system for $100 installed (and that wasn't figuring in the $ for those 2 mufflers). For just a single muffler w/ dual outlets and tips I was quoted $180 complete. USMCspy said a mandrel set up custom made should be about $300 then you still have to buy the muffler/s. Still over $200 is pretty expensive for a 2-5 hp gain. I could see if it was stainless maybe, but even then my GA w/ over 112000 miles is still running the stock aluminized pipe and its still solid. If fact every place I went to for quotes made the comment that there was no need to replace the pipe unless I just wanted to.

Just an FYI. My 70 SS Camaro that I had ran 12.90's in street trim w/a full pressure bent system.

If anyone has hard data on this please post.