Whoever has a custom made exhaust...

[RicciDSM]

1997 TSi FWD is the car. Wanting an exhaust very badly but I dont wanna waste money on an ebay catback that might not even fit... I have a 2.5" Apexi DP just sitting here that could be put to good use. So I was thinking about buying a universal 2.5"in N1 Muffler off ebay real cheap, and then taking it to an exhaust shop to have a custom 2.5" exhaust made.

Whoever had this done, about how much did it run you? I know it varies from shop to shop but I just wanna get a rough estimate. Also how would this perform? Should be the same as an exhaust off ebay basically am I right? My final question is, do I need a tune? My car currently is running a full Intake, and next week Ill have UICP/BOV. Will I NEED a tune after my exhaust or should I be fine for a while?

THANKS!

 

[Deuce_three]

I have the srs 3" ebay catback + 3" downpipe on mine, i had no problems with the installation plus it has the tilt that everyone loves. Has a very low rumble and is pretty quite when your cruising.

 

[RicciDSM]

Yeah I saw the SRS catback, its actually not that bad on price. Im just not trying to kill my wallet at the moment since I just spent about $500+ on my car. I gotta take it easy. I was thinking maybe a custom exhaust would be cheaper. Or should I just wait a while and go with the SRS? How did it bolt up? No problems? I know theres a few other ebay catbacks that dont bolt up right...

 

[Deuce_three]

If you can get a custom mandrel bent exhaust build for alot cheaper then the srs catback. then you can do that instead. As for the Srs exhaust, I had it for 3 years n no rust has accumulated. Bolted up without problems. ill post pic of it. if i can find it somewhere in this forum

from the pic it looks like it doesnt tilt cause my driveway is like a ramp. but on flat surface it tilts

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pic of exhaust before installation

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[WolfsFang]

as for the tuning part, no i wouldent think so. i have a custom exhaust and the car has never been tuned (yet).

 

[misterjose]

i got a hold some DTM Dual Tip Muffler. from some guy that bought them a couple years back but never installed it. i took it to some random muffler shop and charged me 30 bucks to weld it on. then i realized i was running on 3" pipping and test pipe!!! it doesn't rumble when your cruising, but once you pull on it thats another tone

 

[Colt4G63 also]

I'm pretty sure any mass produced mandrel bent pipe set is going to be nicer, and cheaper.

If you can even find a shop with a mandrel bender, I'm sure they are going to charge more to make a system than some guy with a sweat shop in Ghana. You could get low grade pipe that's been press bent, but I'm pretty sure it would still be cheaper to buy the ebay kit and install it yourself.

 

[GsXdSmKingGsX]

Alot of ebay exhaust systems claim to be 3" or 2.5" but after the initial piping it goes way down to 2.25" and gets really restrictive so I wouldnt go with that option my friend.

 

[nuclearr]

I live near a large city a and can not find a shop with an mandrel bender. With in 3 hrs of drive time from me. Its not really worth exhaust from a shop if you can not get a hold of mandrel bent piping. Plus most ebay exhaust are stainless. Which costs a lot more at an independent shop.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

You could buy a bunch of 3" mandrel U-bends and a muffler for $200-$300, then spend 8 hours or so cutting and welding. That's what I did. If I were to do it for you, I would have to charge $500 in labor.

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[Deuce_three]

Alot of ebay exhaust systems claim to be 3" or 2.5" but after the initial piping it goes way down to 2.25" and gets really restrictive so I wouldnt go with that option my friend.

My Srs which is 3" piping then has a 1" length 2.25" diameter to connect to the cat, which you can cut and weld on a 3" flange. like most catbacks. it will bolt on to fit the cat unless you specifically buy a full 3" turboback exhaust. Idk about the other ebay exhaust, but thats how My Srs was built.

 

[bradikus7]

There are a few exhaust setups on EBay that fit great to be honest! Specifically the SRS which was already talked about earlier. From personal experience I had a Tsudo exhaust for my old RS, fit very nicely. The problem with your local exhaust shop is that it probably won't save you that much money and the piping they have will probably not be SS. So basically it eventually will rust.

I do have a custom full exhaust,3" from the turbo back and connects to a real Apexi N1 muffler. It is also all Vband connections but I got an amazing deal second hand on it so I couldn't tell you how much it really was to make.

 

[caseyk]

I had an ebay exhaust on my gst. I had no problems with it at all. Installation was very easy and was all just bolt on. If I were to get another catback for a gst i'd buy it again. I believe it was like 130-140 shipped when i bought it.
Hope this helps out.

Here are some pics.
Sorry if there too big.

