hello well i was wondering what the differance of building a custom exhaust or buying a brand name exhaust like hks,spoon, and so on. I was just wondering if i had made my own would i get the same effectiveness of making my own ... what do you think ?

 

nowadays with all the 3rd world country welding jobs, its just as cheap to buy an already made exhaust than to buy the material and make your own.

 

Yep pretty much.

I spent about $300 to fabricate my SS exhaust with the wastegate recirculated, a catalytic converter, and a magnaflow muffler. It fits better than any aftermarket exhaust, but I could have spent $200 and got a nice exhaust that fits ok.

 

thanks alot this has helped me out alot

 

I did one before with some mandrel bends doing a couple pie cuts.. It was a lot of work.. Plus I was young and dumb and made it out of steel.. It only lasted like a year and a half.. Totally buy one if you can.

 

Just look into Kteller's kit.... weld them together if you want. That is what I recommend on most people, especially with turbo cars wanting 3 inch piping.

 

The last Kteller kit that I dealt with was not what I expected. We had to modify it quite a bit for fitment, but it has been a few years since then.

 

i rather pay more to buy or make my own than support a company that makes cheap crap

 

One thing I don't like about pre-made exhausts, with very few exceptions, is that they are not all stainless. Many of the big-name brands advertise stainless, but they use mild welds that will rust out, we see a lot of that up here in the Northeast. In FL I replaced a few Apex'i cans on cars like 240SXs, where they tilt out and up and collect rainwater. They always rusted at the welds from the inside out. I have some pics I took last week of a customer's RSR exhaust on his Prelude, only a year and a half old and already starting to rust out.

With a custom exhaust you are paying a little more, but you're getting everything EXACTLY the way you want, perfect fitment on your car, O2 bungs where you want them, better flanges etc.

 

My Tanabe exhaust used mild wire as well and it rusted out at the welds.

 

Quoted for truth. I would rather have a stainless exhaust with the exact diameter, resonator, muffler, positioning, etc. to my liking. Most decent exhaust brands cost around the same as the parts to make you own, unless you are buying some obx ebay pos you are not really saving any money. Plus most are in 2.25" diameter which is a hindrance on most all motor or boosted set-ups.

 

Don't waste your time with K-Teller.

If you are good enough to weld their kit together, you are good enough to buy some bends, flanges, etc and do it from scratch for less. Its just not that hard. Besides, K-Teller customer service has gone to crap.

 

To be honest, I sometimes find it difficult to sell a custom exhaust, when you can get a stainless one for 1/3rd the price. I don't make much on custom exhaust jobs, even though they take me all day. Good materials cost a lot, usually about as much as a ready-made Magnaflow system.

And I have to say, I haven't seen any premade stainless systems with mild welds, but I have seen many of them that use 409 stainless, which surface rusts quickly.

But, that's a good point about the flanges, I'll have to use that next time someone asks. Most pre-made systems come with such crappy flanges.

 

Markku that's probably what they are dealing with, the 409 stainless welds. As for K-Teller... ugh. End of story.

Because I am in Arizona, I have found that I am using aluminized more often than stainless, because some people just need to get the exhaust from the front to the back... cheaply.

 

I put a stainless dc sports on my eg almost 7 years ago and Im still rocking it....although its getting ready to get replaced with a 3 inch...man that thing cost me an arm and a leg all those years ago (hammer on head smiley)....ohh, to be young and dumb again...the car did sit outside for about a year....I make all my exhausts now, even if I just use mild steel I just paint it before I install it and it more than doubles its normal life span

 

Exactly. I never dealt with a product as a "status" thing, it was always bang for buck!