Gollum Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 I'm not usually one to hunt around MSA's site, but I've been working on spreadsheets for my projects to try my best to organize and prioritize the funds coming in to make sure things get done, and done in the right order. So I've been doing a lot of shopping around, and I saw that MSA is now selling downpipes, and only for a single Benjamin. Considering that I want/need a wideband, I wanted to have a downpipe made anyways, but this looks almost too good to be true, which with MSA's reputation might be the case. So has anyone tried it? Is it worth the cash, or will I just be spending another hundred bucks just to make it usable? It looks like it can't be much worse to work with than the stock downpipe. Here's a link for those that haven't seen it, or know how to navigate to what I'm talking about: http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/PTC15/15-6037 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xShodaimex Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Hey gollum, I just bought this downpipe last week and it came in approximately 2 days! Thats some super fast ground shipping lol!! I bought it for my 82 L28et thats going into my 260. I cant tell you how the performance is because I have yet to install it, BUT I have read pretty good things about it. It looks like it will flow more freely unlike that 90 degree bend on the stock dp. I saw another members 280z turbo with this downpipe and it looked really nice! Compare this to the stock downpipe and you can already tell by just looking at it that this dp will flow better than that stock dp. In my opinion, I say get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zip Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 my only concern was it wasn't stainless, so I got a stainless one from Scottie GNZ. A little bit more. I wish they were still made. The flanges are easy to source, you would just need to add a bung for the O2 and bend the pipe and TIG the flanges and bung on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted December 7, 2010 Author Share Posted December 7, 2010 Yea, the fact it isn't stainless kinda makes it seem cheap, but then again for the price... I wonder how well it would hold up to jet hot coating or wrapping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calpoly-z Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 The MSA downpipe is a great piece for the money. In order to keep the costs down it is made of aluminized steel instead of stainless and the flange is MIG welded instead of TIG welded. I have an earlier model made by Pete Z that is stainless and TIGed, but my buddy has the MSA one and I can tell you they are identical except for material and weld type. The only issue with the MIG weld is it can be a bit sloppy. My buddies required a bit of grinding on the weld in order to get the bottom left nut to thread on. Otherwise it worked great. My only concern is the tubing rusting after a few years. Seems like getting it jet-hot coated might alleviate this issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario_82_ZXT Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Can you weld? Two 3" 45deg mandrel bends are pretty cheap. There are big gains when going to a 3in downpipe compared to stock, sure this is a step up as well, but no where near what you can do with the same kind of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluDestiny Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Just FYI I got quoted $130 for a custom 3" dp from my local muffler shop. With flange and O2 bung. just as Mario said its pretty much 2 mandrel bent pieces welded together with a flange. Also the MSA dp is for the stock turbo. Have you shopped around and also what turbo do you ultimately plan on going with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 I'm not sure what turbo I'll eventually be going with, but I'll be sticking with the stock T3 for a while. Wouldn't mind seeing where this thing really does run out of breathe since the reports are so wildly all over the place. I guess $130 for one done locally isn't that bad either. I would just build it myself, but I don't have access to a welder, nor do I have any experience welding, yet. I know several people that do weld, just that most of them do it for a living for companies and don't have welders at home. I'll call around some local shops and see what people say. Thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280Z-75 Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 I'm in san jose, ca and have an MSA downpipe for sale for $80 if you are interested. Reason being is that MSA sold this one to me, after I mentioned to them that the weld effects how you can bolt it on to the turbo. They changed the welding, and welded 4 spots on the outside. And weld it on the inside of the flange as well. You can probably still find my ad somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sticky280zx Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 3" is worth the extra money for a shop to make it, and honestly that is a stupid simple downpipe, only issues are the "extras" that you will be adding to it. But if you buy the flange, 02 bung, and head to a mexican muffler shop (like i do for my exhausts) they have donw them for $80-120 for a full 3" exhaust. Hell with 2 nice mufflers, all the hangers, a piece of flexpipe, and custom y pipe it only cost me $200 for the old zx (which is alot more of a pain in the ass than a z). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeZ Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Just FYI I got quoted $130 for a custom 3" dp from my local muffler shop. With flange and O2 bung. just as Mario said its pretty much 2 mandrel bent pieces welded together with a flange. Also the MSA dp is for the stock turbo. Have you shopped around and also what turbo do you ultimately plan on going with? From what I have seen from muffler shops, I wouldn't have one fab'ed by one. Go to someone who does TIG welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeZ Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Just FYI I got quoted $130 for a custom 3" dp from my local muffler shop. With flange and O2 bung. just as Mario said its pretty much 2 mandrel bent pieces welded together with a flange. Also the MSA dp is for the stock turbo. Have you shopped around and also what turbo do you ultimately plan on going with? From what I have seen from muffler shops, I wouldn't have one fab'ed by one. Go to someone who does TIG welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphur280 Posted December 14, 2010 Share Posted December 14, 2010 I have one, and it sucks, the welds prohibit 2 of the nuts from fastening all the way, and I'm unable to grind it down, so I have a hefty exhaust leak. I'm going with a t3/to4e turbo w/ v-band to eliminate this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario_82_ZXT Posted December 14, 2010 Share Posted December 14, 2010 Daphur take it to a local small weld shop. We fix things like that all day. And it should be around $50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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