legacycentral bbs

So I took the car today to enquire about how much it would cost (rough estimate, ballpark figure) to build a custom exhaust that will wrap around my crossmember and operate the turbocharger.


He insisted on 2.25" pipe, I insisted on 3", we met at 2.5" after I saw the size of 3" (larger than I'll need, I'm sure)


He's also press bending the pipe, something I'm not entirely sure about.

From the exhaust manifold (supplied) all the way back to where the muffler would normally be (straight pipe though), will include a custom fabricated up and down pipe, and then the rest of the system.


The rough quote came in at about $550 after tax.


I need some direction on this. could I get by cheaper and better if I bought a welder and pipe (with bends) and did this myself or what?

Should I settle with press bent pipe? I really would prefer mandrel bent, but I can't afford to sink $1500 into an exhaust.

A) If you can't afford it, don't do it at all.

B) Press bent will WORK, but it won't be the BEST

C) you COULD maybe get by cheaper, but how long would it actually take you?

Doesn't seem too bad of a quote. You could do it a bit cheaper yourself, but not a lot cheaper. People will post here and tell you you could do it for nothing, but when you add up all the flanges, nuts, bolts and misc piping, I bet it would be a handful of hundred dollars.

Press bent is not great, but its ok. If you are never going to blow enough enough power through there to tax the system, then it really doesn't matter.

I get beaten every weekend by a guy with an exhuast with nearly identical specs to yours.

PS
I got an aftermarket upgrade exhaust for an STI for something like $500 used, then I paid about that much over again to get it modified to fit and installed. So, I ended up with all-stainless, 3", mandrel bent.

There's a thread about it if you search