Where have all the fabricators gone?
 

so my test pipe is 1 ich to short of fitting my car perfectly...just get a local guy to weld in a section of pipe right? nope..so much for that. might just need to send it out to artech....seems he is the only one who can get things done. ...even the so called "custom fabricators" cant cut and weld a pipe??? i have heard "we dont tig" "cant weld that" "why dont you bring to muffler shop" "no" "would take 3 weeks and cost over $100" and the two muffler shops i have experance with i wouldnt even bother to go there guy made a huge mess of my tucj exhaust just trying to weld on a new flange to steel. gobs of crap everythere not cleaned up and still leaked..CAN NO ONE DRAW A BEAD ON STANLESS I DID BETER WORK THAN THIS WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL PLAYING IN SHOP CLASS AT AGE 16.. last place i go is called alico profesional custom metal fabricators...i walk in there with the text pipe in hand and before i can explain what i need done he interups me and says "Cant do automotive" I mean really wtf its a pipe im not asking you to rebuild my motor. what if i told you i was using it as a leg for my coffie table. are there no real custom fabricators around here anymore. ones that just look at it as what it could be and not what it is. i know what i need and im bring them the materials and they still cant create a product. then your not a fabricator your a moron who can pull the triffer on a mig and make blobs of metal...Rant over thank you

where did all the enter keys go?

truck exhaust not tucj*

sorry, fast angry typing :(

You could go click on the "edit" button in your original post and fix spelling and format errors...

they were all scared off by lack of paragraphs

What material and size is your test pipe?

1. Measure test pipe

2. Send result + 1" to Abe

3. ???

4. Profit!

if you did better in high school, then why not DIY. welders are cheap.

I had an exhaust shop tell me 3 weeks ago that they couldn't weld up my stainless exhaust on the race car.

I'm pretty sure i made this very face to the store owner.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1362780138

Find some welding shop on a back road where it's just a guy making his living doing random jobs. I have a guy like that who's done lots of small things for me until I get an outlet wired for my welder. Bigger and busier shops probably don't want to be bothered with such a small job.

Also most shops will not touch a test pipe on any street car. There are large fines if they get caught. My local exhaust shop would only touch my test pipe if I towed in the car without tags on.

Look or craigslist. Should be some random dudes who bought welders looking for side work or even lost their main job and are trying to make a living welding.

Even if you just brought the test pipe to them by itself? If so that is a little ridiculous. I know on my brothers 5 point slow Mustang a few exhaust shops told him they wouldn't do a header back exhaust without installing cats. So I think he wound up getting a kit from Summit and doing DIY. I want to say the fine is something like $10,000, but that may just be them blowing smoke.

Not at all. Shops even get a kickback if they report illegal activity, at least around here. Buddy works for a shop that does A/C conversions and recharges. If they find someone that has vented the A/C (without recovery equipment), they can blow them in and get part of the fine as reward.

Not sure how they'd prove anything, but he's been told by management to report people doing their own work to his boss.

I am talking about exhaust shops installing non C.A.R.B. approved exhaust systems without cats in CA. They won't touch them, nor will they even work on the stuff, like test pipes if they think they know it's going on a street car. Most are worried that if someone gets pulled over for illegal exhaust/modified emissions equipment (cat(s)) they will drop the name of the shop that did it and they will get busted.

Just to clarify... this is CA man, land of getting ass fucked. I heard NYC is getting pretty bad too, right?

Depends on the line of work a shop does, I know some fab shops that won't touch anything automotive due to insurance sector coverages.

Ryan, it's all the same stuff. Exhausts, A/C, whatever thay can nail you on. It's all about the state getting every last dollar they can squeeze out of you.

If the shop makes a "test pipe" and it gets put on a street car, they can be busted. Modification of emissions stuff is a huge gamble. It can mean loss of licensing, major hassles from various agencies as well as lots of fines. It's just not worth the risk.

I know, that's why I told my brother he was wasting his time trying to get an exhaust shop to install a catless exhaust. I do all my own illegal shit :bigtu:

It is the same problem in Florida, at least at the shops I frequented.

I have learned to pull the tag, trailer the car to the shop, and insist that it is a race car.

This is my experience also. My muffler guy has known my dad for over 40 years, took shop class with him in high school, and would not remove a cat for me on his shop property.

You can probably buy a new test pipe for the cost of adding an inch to it just based on the labor required.

+1 to what everyone said about fines. No joke there.

And now my 2cents. The flanges on either end of the cat/test pipe are at certain angles, obviously. The fab guy would have to somehow get that angle and clocking of the flanges correct in a jig that would have to be built, lengthen the jig by an inch, and then do the easy part, weld the extra section together.

No way in hell I'd quote that for less than 3 weeks and $100. But Abe probably already has a jig so may do it cheaper...but account for shipping.

And you sound like a whiner. Do you look like a hipster? :dunno: If you look or sound like a pain in the ass, no jobshop will want to deal with that drama.

That is kind of funny. I had a shop make my full 3" catless exhaust on my street car that I drove there and drove away no questions asked. I never really thought about the fact that it was illegal. He is fairly well known in the area too so that surprises me even more. I guess he figured that cars here never get inspected so the chances are next to none that he will get in trouble.

I can do it for you for 80 bucks plus you ship to me. I can do it on March 29th or 30th and it will be packed up and ready to ship by March 31st, I'll pay return shipping. Is it 2.5 inch or 3 inch?

Those are the only days I could do it though since that's when I'll be home at the end of my spring break.

PM me if interested :)
Evan

Did you just really post that on the internet where anyone can see it?

I really did not even think about it to be honest. I edited the post.

I have a shop I have been going to for years for little welding projects. Anything that is questionable is handled without invoice in cash.

The larger shops are bigger targets and will be even more obnoxious to walk-ins. I once needed a simple weld done on a muffler pipe and Midas said they couldn't do it because it was aftermarket. For $1,200, they could install a complete 'OEM' exhaust from the headers back. :jerkit: