Custom Made Exhaust... anyone gone this route?

[Makaveli]

So Im looking at the ever popular ATR exhaust but I can't bring myself to drop almost $400 on $10 worth of bent pipe.

I dropped my L35's off at the shop today P woohoo) and the builder told me he's buddies with a guy at a local muffler shop who can set me up with a good 3 in. custom bend.

Any recommendations? Any obscure, strange, impossible, unknown reasons why custom exhausts, (like so many other parts) will not work well with our trucks. Or any of the "make sure they do this" things to let them know about?

Probably a dumb question, but i figured I'd ask before I went to get a qoute.. 8)

 

[smeagol]

ATR is stainless steel, mandrel bent.

If you can find mandrel bent stainless for $10, let me know where.

Custom exhaust will work fine. Can nearly guarantee it isn't stainless.

i think for $400, the ATR exhaust ain't bad, considering it bolts up, has all the mounts, has a good quality stainless muffler as well.

 

[100in6]

i put the atr on once and said to myself "dang this is a lot of bucks for a bunch of bent up pipes." sound familiar? It came with a muffler and clamps and fit really well. do i think a muffler shop that knows what they are doing can do a nice exhaust for you? absolutely.

just don't end up paying as much or more for the same thing.

 

[JSM]

for stainless you wont get anything less than $400

I priced just simple bends for my dp project.

ummmm, bend over and apply vaseline along with sand.

add a $100 muffler, not a bad deal, no worry about fitting.

 

[TURBO TY]

ditto. i have the full atr exhaust on my ty on am very pleased with the quality. well worth the money, unlike there headers, metal is way to thin .

 

[E-Rue]

my only problem with the atr exhaust is that it includes too much. id like it better if it was half the price and ended with a turn down right on the end of the muffler, instead of that crazy over the axel piece.

a straight piece of 3" stainless with a muffler and a turn down infront of the axel would be great. that shouldnt cost more than $200

e

 

[100in6]

like i said before, if you can get it for less ...go for it. an in front of the wheel exhaust would be a little cheaper in materials than going all the way to the back. just don't spend the same amount or more whjen it's all said and done. part of what you pay for with atr is ease of installation, and it is easy.

 

[SY2932]

I have ATR's offering on my syclone (which was purchased happily through RK Kustoms BTW 8)) and I am 99.95% satisfied with it. The only complaint that I have is the hanger for the tailpipe is rusting. Need to get some POR 15 for that...

Mike Campbell

 

[myclone]

I agree with everyone else about the cost of stainless. ~$400 may sound like a lot but once you start checking into the prices of SS pipe and the machines to mandrel bend it/weld it. A LOT of money tied up in that stuff. Also, Im guessing the ATR exh fits pretty good (I dont have it so I dunno myself) so youre paying for a good fitment ease of install too.

Could you get a custom exhaust welded up? Sure.. If you live in a larger area that has shops that can mandrel bend tubing then it shouldnt be a prob. For ppl like me in BFE the exhast shops cant do mandrel bends and some dont even know what it is. :roll: You'll prolly pay close to if not more than 400 bucks to get it done though.

 

[SiTy]

if you think mandrel bent pipe is cheap, check this site out and say that, www.burnsstainless.com . 400 bucks is CHEAP! I payed a grand for ONE header, 300 for a tailpipe, and 500 bucks for a mufller for my honda. a 1800 dollar exaust system that got me 10whp. Man i think 400 is cheap as hell, thats like bottom of the line non mandrel bent pipe for imports.

 

[helfmann]

Hmmm I only read ATR...
I LOVE my Borla

M@

 

[SY732]

custom 3" from the dp back cost me 120 or 140 installed not stainless and u need good boost contol

 

[Xplicit Racing Design]

Your best bet is buying a production kit like the ATR, i build headers and exhausts for race cars all day long and can say that for the money a kit that is produced in volume for a "street" vehicle will be alot more cost effiicient and reliable cause they are proven, it all depends on the shop also, we deal with all high end race cars and show cars usually, for instance i just finished up a Blown injected BBC 41 willy's for a guy that was 2 1/4 inch stainless headers into a 4 inch stainless exhaust, we bill by hours and materials and the final cost was 3250 dollars, anyway in my opinion i would go the ATR route


John S

 

[FLSY2730]

I have made my own exhaust with 3.5 inch wth a borla xr-1 race muffler and got some 3.5 inch mandrel 45s and 90s and have it coming out in front of the passnger side rear tire, pretty simple setup and took me about a 1.5 hours to make everything fit and clamped, i can have some pictures soon, would like to show pics of the engine as well and show my custom made belt pulley under the alternator, in the alt. bracket, I have a very short belt now and with the electric water pump it is very clean, also pics of my new custom made intercooler piping , all polished 3inch coming out the front and following the radiator over to the fender well, very nice setup, TURBOTY has seen it and cant wait to get some pictures up so you guys wanting to get rid of ac and the ac bracket all together can go this route, was very easy to setup.

Jack

 

[DanenGraham]

i had a local muffler shop do mine, not SS, cost like 160 to 200, has cat, muffler and dumps out in front of the rear axle. Now my truck had dual exaust on it with no cat, but two muffs, my new sounds so much better, at 2500 rpm it sounds just like a v8 with dumps just not as loud. (really really deap tone)

 

[helfmann]

@All;

Does anybody know WHAT muffler type (xr-1 or???) Tomas Borla is using for the "ready to install" 3" cat back system?

M@

 

[sy2206]

I got a whole cat back factory system from a new hemi dodge truck for free from my local exhaust shop. The guy put duals on it and they were throwing it away. It's 3" mandrell bent T-409 stainless. Bought a stainless ultraflo for about $120. Had to take that dodge setup and cut it in 2 spots, 3 tig welds and I'm in business. Turned out SWEET! 3" stainless for under $130!

Mark Christofferson
91 Sy #2206
12.47 @ 105.6