exhaust piping

[Underdog]

Hey guys,
Quick question here. It seems that no place around here does mandrel bent piping. So I guess I'm going to have to go with press bent. Should I still go with 2.25" press bent? Or should I go with 2.5" press bent? Do the press bends really shrink the diameter of the piping enough to warrant going with 2.5" press bent? I'm just afraid that 2.25" press bent is going to be only like 1.75" in the bends or something. Thanks.

[A20A1]

It depends how much of an angle they make and if they bend more then once on a corner. On a 90 degree bend it could reduce the size by half an inch, I had that problem on my die bent pipe. I don't think you'll drop major hp cause of one or two bends with decreased diameter.

BTW what is it going to cost you for the die bent exhaust?

[Underdog]

Thanks. I'm taking the car in tomorrow to get it done, 2.25" press bent from the cat-back. When I got a quote over the phone they said around $100 since I already have a muffler (Dynomax Super Turbo), and then I guess it might be a tad more since they'll need to weld my tip on as well. For around here I think the price is pretty good because some of the other places I called wanted $150-$175 for it to be done if I already had the muffler.

[mykwikcoupe]

just buy mandrel bends from jc whitney and take them intoa reputable stainl;ess shop and have them biuld it using your prebent assortment. It'll be in a bunch of pieces but all welded up itll look great if they kmow how to weld stainless. Thats what Ive done anyway

[RobT5580]

Yeah mandrel bends are the way to go if you want a nice exhaust system. It will cost more though and takes more time but the end result is worth it. I built my 3" setup with my friend and its not that hard and should be cake work for someone that does real exhaust work.

Oh and most places just use pre-made bend to build mandrel bent exhausts. I have not found a shop that actually bends each exhaust with a bender unless its the crush bent stuff. Mandrel benders are pretty expensive so its not something most shops would have unless they specialize in that service.

[HondaBoy]

doesnt make enough difference that you'll really notice unless you put it on a chassis dyno, even then, there's usually not much difference. there's not really any sharp bends on the path for your exhaust. you should take some pix of the piping when your at the shop. then post it. are you adding a resonator? my friend has basicly the same thing you said, 2.25 pipe from the cat just to a dyno max super turbo muffler. his sounds like a fart can. with the resonator, you'll have a nicer tone, i'd get a short one if i were doing that.

[Underdog]

I don't have enough money for a resonator, just getting the 2.25" piping from the cat back.

[k-roy]

get a swet powered mandrel bender and a torch and make it yourself.

[Underdog]

I think I'm just going to go with my original plan. One of the exhaust places I called said they only knew of one place in western washington that had a mandrel bender. If that's the case it probably would be prohibitively expensive.

[Underdog]

It's done! I love it! I'll post pics tomorrow in another thread.

[HondaBoy]

does it sound like a regular "honda" with the sport exhaust sound? or different. the way i have my exhaust, people always wonder what i did that was so special to get it sounding different from a regular sound. yeah, get us some pix man, i wanna see what you did.