budget exhaust?
 

i remember reading something on the forum about a cheap route to go on a 3" exhaust...if i remember correctly it had something to do with some pre bent 3" SS piping.

i have been searching the forum for a couple hours now and i havnt turned anything up!

now as far as my setup goes i will running a BEGI SG downpipe and a metal core cat! for the cat back i simply want to do a 3" exhaust all the way to the back with no resonators or mufflers!

can anybody give me some leads to go on?

just get a mandrel bent 3" pipe made, weld a flange to it that mounts to your downpipe and you're good to go.

all the muffler shops that i know of around where i live all use crush benders.......im not willing to put crush bends on my car!

dont bother with stainless if you're on a budget. get alumized steel.

Heres what I did...bottom of page 1 and top of page 2....

https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t33438/

i like it!
i tried searching for pre bent pipe on ebay......but my search didnt end up to well. what kind of steel did you use for the exhaust?

on a side note, props on all your fab work! looks very very good....and clean.

i dont really have a budget, i just said budget in the title cause it sounds better than cheap! i want stainless because my downpipe is stainless. but the alumized steel can be put into consideration........

Its just mild steel....Give ebay a few days, something will turn up.... Thanks for the props!

Sean.... please step away from the exclamation (!) key...as a matter of fact, just remove the 'shift' key from your keyboard so you will not be tempted to use it.


Summit carries a generic 3" exhaust kit of aluminized steel.... i'll go in on half with you since half the "kit" will probably do one Miata...and you can pick it up directly from them.

FLO-15937 Flowmaster 15937
Flowmaster 15937 - Flowmaster U-Fit Dual Pipe Kits

I bought all my mandrel bent pipe from Colombia River (a sponsor on these here boards as a matter of fact...).

Or you can support our forum sponser Tube Bending & Fabrication - Columbia River Mandrel Bending

Recieve extra discount
Discount code for Miata turbo members : MT5M

Industrial grade 2.5" 16 gauge 304 elbows are fairly cheap (~$15 each from my source), this is what I used to build my exhaust.

This is what they use in food and beverage equipment and is widely available.

16 gauge is a bit thick, but easy to weld and will take a real beating.

Interesting, didn't know we had a pipe vendor on here. I'll be looking them up soon...

Well maybe if you didn't spend your time correcting people's punctuation use and actually paid attention to the forum you might see these things. :giggle:

Yeah, they are a great supplier, and their shipping is really quick.

Mike, ill keep the summit thing in mind.
if i do go the summit route ill be getting mild steel, so that way i can weld it myself.

back of my punctuation! haha

i did look through Columbia River Mandrel Bending but i only looked at there stainless piping.

If you can weld mild steel, why can't you weld stainless?

bucause, the welder that i will have access to is set up for mild steel, and its a MIG. if i go stainless i want to TIG weld it but i do not have access to a TIG welder.

did you want stainless in the first place? How were you going to weld it that way. Also you can MIG stainless too... just need a back purge :2cents:

Dude, what exactly is your question?

i know you can MIG stainless and all that good stuff. i dont know if my friends MIG welder has a back purge or not. i also know that out of respect for him and his stuff, i dont want to toy around with his welder( cause hey shit can happen! )


if i do go the stainless route! ill prefab everything up and take the parts up to Jason at Enthuza and have him weld it up.........

im just trying to source parts for my build. i have been searching and i havnt found anything in the way of pre bent 3" pipes..

but after reading a few peoples post i think i have pretty much figured it out and all i have to do now i wait to see if anything pops up on ebay!

That's a good option, tack it and have a shop finish it. If you call around to a few weld shops, you may find a guy who will do it on the side for cheap. Find a small "back alley" shop and drop by.

Welding is welding, don't need an exhaust shop to do it. I get a local guy to do my aluminum welding (my TIG doesn't do aluminum), I buy him a coffee and give him $20 each time.

Also, remember that stainless is going to change shape a bit as it's welded (it pulls more than mild steel) so it's best to do it in pieces, don't tack them all together and finish weld at the same time, do all except the midpipe, then custom fit that and finish weld.

Good luck.

I wouldn't buy raw material on ebay if I could avoid it. You may end up w/ very low grade stainless.

thanks for your advice fluke. its much appreciated!

thats pretty much how i planned to build the exhaust! ill be starting with a bolt in metal core cat! then the mid pip will be mocked up and as far as the axle back i wanted to do a slip joint and use a v-band!

Why would you use a slip joint and a V-band at the same time?! Arent bolt in cats more expensive than unflanged ones?! I'm planning out my exhaust build too! But I think i'm going to go mild steel instead of stainless! Cause its cheaper!

im doing a bolt in so i can take it out after emissions and put in a test pipe!

my bad on the v-band clap.....ill be using a lap joint clamp.

I used v-band clamps before and after the cat for this reason, running a test-pipe now.