Though I'm (for the time being) planning on keeping my '88 vert's main cat, I plan on ditching the two pre-cats in favor of a downpipe. While not excessively expensive at $120 from RB (http://www.racingbeat.com/resultset....tNumber=S16209), I can't help but think that it's something a local exhaust shop should be able to fab up fairly easily and possibly less expensively since it's just a few feet of 2/5" pipe with one bend and two flanges.

Has anyone else ever done this? And if so, how much did it run you?

 

yeah but personally if u are going to have a shop do it do it right and get Stainless Steel piping with NICE CLEAN WELDS and then install it..

otherwise if using basic steel it is a waste of time and money... MANDREL BEND is where its at.. not crush or smooth bend!!

 

You can have one made, but for the $120 at RB you also get a presilencer. There are straight pipes available on ebay from time to time, but they are just slightly less expensive. Keep in mind that your local muffler shop legally cannot remove the cats from your car, so often times they will refuse to make you a pipe.

 

Actually, the $120 is just the downpipe alone- they just used the same image for both the downpipe and the combo pages; getting the downpipe/presilencer combo is another $200. It's something I haven't ruled out... but I'm somewhat loathe to totally ditch the cat since I live in a relatively slow neighborhood and don't want to be getting everybody pissed off at me for the fumes. :P

 

Why don't you get a solid quote from your shop locally and see if it's really that much cheaper to get it down nearby?


-Ted

 

$120 won't get you very far in a mechanical shop. Perhaps 3 hours labour if they're generous, and there's no way they could fab and install it in that time, plus they'd also have to charge you for the materials used.

Just buy the RB one, its GREAT quality, fits and is easy to install yourself.