Mandrel Exhaust Systems

Wow, good prices on that stuff. I am only going to be driving my SC on good days this summer. You guys think the alumnized steel would be alright? Right now, with being on unemployment and going into college, I really cant fork out the $$$ for all stainless.:(
 
Wow, good prices on that stuff. I am only going to be driving my SC on good days this summer. You guys think the alumnized steel would be alright? Right now, with being on unemployment and going into college, I really cant fork out the $$$ for all stainless.:(

If you are planning on keeping the car, then go for the SS system. I've built two 2 1/2" systems so far. The first system for the SC was constructed out of aluminized pipe and it's now showing signs of corrosion on the inside. The second system was built for my 69 Cougar and I went with the 409 stainless to prevent rust through. I will eventually end up replacing the aluminized system and not have to worry about the 409 stainless system.

I purchased one of these strictly for building the exhaust systems plus you can use it for other projects. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44829

Bryan
 

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If you are planning on keeping the car, then go for the SS system. I've built two 2 1/2" systems so far. The first system for the SC was constructed out of aluminized pipe and it's now showing signs of corrosion on the inside. The second system was built for my 69 Cougar and I went with the 409 stainless to prevent rust through. I will eventually end up replacing the aluminized system and not have to worry about the 409 stainless system.

I purchased one of these strictly for building the exhaust systems plus you can use it for other projects. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44829

Bryan
I don't know how long I plan on keeping the car. I have a little problem with keeping my foot out of the gas. I totaled my '87 5.0 Mustang because of that. And my SC is quicker than that car was. I hear about how much an SC will respond to exhaust. I just don't wanna put the exhaust and my blower pulley on and have a car that's a little too much for me. I know it sounds stupid but my SC is a pretty nice looking car, and I wanna keep it that way.
 
Well for the last two days me and a friend (mostly my friend) have been working on getting this exhaust on and let me tell you what a ~~~~! The biggest problem I have with it is that the pipe doesn't clear the suspension too well on the passenger side. So I will have to do some grinding tomorrow to make it clear.

Also I got the X-pipe for the 4.6 and it didn't require to much work to make it fit. Can't wait to get it done so I can start tuning and see what this thing has!
 
I put the system on. Ill try to get pics tomorow. It was a big dissapointment the only pieces that were worth purchasing was the two pipes that go around the tank. The muffers were too long to use the 90 bends tha were part of the normal kit and those two pipes came too close to the K-member. I think if I had an LX it would have worked great or ok, but the SC and the fact that I wanted to keep down turns for tips made it difficult to use those pieces with the bumper and all. I decided to pay to install it just cause I didnt feel like working on the car anymore, Sick of working on it, and welding a new exhaust just seemed like too much work where a shop can just put in on in an hour or two. It was expensive to put the darn thing on, mainly because I live in Boston and shops charge alot and when they see a nice paint job and rims they think $$$$.
I would have only bought the $120 kit and two 45 deg bends to use for tips. All other pipes I had to to pay the shop to fabricate. I bought the universal install kit and like I said I only used the 45deg bends from that kit, I have now have spare parts that i did not need to buy.


The muffers are now at an angle just like my blue car.

But anyhow the car sounds the same as my blue car with the borlas, but dont forget there are two cats on this new exhaust. If it did not have the cats then the pypes/magnaflow combo would have been much louder then the borla/magnaflow w/o cats combo thats on the blue car. And its bound to get louder as it breaks in.

So borlas are a great muffler and the quietest straight through muffler you can buy. But with the two cats and the pypes/magnaflow sounds great, any louder and it would probably be annoying, its near perfect.


Sound clips and pics tomorow. Thats if anyone cares. :eek:
 
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I am looking for a 3" center pipe from the Resonator to the rear and split into 2.25" or 2.5".

I am making a 2.25" pipes from Manifolds and up to 2.5" before the Cats then 2.5" to the resonator, Borla 2 into 1 with a 3" outlet.
NOT sure what mufflers I will be using so not pushing for 2.25 or 2.5 rear pipes.

ANYONE?

Sorry, meant to ask Ricardoa1, what "pieces" do you have left?
Maybe box em up and ship em to me?
 
Not sure how I feel about you're experiences.

Was transfering cash into paypal today to make purchase.

Timely read I guess for a non purchase.

Now what do I do. Just buy tank portion of pipes.

