Many Slanters go the custom route, and take advantage of the options then available.

We've had a lot of discussion about appropriate diameters of exhaust pipes and muffler choice. When I get around to putting a new exhaust on my Valiant, I'll probably go with 2 1/4" all the way back to a larger "Turbo" muffler, then a 2" or 2 1/4" tailpipe.

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"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO

I just had 2 1/4 exhaust installed and it was more like $250.00 (California). I have a little clearance issue with the pushbutton cable coming real close to the pipe . The 2 1/4 dumps into a "turbo" muffler and instead of going over the rear axle and around, just a turn down from the muffler to the ground. I love it!

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63 valiant v200 Wagon 9.5, Schneider cam, E.I. 22 mpg all day

This is not a wise idea. It greatly increases the exposure of people inside the vehicle to exhaust fumes, whether the windows are up or down. The pipework needs to dump the exhaust as far away from the vehicle as practicable.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I like the pipe to point straight back for some added thrust.

Seriously, I do want the tip away from the passengers for both fume and noise control.

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"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO

Not to hijack ya'lls War 'O Wit , but I''ll put my change in here.
I went to an exhaust shop last year, and an older guy runs it. (He's been there a while.) He's a little on the strange side, but he knows how to work that bender. He had my truck on a rack, and held a pipe up to get the length, then allowed some for the bends. (all eyeball) He made one bend, held it up and looked at it, then started bending like nobody's buisness. I first thought: "Man, He'll have to bend another pipe...) But I'll be snuffed he weaved the pipe up in there, and it fit like a glove the first time, with a 1 in. overlap on each side. I've never seen anything like it......when I get ready for my Dart, he'll be the one I use.

O.K. gents...back to war; what's next..."When I wers yer age, sonny, I's so perr I eat doughnuts w'thout them fancy holes".

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225 Cubic Inches of Iron-Head American Muscle

225 bored .040 /.100 off block, Schneider Cam 224@.050~ .480 lift - Stock valves, blended bowls, Offenhauser intake with 500 Edelbrock carb

$100.00 is NOT a bad price for a front pipe custom made.
At the exhaust shops that begin with an "M" the guy bending the pipe gets paid 10% of the parts and labor. You are not only paying for the pipe, you are paying for the skill to bend it. Most shops wont bend a pipe from a sample without the car, because if it don't fit or needs a tweak here or there you wind up with a lot of ruined pipe. More importantly you wind up with a pain in the a$$ customer wanting it tweaked or remade for free, because THEY were to cheep to pay to have it done right the first time. Even with a "bend card" most pipes need a tweak here or there, add after market equipment or change pipe diameter and all bets are off. If you don't like the price you can buy a 12' stick of pipe from NAPA for about $22.00 and bend it yourself. Oh you will need a bender, starts at about $5500 and can go to $40000 or more then you need the skill to use it better get several sticks of pipe. Those "bend cards" come on a cd now for your computer, thats another $800~$1000 just for the program. Oh you will need a welder to put the flange on too. Makes $100 for the pipe seem not so bad.

TopHat

Just to keep this going-I have a question about custom exhausts. NAPA or no one else has the 2.25 tailpipe for my '78 Dodge D100. Now to add to the cunfusion-I've removed the cat conv and go from the header pipe to the muffler. Has anyone had problems with an exhaust shop making a header or tailpipe knowing that the exhaust is not original (liability, 1-800 lawyers, yada yada yada).

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Good gun control is hitting your target repeatedly

That might depend on the exhaust shop,big box joe's might give you a little crap,maybe.Most shops don't care,if stuff is already gone not their problem.The customer is always right,right?

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83 B-150 slant 6,4 speed. 79 B-300 360 pathfinder 4x4. 74 W-300 318 4x4 git-r-done 80 B-100 sl6,4speed

My buddy went over to our local exhaust shop to have his 5.9 Dakota's system "fixed"... the operator told him to get the hell out of his shop - that he would not consider touching his ride, even if it were just to ad a new tip, after asking to have the anti-smog gear removed while upping the diameter...

Yup...because removing a functional catalytic converter is a Federal crime with very big penalties.

