Hey guys ive been looking for a dp lately to go onto my turbo-n/a and am coming a cross a delima.

FIrst of all AFtermarket dp's are toooo expensive for what they are, so thats not en option for me, second fo all stock downpipes have the cat built in and I am totally opposed to emmissions bs so i dont want that. Now for the solution.

Is the turboo/dp flange a common or standard pattern or is it distinct to the fc? I ask cause i would like to know if an exhaust shop would be able to just stick a pipe in there for me.

If not can the flange be bought seperately?

 

How is an aftermarket DP too expensive for what it is? You can get a Thunder Fabrications DP and MP combination for $195. I don't think you can have something that beefy fabricated for much less than that.

 

My entire exhaust from manifold to mufflers cost me $200, why would i pay a seperate $200 for a 1.5 foot section of only slightly better quality?

 

I'd bought a downpipe (2.5") quite a while back....and my local muffler shop took the flange off of it, and I'd ordered 2-90 degree bends and he welded up the 2 90's and the flange and made my DP. The DP, and exhaust cost me 100 bucks total....

 

I guess some of you guys have a different definition of cheap than I do, lol.. I spent about 500 bucks for my 3" turboback, which consists of a TF DP/MP and a 3" Corksport Catback. IMO $500 for a full exhaust is cheap, on my Impreza I paid 3 times that for a headerback exhaust..

 

I think of cheap in terms of quality and necessity. While $200 may be worth it for a quality madrel bend polished ect dp, all that is necessary is a piece of 2.5 ss pipe betwen 2 things. Does that sound worth $200 to you?

 

just cut the DP right before the cats and take it all to the muffler shop to get welded...

 

I dont have a dp to cut.

 

aah lol.. I see... poke around for a flange and weld in some mandrel bent shizzle

 

You can get the stock turbo flange from Racing Beat ($16.50) or Mazdatrix ($14), or you could trace the shape and get one made. Any decent exhaust shop should be able to knock up a quality downpipe. They are very simple. All you need is the flange, a couple of mandrel bends, a bit of straight pipe and an O2 sensor bung.

Stainless steel is totally unecessary unless you're obsessed with shiney things you can barely see...

 

Im not, i just figured thats hwat they used cause it hasnt rusted much in the 2 years ive had it. In fact the only rusted part of ym exhaust is the manifold.

 

What about its resistance to rusting? The salt here in the Northeastern U.S. eats up mild steel if you drive at all during the winter. My old RB exhaust was part mild steel and it rusted in less than a year...RB was nice enough to replace it with full stainless and I didn't have a problem since.

 

Why don't you try and price out...

A quality MIG welder - Miller and Lincoln makes units starting at $500; add the gas, tanks,wire, and cart, and you're looking at a $1,000 set-up.
If you're lucky, Racing Beat will have most of the flanges available; I find the Racing Beat stuff is LARGE tolerances - up to 1/4" in some areas!
Try http://www.emachineshop.com/ - you're still looking at a couple hundred dollars for a "set".
Now go find "thick wall" pipe - Racing Beat does sell 0.125" wall stuff, and this is what we usually use for "cheap" set-up's.

Suddenly, that ~$100 downpipe isn't looking too bad...


-Ted

 

make SURE they mandrel bend though... not crimp bend (worst) or die mandrel (better but still not the best). True mandrel bending is what you get with those high $ pieces so if you opt to have one made spend some time on the phone looking around and find a shop with a true mandrel bender. I have to drive 30 min to get to a shop with one but its well worth it.

 

Yeah I'll give you that. I'd definitely want SS if I lived somewhere where they salt the roads. But apart from that, aluminised mild steel (plain ol' exhaust pipe) lasts for ages. Most people will change the exhaust or sell the car long before a new exhaust made for AMS starts to rust. You only have to look at the FC's still using stock exhaust components to see that.