I had my 2 1/4inch exhaust welded up at a local shop. But I don't know what kind of bender they used because a few of the bends (like over the axel) the pipe is a little bits crimped or smashed in little. It kind of look like someone hit it with a dull axe. Here are a few pictures.




In a few of these places I can wrap my fingers entirely around the pipe(I can't do that on the straight portion.) I think this might be restrictive to the exhaust flow. I went through alot of trouble to make sure everything was 2 1/4 inch (the cat, piping, and muffler) and these bends are bothering me.

Do you think this is restricting my exhaust somewhat?

I was thinking about buying some mandrel pre-bent pipe and going back to the exhaust place and have them weld those in. Would that be a good idea? Is anyone else's exhaust like this.

Ideas and opinions are welcome!



2004 Cavalier
13.2@105........
Mods...
BFG Drag Radials
Saab Turbo kit
2.5 exhaust, w/cutout
Spec Stage 2+ Clutch

That will definitely inhibit flow and I would invest in some mandrel bends.






Saab Turbo Project... 2006

I agree.
And also don't go back ot the same shop.

There's no excuse for a poor job like that.

-M


Remember....syringes go in the RED waste basket.

^^agreed, that is not good quality work at all. I would definatly look into buying maybe a Pre-bent Mandrel Catback exhaust system.. Mine is a 2.25 crushed bent.. and it doesnt look that .. Im still planning to be a pre-bent mandrel catback tho when i redo my exhaust.
.

So....

Pre-bent (probably expensive) mandrel catback system. This will probably involve replacing my current Borla Pro XS muffler. which I don't want.

or

Custom mandrel bends welded in to place. + a resonator. cause it's way too loud.



2004 Cavalier
13.2@105........
Mods...
BFG Drag Radials
Saab Turbo kit
2.5 exhaust, w/cutout
Spec Stage 2+ Clutch

ECOTEC wrote:So....

Pre-bent (probably expensive) mandrel catback system. This will probably involve replacing my current Borla Pro XS muffler. which I don't want.

or

Custom mandrel bends welded in to place. + a resonator. cause it's way too loud.

Pre-bent ur look at around $300 shipped or so.
I musta skipped the pre-bent mandrel bends but yeah that would work im sure. I wouldnt take it to the same exhaust place to have them weld it tho..

I got my pipes upped to 2.25 inches and they did not end up like that. But let me warn you if you want to go with a mandrel bent Cat-back system, plan on spending about $500.00. The downfall with my pipes even though I went with a bigger pipe is that I get alot of backfire. Specially at higher R.P.M's.


OBJECTS ON MIRROR ARE FORDS AND HONDAS

^^^^ Expensive yes. Quality is always worth money. Modding isn't cheap.



Saab Turbo Project... 2006

This is the same old "mandrel bend vs crush bend" debate that's come up here over and over again.

For the flow rates that these engines produce, unless boosted, there is going to be no appreciable difference between the two. Especially once you get into the range of 2 1/4" pipe, oversized for most of these cars anyway, you're not going to see any kind of difference. If there is a measurable difference, it's going to be in decimal points of horsepower. It won't be anything you can feel, and it CERTAINLY won't be anything worth the several hundred dollar difference in the pricetag.

Mandrel bent exhaust piping is another of the "look-at-me" mods that people do to their cars. "Look-at-me" mods are mods that serve little extra benefit other than being able to tell your friends "I have blahblahblah on my car!".






09:f9:11:02:9d:74:e3:5b:d8:41:56:c5:63

As for cost, when I got the exhaust done on my Saturn, the pipe, bending and welded installation was $150. I provided the muffler, a Supertrapp taht cost me $149, so my total cost installed and driven away was $299. By comparison a mandrel bent system from SPS in the same size pipe would have cost me $589 (with muffler), and then I would have still had to pay for installation.

Crush bent for t3h win






09:f9:11:02:9d:74:e3:5b:d8:41:56:c5:63

JimmyZ wrote:For the flow rates that these engines produce, unless boosted, there is going to be no appreciable difference between the two.

Thank you.

Also, that isn't too bad of a job for custom crush bending. I don't see any problems with leaving it the way it is.

Is that what crush bent looks like? . Hmmm I guess when they have to make two bends close to each other that is what you get. It looks worse in person. the pictures don't show everything.

Thats what I did too JimmyZ. I spent $100 for the muffler, $75 for the cat, $200ish for my coated Header, and $100 to have it all put on and welded up. So ... wow, more than I thought... but still a decent $475 for a full exhaust.

BTW, I checked today on a piece of the stock exhaust and it is about the same diameter as the new "2 1/4" crappy bends. So it shrinks down to 1 7/8ths in a few spots and they say an exhaust will only flow as well as the most restrictive piece. I think think I am going to replace them cause I want to put a resonator on there anyway. Where is a cheap/good place to get mandrel bends?

Happy New Year!

Here is a shot of my header. kind of irrelevant but:




2004 Cavalier
13.2@105........
Mods...
BFG Drag Radials
Saab Turbo kit
2.5 exhaust, w/cutout
Spec Stage 2+ Clutch

I keep seeing so many of these posts about incompetent exhaust shops. What the hell is their deal? For any shop that does not offer mandrel bending, the next step and ONLY resonable step down is compression bends. I don't see why some shops are using crush bends, it's purely restrictive and illogical.




I was a retard, and now I'm permanently banned.

the shop i use in my town is meineke. they have always built a nice looking exhaust for me.