So I finally put together my exhaust today.

[FirstYearTalon]

I've been camping on the parts to put my 3" turboback together for about a month now. I finally got the chance to put it together. HOLY CRAP is it awesome, and it was so cheap.
straight pipe = 35
1 180 mandrel u-bend = 20
ebay special 3" flex = 35
stainless flowmaster 50 series = 60
welding = free
total = 150

Now, I know everybody around here likes to talk trash about the flowmasters, mostly (in my opinion) because they do not understand how complicated a machine it actually is, or they picked the wrong one for their system. So to lay and doubts aside I layed out the entire exhaust system minus muffler and took it for a few test runs, in general I had much better spool time and it pulled a bit harder at full boost, not too shabby. Then I put on the flowmaster and without altering anything I got at least 200-300 RPM quicker spool and it pulled in the topend like a raped ape, about a 2 fold gain as just the straight pipe alone. I chose the 50 series because it has a little more mellow tone and this one in particular came with delta flow, which increases power a bit more. As far as the sound goes it's awesome, loud but awesome. Even with the quieter flowmaster it might be a bit too much so I'll probably put a resonator inline somewhere. The sound it great though, it's very rumbly even at idle and sounde even better under boost, without even the stightest hint of rice. Oh and I didn't creep at all.

Here are some pics my friend took as it was nearing completion.

I'll try to have a video up in the next couple of days.

 

[doodie]

Very nice! any pics of the exhaust under the car? did you use Tig welding for that?

 

[FirstYearTalon]

as requested pics if it installed. ignore the greasy-ness, my car is a leaker. Oil spots aren't from me though.
it was all done with a MIG, I just chopped up a 180 u-bend and used it for all of the little bends, it's extremely smooth inside with almost no kink at all.

 

[doodie]

No afraid that its going to fall apart with a mig welder? Nice job by the way.

 

[bigroy_80]

what did you hang the exhaust with and where did you get the flange for the downpipe from did you just take use the stock flange. i may do this in the near future so just tryin to get some answers

 

[FirstYearTalon]

for hangers I used threaded rod, and put nuts on it to fine adjust it, and ya, I just used the stock flange for now, I plan on making it into an o2 eliminator at a later date anyways.

 

[hostile]

No afraid that its going to fall apart with a mig welder? Nice job by the way.

Most non store bought exhuast is mig welded. I seriously doubt with thoose welds he will have any problems.

 

[dsm4life]

i think it came out pretty damn well man , let me know when you can make a 3" DP for a 2G

 

[G_S_X]

my DP for my 2g is like that, its completely straight; Full 3" from off the o2..

 

[dsm4life]

my DP for my 2g is like that, its completely straight; Full 3" from off the o2..

ill give ya 50.00 ship one over

 

[FirstYearTalon]

i think it came out pretty damn well man , let me know when you can make a 3" DP for a 2G

Once I show this to my friend with a 2g I'm sure I'll be making him one also, maybe I'll make a few extra...

 

[dsm4life]

Once I show this to my friend with a 2g I'm sure I'll be making him one also, maybe I'll make a few extra...

i woul dhave purchased one of them from you . It looks clean

 

[BacknBlack92ESi]

Very nice. A friend of mine with a 91 Laser RS Turbo has about the same setup as you with the 50 series. Sounds awesome. Also he has a 3" dp. I love the sound of his. Nice job

 

[Blk_99gst]

Then I put on the flowmaster and without altering anything I got at least 200-300 RPM quicker spool and it pulled in the topend like a raped ape, about a 2 fold gain as just the straight pipe alone.

Noone else had a problem with this statement? We'll I do. I don't but it that adding the flowmaster reduced spool and gave you more top end. Like it's been said time and time again, the best exhaust for after a turbo is no exhaust. The quicker the gases can get away from the turbo, the better. Anything in the way will cause longer spool up times. I can tell a night and day difference between my 3" testpipe (no restriction) versus my 3" cat (major restriction). So I don't see how adding a restriciton like a muffer, how spool would get better.

And as far as top end, once again, turbos like to to have as little restriction as possible. That is why people put o2 dumps on there so the gases can get out faster as opposed to traveling down the entire exhaust path. So again, by putting a restriction in the exhaust path (muffer), I don't see how that could give you MORE top end then without the muffer.

