Good SS-welding-exhaust shop in Denver?

kenamond · 03-23-2008, 11:58 PM

I have a new stainless 3" turboback with a gawd-aweful-loud can muffler on it that I want to replace. I have a Magnaflow 12198 stainless muffler (3" in, dual 2.5" out) and some polished stainless AeroExhaust twin tips. I need someone that's picky about their work and yet reasonably-priced in the Denver area who could cut the old (well, 2 weeks old) can off, cut the Magnaflow inlet as needed, fab and weld a hanger on the muffler, and weld the tips on. I want the tips to come out "just right" relative to the bumper cover cutout, and I'm gonna be a bit picky about that

. And I have no idea how long something like that would take. I'd need it done in a day. Is that unreasonable?

I'm going to be in the Denver area sometime the week of April 1 to pick up a used front bumper cover, and I figure there'd be more options in that area. I'm fine with Castle Rock, Pueblo, Walsenburg, too. I'm on a road trip as it is, so what's an hour or two more, right?

A phone number and name (or several) would be great. Then I can call and discuss the gory details.

Thanks!

Ludachris · 03-24-2008, 10:35 AM

Mack, I would highly recommend Hanksville Hotrods off of Santa Fe, south of C470.:

http://www.hanksvillehotrods.com

He does almost all of the roll cages for the NASA road racers in the area and plenty of exhaust work. I had him do the welding on my new aluminum i/c pipe. He's pretty reasonable and does nice work. Tell him Chris Raymond from NASA referred you.

kenamond · 03-24-2008, 08:51 PM

Thanks Chris. I emailed him and he emailed me back. He's booked the week I'll be up in that area, and it also looks like it'd be a bit out of my price range. He mentioned that he could let me know if something opened up in that week. I let him know what I was willing to spend (I have no good sense of how long a pro would take to do what needs doin'). Guess I'll find out. Might have to use this as an excuse to finally take the local welding class...then shop for a nice, used welder.

fhudsonjr · 03-24-2008, 10:06 PM

Mack,try PMing fusionsport at rmdsm.org. He has a shop. I believe it is HRD-not real sure.
Maybe he can help.

kenamond · 03-24-2008, 11:36 PM

Before I go asking welding shops if they can do this, does anyone have a decent estimate on how much this would cost? Heck, even an estimate for TIG welding two 3" SS pipes together would give me a better feel than I have now.

I guess I'll go research welding and maybe figure out what I could do to prepare the parts as much as possible before handing them to a welder. Sucks that it has to be on the car to get things fitted correctly, yet I have to cut the muffler as step #1 which makes my DD undriveable (in the legal sense). So if I prep the parts myself, my axleback is cut apart which makes it hard to take the car to a welder. I can't believe that I'm in a situation where the muffler swap could cost more than the entire turboback. Live and learn, I guess.

Where's the "frustrated" smilie when you need it?

Burnett03 · 03-25-2008, 02:17 AM

HRD will be way overpriced, trust me, plus the owner is one of those "know it all" guys that only wants to do things his way, which he says is the only way.. Buds muffler should be able to handle the job.

Flash · 03-25-2008, 08:51 AM

I always go to 3R Racing. But they aren't the cheapest at all, but very good welding.

kenamond · 03-25-2008, 09:30 AM

Anyone know what a "reasonable" cost is for TIG welding SS? Stayed up to 2am last night reading welding tutorials. I'll see if they're offering a welding class in town soon. I've MIG welded plenty, but never on anthing but mild steel and a bit of chrome moly, and was never formally taught.

matthewdesigns · 03-25-2008, 11:25 AM

Give Jack a call at Jack's Transmissions ( www.jackstransmissions.com ). He's the Colo Spgs DSM guru, and used to build custom SS exhausts before he got too busy to do them anymore (his transmission business has really taken off), but he'd probably take the time to do this for you if you 'splain it to him. He has welded aluminum for me in the past, and I have all my more extensive (not expensive

)work done there. He's a supporting vendor here, too, and a super nice guy. And his shop is about 5 minutes off I-25, so it would be easy for you to get to.

kenamond · 03-25-2008, 04:55 PM

Well, I found a guy around town who can do it. I'll do all the cutting, test-fitting, removing, tweaking, re-test-fitting, removing, etc. He said I can bring pieces to him, he can tack weld them in place, I can go back home and test fit, break the tacks loose if I have to adjust, etc. That's almost ideal (ideal would be for me to do it at his garage, but it's only 8 minutes away and I can use my POS pickup truck to get back/forth). $50/hr and he thinks it'd be somewhere between 1 and 2 hours.

