240z 3" turbo pipe

[J240ZTurbo]

Just wondering if any of you will like to sell a 3" custom turbo downpipe?

[CamH]

I would really like one of these too! Especially if it were to have this flange: http://www.clubrsx.com/cr/VIB-T3DF-IW.html?utm_source=email&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=followup

[Zmanco]

Juan, you and I spoke about this some time ago but I'll post it here for others.

 

I too was looking for a 3" downpipe trying to avoid doing a custom, but in the end had my local guy build the entire exhaust from scratch. He didn't have a mandrel bender so I asked him to buy some pre-bent 180 degree pieces which he cut and welded to make the DP. It took him about 6 hours to do the entire job. Initially we tried it with no muffler of any kind and it was just too loud for the street. So I had him add a glass pack where the muffler would go and that turned out to be a good compromise. If you go this route, make sure to construct the exhaust in 2 pieces so that you can remove the DP without having to drop the entire exhaust. I had him use those 3 bolt triangle flanges with gasket - not sure of what the proper name is.

 

In the end I paid him $500 for everything which I think was a pretty good deal. My existing exhaust was only 2.5" and the muffler was not going to work with turbo anyway. And my past experience with the MSA header and exhaust kit needing so much customizing convinced me to just go custom from the beginning.

[J240ZTurbo]

$500 wow that's a lot of $$$ just for a piece of pipe.

Edited March 5, 2010 by juan240z

[Nigel]

$500 wow that's a lot of $$ just for a piece of pipe.

 

$500 for 6 hours of labour plus materials sounds about right to me.

 

Nigel

'73 240ZT

[J240ZTurbo]

found one...

[Daeron]

Juan, you and I spoke about this some time ago but I'll post it here for others.

 

I too was looking for a 3" downpipe trying to avoid doing a custom, but in the end had my local guy build the entire exhaust from scratch. He didn't have a mandrel bender so I asked him to buy some pre-bent 180 degree pieces which he cut and welded to make the DP. It took him about 6 hours to do the entire job. Initially we tried it with no muffler of any kind and it was just too loud for the street. So I had him add a glass pack where the muffler would go and that turned out to be a good compromise. If you go this route, make sure to construct the exhaust in 2 pieces so that you can remove the DP without having to drop the entire exhaust. I had him use those 3 bolt triangle flanges with gasket - not sure of what the proper name is.

 

In the end I paid him $500 for everything which I think was a pretty good deal. My existing exhaust was only 2.5" and the muffler was not going to work with turbo anyway. And my past experience with the MSA header and exhaust kit needing so much customizing convinced me to just go custom from the beginning.

 

 

$500 wow that's a lot of $$$ just for a piece of pipe.

 

 

$500 for 6 hours of labour plus materials sounds about right to me.

 

Nigel

'73 240ZT

$500, from the turbo to the tip, is NOT alot of money for a complete 3 inch exhaust with downpipe, ESPECIALLY one that was built for your vehicle (not a kit) and built to your specifications (like Zmanco's point about making it in at least two pieces so you can pull the DP without dropping the whole exhaust.)

 

My buddy has an '05 SRT-4, and he keeps talking about exhaust plans, and they all involve this $600 kit, and that $150 "o2 housing" (its a downpipe, but its integrated into the turbo housing on the stocker) and then finding someone to put it together and hope it fits. I keep trying to tell him that local exhaust shops will build it to your car from scratch for less than that, and he is finally beginning to listen. Fortunately, he is broker than *I* am right now (thats saying something) so he hasn't made any costly mistakes yet, but your local muffler shop is your friend, period.

[ktm]

$500, from the turbo to the tip, is NOT alot of money for a complete 3 inch exhaust with downpipe, ESPECIALLY one that was built for your vehicle (not a kit) and built to your specifications (like Zmanco's point about making it in at least two pieces so you can pull the DP without dropping the whole exhaust.)

 

Exactly. Alex over at Vildini Motorsports built my 3-in. turbo back exhaust for $400 to $450 (I can't recall exactly) and I had to supply the muffler (Borla XR-1). All mandrel bent pipes, custom fit to my exact specifications and car, and the DP has two O2 sensor bungs.

 

If you think that $500 is too much for a "piece of pipe", you build one and sell it for less.....or learn the skills to do it yourself.

[Tony D]

"If you think that $500 is too much for a "piece of pipe", you build one and sell it for less.....or learn the skills to do it yourself."

 

+1

 

I was greeted with open hostility the last time I made this same suggestion. Guys' gotta eat, what do you expect him to do, give you charity because you can't do it yourself? You've consumed 3/4 of his working day on your project, time which could have been spent doing profitable 'short work' jobs that come into the shop routinely. $20 for a 15 minute bracket fix and 0.3oz of welding wire is FAR more profitable than tying up your lift for 6 hours making one exhaust system!

 

This kind of attitude is why JeffP refuses to make any more of his $1500 stainless steel exhaust systems for the ZX. He wasn't making money on those, it was almost cost-basis.

 

If you want quality, you will pay.

If you buy cheap, you will pay!

Either way, YOU PAY!

[Daeron]

I don't think Juan was insisting that it was overpriced, I think he just missed that the price quoted was for the entire exhaust system. His statement still stands.. "$500 is alot of money for just a piece of pipe!!" *Just* a downpipe would not cost as much as Zmanco's full 3" exhaust, by any means.

 

Actually, it would likely fit more into that category of nice, simple, short, profitable jobs. Of course, the only way to know is to go down to the muffler shop and see.

 

Too many people (like I said before) get mass produced "exhaust kits" and never consider checking out the local option. (I'm a member of this group, so I'm not pontificating or judging, just stating a reality.) Generally speaking, most towns have a muffler shop that is ready, willing, and able to build you a scratchbuilt exhaust from head-pipe to tip, and it will almost ALWAYS come out for $500 or so. If it is a simple job, and you have a muffler, 100-200 isn't unheard of. So Frankie Ricerlover goes out and buys this 'leet 3" turbo-back exhaust kit with hi-flow cat and whatnot for his SRT-4, or his 89 Accord hatch, or whatever (My DD is a CRX, so CRX if you want )and pays $900 when he could've gotten it done by his girlfriend's cousin's teacher's husband (relationship unbeknownst) and saved some money, gotten a quality fit, gotten the thing INSTALLED, and kept the money in his local economy.

 

(Vildini, and the work that JeffP were doing, and many, many other real Custom exhaust kits, don't fit into this category of "exhaust kits" I am scorning.)

 

 

Now, that wee rant there was mostly intended to explain that the point was simply: It's pretty cheap to have it done local, man.. Check it out!