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My mechanic will install 3" stainless from turbo back with a stebro exhaust also stainless.. Sound like a good deal??

How is it constructed?

They do very nice custom work. Here's a pic of a turbo vr6 corado they spent 20 hours on this exhaust. They Custom fit to your car.

http://www.maxbimmer.com/forums/showthr ... genumber=2

The pic is @ the bottom of the page..[/url]

Most importantly, how is the downpipe constructed?

There's a lot of variables, and it's hard to see $700 buying you a really nice 3" exhaust.

Hmm, I can't tell from those pictures... is it mandrel bent? Or is it made from pieces of mandrel-bent pipe welded together?

vrg3 wrote:Hmm, I can't tell from those pictures... is it mandrel bent? Or is it made from pieces of mandrel-bent pipe welded together?

I think mandrel bent welded. Not to sure.

They do some very nice work. I'll get some pics of there downpipes.

What kind of DP design is it? Is it just a plate with a 3" dump, a bellmouth, twin dump? That makes a big difference too.

i got my 3" mandrel bent stainless exhaust for 300 but it was used from an identical turbo legacy that had been running a massive turbo and front intercooler

legacy92ej22t wrote:What kind of DP design is it? Is it just a plate with a 3" dump, a bellmouth, twin dump? That makes a big difference too.

WRX downpipe but add $200..

bump

What is a "WRX downpipe but add $200.."?

That didn't answer the question we were asking.

Any place where pipe is welded together you have to be really cautious... There are way more many people on this planet that think they can weld than there are people who can weld. You can end up with slag inclusions that eventually weaken and allow cracks to being to form, you can end up with little voids that corrode into holes, you can end up with jags entering the cross section of the pipe, etc.

You have to examine a weld fairly closely to judge its quality... And the quality of the welding will play a big role in deciding whether the exhaust is worth the money or not.

Vikash has a good point. There are 3 people who I would ever let weld anything on my car. My mechanic, my buddy (one of my mechanics partners), and Trevor at CES.

You should look at a welder like you look at a doctor.

Well this guy(my mechanic) builds very nice custom exhaust for very nice car..

He Also rally races and is constantly welding his car back toghether.. I trust them. They just did some very nice welding on my e30 subframe which broke on me..

Here's some pics of there welds..

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 06&start=0

http://www.maxbimmer.com/forums/showthr ... bmdoubleya

The second link has pics on page 1 and 3.

BAC5.2 wrote:What is a "WRX downpipe but add $200.."?

That didn't answer the question we were asking.

I asked my mechanic if that price included a DP and he said no it would be around $200 more for a DP from a subaru WRX.

It's hard to tell much about the quality of the welds from those pictures, but if you're sure they'll do quality welding then that's fine.

So is $700 a good price for a stainless midpipe and muffler, made of welded-together pieces of mandrel bends and straight pipes?

I dunno... sounds kinda pricey. But then again, I don't know much about how much exhausts cost.

That's not a good price at all.

A) Those are surface welds, not quite the same as welding a pipe together. Anyone can make a nice looking weld on a surface weld. It takes a whole different level of skill to weld a pipe. BUT, like Vikash said, if you trust their skills, then go ahead and have them do it. But be warned.

B) $700 is a bit ridiculous for a midpipe and axle back.

To add some perspective, a friend of mine got a straight pipe w/ 1 resonator on her WRX wagon. She brought my mechanic buddy (one of the 3 people who's welds I'd trust everything to) all of the parts (ordered the bended pipe from JC whitney, and brought him the resonator, and got a Godspeed downpipe).

He welded it all together for her, and did a FANTASTIC job. There was a custom scilencer setup (a cutout welded mid-stream, close it and it closed partially. It was the most primative way of silencing, but that's what she wanted) too.

Including the cutout, downpipe, pipes, and labor, it cost her just under $500 bucks. And that's for a full Turboback, 3" mandrel all the way out.

A 10 foot stick of 3" stainless steel pipe costs about 70 bucks. You can get 3" Stainless steel mandrel bends from JCWhitney for like $15 to $20 bucks per bend. You'd need like $130 to $150 in pipes alone for the midpipe back. Find a friend that can weld pipes well, and your gold.

Including downpipe, I wouldn't pay more than $600 bucks for a 3" stainless steel turbo back (downpipe being your standard bellmouth style), with a muffler, and a resonator.

But that's just my opinion. Take that for what it's worth.

That price also includes install.. + were talking CDN not U.S dollers..

Oh. Canadian money, eh? So that's like $550 US... Still seems kinda high, but not quite so much. Installation isn't a big deal; it shouldn't take 'em more than half an hour tops, I'd think.

Did they break down the price for you into parts and labor?

Still seems kind of pricey. $550 USD for a midpipe and axle-back.

You could source all of the parts you need and have a good muffler shop assemble it for you for a total of $600USD including a downpipe.

BAC5.2 wrote:Still seems kind of pricey. $550 USD for a midpipe and axle-back.

You could source all of the parts you need and have a good muffler shop assemble it for you for a total of $600USD including a downpipe.

It's a turbo back with muffler.

You said $700 CAD for a cat-back (turboback includes the downpipe). You said $900 CAD for a Turboback.

$700CAD = ~$550 USD. $550USD for a midpipe and axle-back (midpipe being from the downpipe/cat to the axle. Axle-back being from the midpipe to the ending point, this includes muffler).

$550USD is pretty pricey for a cat-back, ESPICALLY custom, since custom is generally cheaper.

Hmmm, well I have a couple questions/observations. First, you say that for $200 more they'll put on an OEM WRX DP? That's a little insane for a couple reasons. One, it's not 3" so it'll restrict flow and isn't really any better then your stock DP you have now (except the cat's newer), two, The WRX DP isn't even worth half that installed IMO and three, you could get a 3" HKS bellmouth for about $150 USD.

Second question is, is this guy going to Tig weld or Mig weld this exhaust? If he's Mig welding it then that price is not good and the welds will most likely be gnarly on the inside. If it's for Tig welds then it's a decent price as long as it's quality work.

There is really no point in just going with a cat-back IMO. Unless you replace your DP I don't think it's going to help you very much at all. Get a cheap bellmouth at the very least and have them tie into that. Ya know though, CES was trying to sell a couple of mild steel DP03 DP's at the Feed and Speed for $150 each IIRC. It may be worth contacting them and seeing if they have any left...

Ok sorry for the confusion.. Turbo cars are new to me so I'm still learning what DP's and other things are.

I've wanted to get the same setup as my buddys 92 he has a 3" turbo back.. It makes a very nice performace gain..

So for $700 I'm getting a 3" turbo back with a stebro muffler.

Is that with the WRX down-pipe (DP) though? If so, then it isn't a 3" Turbo Back Exhaust (TBE) because the WRX DP is only 2.25" IIRC, 2.5" max. Also, is it gonna be Mig or Tig welded? That is an important factor that you should inquire about.