Fact is, today's converters are essentially nonrestrictive, and even the early Chrysler units were a great deal less restrictive than the GM and Ford designs. There's no good reason to remove a catalytic converter from a fuel-injected vehicle, except to replace it with another one.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I did back-to-back testing on my Duster when it was completely stock. I had the stock headpipe/converter/muffler/tailpipe replaced with 2.25" pipe all the way back and a "turbo" muffler. The car did not go any faster at the track or get any better mileage. Needless to say we were very surprised.

Dan is right. If you look at the medium in a converter, it has way more flow area through it than the pipes in and out. As long as it is not plugged/damaged it will outflow the rest of the system.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

True for the monolithic converters we are all talking about nowtimes. Those stupid GM pellet-type converters were backpressure monsters. The main design factor influencing backpressure in monolithic-core converters is the entry and exit design of the shell.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I removed the cat when I replaced the exhaust system in '82. At the time-both cat and non cat systems were available for the 78 D100. I went the route w/o the cat since the truck was only getting 11 mpg and was a dog.
The system I put on all those years ago is still very solid but I'd like to go to a larger diameter tailpipe to cap off the tuning / rebuilding that I've done.

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Good gun control is hitting your target repeatedly

Back in April of this year I bought a 78 Fury (B body) 2 dr, 39,000 original mile, stereotypical Grandma's car. While it has a 318 in it, that doesn't really matter for this thread. My wife and I bought the car at an estate sale on a Saturday afternoon, drove it home, and took it for a little cruise after dinner. Within 8 hours of buying the Fury, the cat converter conveniently fell off over the 1st set of railroad tracks that we crossed (my wife was driving, I was shotgun sorry, had to throw that one in) Anyways, we went home, and that next Tuesday I was at a local exhaust shop having duals installed from the manifolds back. When I pulled in the shop and asked about duals, the subject of the missing cat never came up, the only question was related to which mufflers I wanted. While I went in there with my heart set on glasspacks, by the time they got that far I got talked into Thrush's version of Flowmasters (welded shell, etc). While I wasnt thrilled with the $450 bill, I didnt say much about it as I was happy to not have to pay even more to have converters added to the bill. Of course, I never mentioned it either.
It does help that I've known the guys at this shop for years, as far as the no-converter issue, had they not known me I'd have been stuck with new converter(s), if they would have even taken the job of putting true duals on the car in the 1st place, since technically they are supposed to stay with stock configuration to be legal. (in this case a Y pipe, and single exhaust).
Now, while I wasn't thrilled with the cost, as back in the late 80's I had my ramcharger dualed out for $169, manifolds to rear bumper; each time in the nearly 20 years since, when I've had duals done, the price has gone up. (not all done at the same place). Not much can be done about it. Heck, the last one was about 5 years ago, on my Diplomat ex squad, and they didnt even have to go all the way to the motor; I had installed headers and that one was still like $350.
I got what I wanted and that was the important part.
Starters and alternators can't often be had for $30-35 anymore either, right? Not decent ones that'll last anyways!
I know where youre coming from on fixed income though, since Ive been on short term disability thru my work these past 6 weeks, my wings have been clipped as far as having extra money for anything, I had to suspend the insurance and park 2 of my vehicles and I know my short term will run out and I'll be well into the long term disability before I can get back to work, you can't control prices these days much except to say that sometimes it takes a little longer to save up than it used to. It sucks but what can you do? maybe try and shop around a bit and don't necessarily buy from the 1st guy that you ask for a quote.
As far as the shop not working with you and bending a replacement from
your old pipe, I've had exhaust guys do that for me in the past w/o a problem and they fit well. Find another shop. When they did my Fury they basically copied the extension, and tailpipe that they removed from my car, setting it atop the machine and "eyeballing" it all the while and it fit great, looks great, sounds great, and don't rattle. That was on the passenger side, the driver side was 100% eyeball-and try-it. (but they had the car right there on their rack, there is no card for this car that never came with duals from the factory) This guy really knew how to work his bender!
Sorry this post turned out so long but if you don't need it "right NOW", you can get what you are after, maybe not for $35, but possibly less than $100. (remember the song from the Who, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, get what you NEED!")

Rollin Stones

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83 B-150 slant 6,4 speed. 79 B-300 360 pathfinder 4x4. 74 W-300 318 4x4 git-r-done 80 B-100 sl6,4speed