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full 3in to a 4.5in tip. It only bottlenecked once and that was to bolt on to the stock cat.

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pic of it installed

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rear end pic

 

[junkyardgsx]

A mandrel bent exhaust that is custom will cost you some money. Its cheaper to buy a mass produced mandrel bent system. A crush bent exhaust being 3-inch will be effective, but not as effective as a mandrel bent one will be. Take the pros and cons and weight them. How much power is your car going to put down in the next year or two? if it's not putting down more than 400HP a basic crush bent exhaust will be fine. I know a guy running a dual 3-inch crush bent exhaust on his camaro, a camaro that is putting down 900HP. a basic exhaust shop exhaust isn't always bad, it's just not as good.

 

[Bender]

I made my own, cost around $600 for the piping/v-bands/resonator/muffler. V-bands make it real easy to drop the extra weight at the track.

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[esoteric]

https://www.rtmracing.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16727&cat=333&page=1

Get that, full turbo back option too. I would trust RTM far more then any EBAY piece, if they say its good its good.

 

[Bender]

RTM is in Canada... shipping and customs would be a bigger hassle than it is worth.

 

[Guzman08]

where could i buy 3" piping?

 

[ricktb]

I had a complete custom o2housing-back 3" exhaust fabbed with pipe and a muffler for $600 CAN

 

[jwahl16]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/custom-fabrication/324227-fabricating-materials-thread.html

post number 2

 

[Zdrummer15]

You can add me to the list of people who are more then satisfied with their ebay exhaust system. I bought the Tsudo 3" cat-back for my Talon and am extremely happy with it. It is 3" the whole way (included a neck-down section to fit the stock cat which I didn't use). It sounds great, isn't too loud, installed very easily, and most importantly didn't cost much more then $200 shipped. I would recommend this over a completely custom made one for the same reasons mentioned by colt4g63also.

Here's some pics and a video (video is with my 3" downpipe and no cat):

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YouTube - 2g Talon TSi AWD 3" turbo-back exhaust

 

[proteusx301]

I would love to have a custom exhaust made for my 2g. Problem is that I don't trust any of the exhaust shops that have the proper equipment. And even then, I've seen their work and its usually sloppy. I wish someone would come out with a turboback similar to what STM fabbed up on their 2g. Maybe I'll just take up welding and learn how to make my own.

 

[Silvertune]

A cat-back will net you nothing but sound unless you free up the rest of your exhaust. Remember air comes out of your turbo first, restrictions on that end are what keep your horses back. Until you free that up, the cat-back is overkill. If you want sound, just weld in a muffler. That's the cheapest way to get a good sound. If you want to do it right and get both sound AND power, start from the beginning. Overall mitsubishi makes fairly nice OE exhausts, they're sizeable for stock applications compared to companies like Honda which makes them too small and American which start with too big. However there are 2 huge restrictors on the stock DSM exhaust: the o2 housing and the cat. The stock o2 housing is tini... do yourself a favor and get a bigger one that actually lets the turbo do its thing. A manifold helps with that greatly as well. From there, match the size to the o2 and get a turboback. Catless will obviously net you more but that's not legal so depending on your application an HFC will help too.

Custom will cost much less then name brand. Cat-backs alone run 700$ give or take, you could make a custom turboback yourself for half that, or have a complete turboback made for similar. In the OP's case, I'd recommend an HFC and a custom cat-back. You don't want the bottleneck of the stock cat, it nullifies all after it and adds a ton of back pressure aka spool killing nightmare.

As for the tuning, will you need it after just a cat-back? No. Will you need it after doing an o2 and back? Well that's up to you. Its a great idea to get it done, 15hp and quicker spool from just your exhaust becomes 35hp or more with awesome spool from a tune depending on other mods.

 

[Tanro]

I'm pretty sure any mass produced mandrel bent pipe set is going to be nicer, and cheaper.

If you can even find a shop with a mandrel bender, I'm sure they are going to charge more to make a system than some guy with a sweat shop in Ghana. You could get low grade pipe that's been press bent, but I'm pretty sure it would still be cheaper to buy the ebay kit and install it yourself.

I have a cat back that is alumnized steal, its over 5 years old and hasn't started to rust out. I think I payed 85$ for the pipe + the bends, and 10$ to have a catco welded on, and another 10$ to have the muffler welded on.

 

[EclipticalGS]

Punishment downpipe is full 3", mated to a 3" Thermal R&D catback is like the least restrictive exhaust you can get fairly cheap...The thermal R&D muffler that comes with it is WAY to big in my liking but it sounds very quiet until WOT