If you did feel some power increase after you put on the muffler, then some other condictions had to have changed. Maybe your run with just the piping was during mid-day during the heat. And then your run with the muffler was done later in the afternoon or evening with cooler air.

 

[FirstYearTalon]

Noone else had a problem with this statement? We'll I do. I don't but it that adding the flowmaster reduced spool and gave you more top end. ... Maybe your run with just the piping was during mid-day during the heat. And then your run with the muffler was done later in the afternoon or evening with cooler air.

As I said earlier, some people just don't understand exactly how it is a flowmaster works, it is not a restriction, it actually increased exhaust velocity over straight pipe. Anyone that has bought one new has seen the little paper they ship with it to make sure you have adequate heat shielding around the muffler since it pulls the hot exhaust out so much faster that it has a lot less time to cool. I have enough friends running a wide variety of cars that use flowmasters because it is such a consistant gain. I have one friend in particular that has a pair on his truck, and one fell of on the highway and his truck was considerably slower running straight pipe. I did the 2 runs less than an hour apart on the same road and if anything the car should be running slower the second time since it was all warm still. And 2-3 degrees air temp isn't going to affect much. and now a few days afterwards it's even faster, I'm assuming it's the computer learning some new tricks. Anyways, you can believe what you want, I just wanted to review a product that did provide me with a nice gain, despite what a lot of people have said. And I tried to make the comparison as even as possible, the flowmaster outperformed straight pipe under nearly identical conditions.

 

[turbowop]

Wow!! With that kind of increase in power from a muffler maybe the open header guys at the track should add some "velocity inducing" flowmasters......maybe they'd see a bigtime reduction in their e.t.'s.

Sorry man, the exhaust looks good for a home-built system but I don't believe the gains had by adding the flowmaster.

 

[FirstYearTalon]

Oh, you don't believe me

Someone's opinion isn't going to alter the way my car felt. I said it was good with open pipe and felt noticably better with flowmaster, and that's what happened. Would running an open DP or no exhaust work better? Sure it would. Would it be practical for a daily driver? Nope. I have no reason to make any of this shit up, I just told it how it was.

 

[turbowop]

Would running an open DP or no exhaust work better? Sure it would.

So now you're saying running without the muffler *would* be better? WTF?!

 

[nutshot]

A venturi will increase exhaust flow.

Main Entry: ven·tu·ri
Pronunciation: ven-'tur-E
Function: noun
Etymology: G. B. Venturi died 1822 Italian physicist
: a short tube with a tapering constriction in the middle that causes an increase in the velocity of flow of a fluid and a corresponding decrease in fluid pressure and that is used especially in measuring fluid flow or for creating a suction (as for driving aircraft instruments or drawing fuel into the flow stream of a carburetor)

http://merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=venturi

Damn, some of you guys are asshats.

 

[FirstYearTalon]

So now you're saying running without the muffler *would* be better? WTF?!

Actually for those that can actually read a whole post I said running NO exhaust or just an open Downpipe would be better than a FULL EXHAUST SYSTEM, which happens to be what I made. I make no comparisons to partial or no exhaust, because I didn't try it that way and I don't talk out my ass about things that I have never tried personally. Now I ask you this: Have you run every imaginable exhaust configuration to be able to tell me what is and is not possible?

In any case, I was mearly trying to show how inexpensive it is to make your own exhaust, and my personal experience with my choice of muffler.

 

[Vegas Smith]

Lay off the fool. i can bet none of you fools have first hand experience on the subject like he does. Just what ifs and shoulds.

I personaly agree with him. i was running open dp for a few weeks with my 16g and i didnt like the crappy spoolup and topend. i hooked up my full 2.5 inch system and i instantly felt more response and better spoolup. Had a little better topend. i dont give a shit what anybody says, full exhaust has always worked for me. Benchracers.

 

[dls93tsi]

did you have a little trouble gettin the first bend on the dp to fit? when I did my dp, I couldnt get the right angle and ended up having to dent in the front corner of the floor pan to fit the dp past.

Also, how hard was it to do that rear part? I am puttin my cat-back together this week and i was wondering how much of a pita that back section was gonna be

 

[FirstYearTalon]

I lucked out I guess, my downpipe went together fine, it's a little tight, but I managed to clear everything. As far as the rear it really isn't too bad, I just made one bend kindof early and went under the driveshaft right before the diff and continued right under the lower control arm mount, then I immediately turned up towards the muffler area then straightened it out right before the muffler.