Well, I know this is one of those kinda n00bish posts, but I'm just asking so I don't end up getting screwed over. I am buying a pair of mufflers, and soon a glasspack resonator and a high flow cat to go with my OBX header that needs installed yet (yes, pair of mufflers for dual exhaust, I know performance wise it's not ideal but I kinda wanna keep a dual exhuast look in the back). I'm going with 2.5" for the cat and resonator and 2.5" to where the pipe splits, then a drop to 2.25. My question is, how long does it generally take a shop to bend, weld, and install a custom exhaust (hopefully mandrel bent)? Not necessarily how much will it cost because I know that varies, but how long should it take them? I want to know so that if a shop tries to tell me it takes them X hours, I know whether they're trying to take me for a ride. I'm figuring it'd have to take them at least 2 hours but I'm not sure...any input?
2 hours is my guess, then materials (piping, probably a couple hangars) provided by them - I'm figuring considering a lot of shops in my area, as far as labor, that it'll be somewhere between $175-200 in the end.
why not 2.25" all the way???
2 hours for a complete exhaust and its custom.......no way is 2 hours enough. is the header a 2 piece? if not ...that will take almost 2 hours itself.
Installing the header, and doing all the calculations is what will take the longest. Once the header is on, and they know what they have to fabricate, it should only take them about 45 min to an hour after that if there a good shop. Doing everything from scratch (car having stock exaust still on when entering the shop) If it takes them much over 3 to 3.5 houres, I'de say there taking their time. A shop that does that type of thing all the time should have you out in a few hours easy, maybee 4 to 5 hours for a place that normally just replaces mufflers.
It took me 6 hours to replaces my complete exaust sytem with high flow parts in my driveway, but I ran into all kinds of clearance issues since the car was only on jack stands. (the header was the worst).
Well I'm planning to (try to at least) do the header myself...then I'll drive to the shop (or hell, maybe have AAA tow it) with just the open downpipe. I've thought about leaving the stock catback portion on, just so they'd sorta have a guide to go off of, but have the header installed already so all that needs to be done is pulling the old catback off. Then again, getting that off there too would be a good way to save a bit more time (and $$$). Yeah, I'd figure if I pulled in with the whole stock exhaust and was having them install everything (header, cat, resonator, and mufflers), I'd be looking at much MUCH longer than just 2 hours - I'd like to hope that if I tried it myself, I could pull the old system off and have the header on in between 8-12 hours (hand tools, in my garage on jackstands...). I'm sure some people will say that should only take 2-3 hours, but it's an Ohio car, I don't have power tools, and I know the way things go for me...
Yes, the header is 2 piece (the OBX = Pacesetter copy). I'm going with 2.5" to 2.25" because when I measured the downpipe on the OBX header, it's actually 2.375". Yes, they could just weld it to a 2.25" cat, but why narrow it down slightly and constrict it a bit (a small bit, obviously)? I figure go a little bit bigger with the 2.5" and then, most people have suggested in the past to drop the diameter of the pipe by .25" after the split to keep the exhaust velocity up. It was either 2.5" to 2.25" or 2.5" all the way in my mind. Time will tell how it works out...
expect at least 3-4 hrs. period, I have had several "bent" systems done and al ranged from 3-4 hrs.
Secondly mandrel is no big deal for you since you have no serious power adder.
LE61T PTE6262 Powered 
Took us 2-3 hours for mine.. That was with car on a lift, all 3" Mandrel bent, all TIG welded. That time was with all cutting/welding **Keep in mind, this is for the exhaust only/after the down pipe**
P&P Tuning
420.5whp / 359.8wtq
Ok...so I'll plan on it being more in the ~3 hour range from what I'm hearing, maybe a bit longer.
QBE (The Boosted One) wrote:expect at least 3-4 hrs. period, I have had several "bent" systems done and al ranged from 3-4 hrs.
Secondly mandrel is no big deal for you since you have no serious power adder.
I don't *yet* have any serious power adder - hell all I have right now is an intake
so yeah I don't really NEED all that much of anything at this point. However eventually I either plan a full N/A build (P&P head, cams, oversized valves, raised compression, etc. and possibly direct port nitrous) or the GMSC, and I see no point in having a half-assed exhaust done now, just to spend more down the line to have it done again. Of course I should probably be thinking seriously about 2.5" the whole way if that was the case, although from what I figure and what I've read too, 2.5" to the split and then 2.25" after it (as duals) should flow about the same as a 2.5" to one muffler. Oh well, the dual exhaust will be one of the few concessions to looks for the car...
RD fabs wants mine for 2 days to remove the old, bend and weld up the new and install everything, including the headers, 3" all the way
many changes in the making
my favorite part about doing bodywork,.......... bondo bugers
OBX(pacesetter style) headers are easy as hell compared to rk 4-2-1 style where the runners go up and then down. The first time I did my pacesetter it took me about 2 hrs taking my time, though I had a shop install my downpipe and weld in my cat. Since then I did an rk header and different cat, which I removed and now I have a stans 4-2-1 header with no cat and a 30" glasspack. Id say out of the 3 headers, the pacesetter was the easiest.
If you plan to do an n/a build or sc, go full 2.5".
