Exhaust weld vs flange

[Hawk3124]

Ok so i only have driven my car four times so far but one thing I know for sure is that I have a leak in the exhaust system. One of the previous owners put one (from manifold back) on in the late eighties. They did a dual pipe system but only 1" pipes, maybe a touch bigger.

My car is a 351 Cleveland 4v and I know it is being choked by the tiny pipes. My thought is to get Hooker competition headers and Flowmaster delta 40's or delta 50's, not sure which would be best for long drives.

My quandary is installing it, wether to try to find someone to weld me a system, or to try to put one together myself with a flanged kit, like NPD has.

Also has anyone tried an uncoated set of headers and used jet hot coating on them instead of the ceramic coated ones.

If someone has recently covered this just point me to the post, if not help would be appreciated...

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

A good shop can build you a complete custom weld in system for a similar price to a kit, and it won't have all the joints.

No offense but there is no way you have 1" exhaust pipes. 1.5" pipes are about as small as I suspect you could even find material to make a system out of. Even that is tiny.

Jet Hot is a ceramic coating. There are other companies that do the same thing with nearly identical coating compositions and processes in many cities. Locally here in Nashville is Nitroplate. I had them coat my old headers and they came out looking awesome. I've used them to coat a motorcycle exhaust and their coating and process holds up and works.

There are many who use the prefabbed kits and are very happy-nothing wrong with them. Just make sure if you use a shop that you and the shop get on the same page before they start. Be ready to explain what you want and to have an idea of how you want it.

 

[Don65Stang]

Last month I had a local shop build a complete 2-1/4" all welded, dual outlet system with h-pipe, Flow Master 40 series mufflers and chrome slash cut tips for $450.

 

[Duncan Mach72]

I put together my own 2.5" dual system from ready made bends with slip joints and some straight pipe. I had to do a lot of trial & error fitting, cutting & welding to get over the axle, past the shocks & past the fuel tank. It ended up taking a huge amount of time and the parts were quite expensive.

It fits well but unfortunately the long length of straight pipe to the muffler resonates really badly! I have Thrush Turbo (Super Turbo?) mufflers & they sound nice, quite polite & easy on the ears but with a rumble. Overall, given the work & time I wish I had bought a decent system.

If I had to do it again on a tight budget I would definitely buy a pair of ready made over axle pieces.

 

[Mikes73]

I've had both types of systems and like bolt together systems better then all welded because they can be removed if needed to work on the car.

I built my own system using thrush turbos, 2 1/2" pipe custom bent by a buddy with a pipe bender, stainless clamps and hangers for under 200 bucks. It did require some work and fitting but it looks and sounds great and turned out the way I wanted.

 

[jhawk635]

I went with the bolt together system. I bought Hooker ceramic competition headers and collectors. The Pypes Street Pro 2.5" stainless steel w/X-pipe and Violator mufflers. Then finish it off with the MBRP 3.5" polished stainless steel dual wall exhaust tip. Also using the Stage 8 bolts. Here are pictures of the system. Check out this thread for details: http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-headers-and-exhaust-system

I'm finally about to have it installed Monday, weather permitting.

 

[mdan575]

Ya I vote for bolt together also. To many times I have had to remove parts of the exhaust to work on a vehicle. Weld together almost ensures your gonna have to cut it up at some point in the future. Whether to replace parts of the exhaust as it wears out or you have to repair something and the exhaust is in the way.