Is this portion one piece or multiple.
 
The best fitting piece for me was the x-pipe, even though it had to be modified for the v6. The pipes that went under the gas tank just didn't fit as good as thought they should have especially back at the diff.

If I had it to do over I would have taken it to the exhaust shop.
 
has anyone just done straight pipes? I mean just COMPLETELY straight from manifolds to tail pipes? I know my buddy had a 2.8L S10 with straights and it sounded REALLY damn nice, a little on the loud side but it was not overwhelming or anything.

I was thinking of doing dual 2.5"s into a single 3.5" then back to dual 2.5"s just straight pipe, may be a glass pack on each side right at the front...
 
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Not sure how I feel about you're experiences.

Was transfering cash into paypal today to make purchase.

Timely read I guess for a non purchase.

Now what do I do. Just buy tank portion of pipes.

Is this portion one piece or multiple.


Not sure what to recommend anyore. But with the mufflers and the double 90 sections the muffers came to the bumper and thats without the tips.

I would get the Tank sections and if they can sell them separately cheaper go for it, Then get four 45deg universal bends. Muffles at an angle will likely fit better then the way they made it to fit. Again if this was an LX the muffers shooting straight will work well but the SC bumper makes fitting the rear sections difficult. The Kmember is still an issues as it comes too close. I changed my mind after they welded it all up. It was looking terrible and had to pay up to cut and remove it and reinstall the mufflers at an angle. Now from behind it looks natural.
 
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I'd wait and see what it looks like when he's got it installed. I wasn't happy with how low the kit hung down (as delivered), and I had to make a bunch of changes to get it tucked up properly. Others don't seem to mind.

I started THIS post over a year ago.

I wish I didn't have to say, "I told you so". :(
 
Rico,
that exhaust looks like it hanging way to low. I find more and more of these exhaust kits not to fit without some modification. My currently system is totally custom. We had to measure and cut each piece....not fun, but done right. My system is tucked up underneath.


Not sure what to recommend anyore. But with the mufflers and the double 90 sections the muffers came to the bumper and thats without the tips.

I would get the Tank sections and if they can sell them separately cheaper go for it, Then get four 45deg universal bends. Muffles at an angle will likely fit better then the way they made it to fit. Again if this was an LX the muffers shooting straight will work well but the SC bumper makes fitting the rear sections difficult. The Kmember is still an issues as it comes too close. I changed my mind after they welded it all up. It was looking terrible and had to pay up to cut and remove it and reinstall the mufflers at an angle. Now from behind it looks natural.

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The install should have been free, whoever did the work must have never used a welder before because those welds look like crap.
 
The install should have been free, whoever did the work must have never used a welder before because those welds look like crap.

I was going to say those are some of the nastiest welds I have ever seen. Looks like what I did when I was 15 and using a $75 Harbor Freight welder...
 
Its not too low, the magnaflow resonator is the lowest point in the system and even my custom kit on the blue car hangs just as low. You cannot tuck in a dual pipe system a single pipe yes but two 2.5" side by side impossible.

Like I said it works and i would have done a few things differently now that I went thru it. I am just giving you my trials so it helps others.

I do not have a choice on the welds they are not going to take eight hours welding up a system and making stacked dime welds. Sorry but around here thats pretty much what you will find unless you build it yourself and take a week to put it together. Even if I had a welder I was not up for it took them two hours to do and the shop was getting annoyed with me because I changed my mind after they were almost finished.

Overall i am happy, I wish I did not buy some of the items I bought and had a better plan of attack. I would have saved money if I did.

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It's too bad that you couldn't get it tucked up enough to retain the cross-brace behind the resonator.
 

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Yes ill have to re do both cars so i can put that brace on both. You guys make it pretty fun to share car stuff lately.
 
Yes ill have to re do both cars so i can put that brace on both. You guys make it pretty fun to share car stuff lately.

That's because they are jeallous...
I think it looks fine, it is a little low, but nothing worth commenting about.
Curious tho why you used 2 small pipes instead of 1 bigger one...?
It was real easy for me to make a 3" mid and fit it in there..
My crossmember touches it so I used heater hose in between to kill the rattle.

Cars on this board are like yuppies and their houses.
If your furniture and walls and lawn don't look a certain way, everybody wants to talk smack. Pathetic but hey that's white american society I guess.
 
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