Cool guy. He gave me plenty of pointers on what tools and bits to use to cut it, what to use to fine-tune the edges in prep for welding, etc.

And he's going to give me some scrap SS bar to make the hanger.

And I finally have an excuse to buy a hand grinder and some grinding disks and flapwheels for it and for the die grinder.

Whew.

turbosax2 · 03-25-2008, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenamond

Cool guy. He gave me plenty of pointers on what tools and bits to use to cut it, what to use to fine-tune the edges in prep for welding, etc.

Do you mind sharing those tips? I'll be hacking up my downpipe / catback so I can have a vband clamp welded in and I want to do as much work myself as possible so I can save money.

kenamond · 03-26-2008, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbosax2

Do you mind sharing those tips? I'll be hacking up my downpipe / catback so I can have a vband clamp welded in and I want to do as much work myself as possible so I can save money.

If you can wait a week to 9 days, I'll know a whole lot more. I'm going to start on this Tuesday night or Wednesday morning of next week, but I'm not sure if I'll be done Wednesday night or Thurdsay night. I want to be done by then, because I may be driving the Talon to Denver on Friday to pick up a used front bumper cover.

I had the ass end on jackstands tonight measuring things. When I get the axleback off I'll get a better sense of how the new muffler and tips will fit. I *might* not have to shorten the outer walls of the tips. That'd be great, because they look nice as-is. It's all a matter of how far forward I can get the Magnaflow toward the double hangers and still leave enough room to weld.

The exhaust cutout in the rear bumper cover is the absolute perfect shape for dual 3.5" OD tips with centers 4" apart. I'm gettin' excited.

matthewdesigns · 03-26-2008, 09:17 AM

Pics when it's all together! Sounds like a great replacement.

kenamond · 04-04-2008, 08:00 PM

It's done. Couldn't be more pleased. I'll post up some pics tonight.

As for tricks and whatnot, I don't know if it can be explained. You just have to do it to know what's involved. I'd almost need a camera crew filming as I explained what I was thinking.

Get a hand grinder, a cutoff disk suitable for stainless, a flap wheel disk, a face shield, metal file, hacksaw/sawzall, drill or drill press, drill bits, thin-tip Sharpie, metal scribe, a punch, good small metal ruler with 1/64th increments, paper, scissors, compass (for making circles, not for finding magnetic north), hammer, vice, and good lighting.

I could've really used a metal belt sander to get planar surfaces on the pipe cuts and a chop saw to make pretty straight cuts. Instead, I used the hand grinder *a lot*. As a result, one pipe end was not a straight cut and I had to make the other pipe look the same...which took a whole lot of time and a whole lot of install/uninstall of the axleback. But once I got the axleback and muffler joint done, the tips were easy; I knew a lot more about what I was doing then.

I'm sure there's a better way to do what I did, and I'm sure there are better tools for the job than I own, but if you have a grinder and time, you can do just about anything. And when you get done, you'll know how you should have done it, and you'll be better at it the next time around.

I didn't have to fabricate any flanges (well, I made a small tab for the rear-most hanger), but a die grinder would probably be useful for that...and a plasma or torch if you have one.

So I made gross cuts with the cutoff wheel, got them near-perfect with the sanding wheel, and got them perfect with a hand file. Then I'd put stuff back together, see where I needed to take more off, then went back at it with the sanding wheel or file. I ended up getting the gap down to under 1/64th inch the whole way around (and then found out from the welder that "It was better than it had to be.")

All the welding cost me $75 but I gave him $80. He was handing out scrap bar and plate and even offered some of his tools (pneumatic, so I had to decline). He said I could come back anytime for more of that type of thing. So I now have a great welding contact.

I'll be in Denver tomorrow picking up a front bumper cover. Anyone up for a late lunch?