Custom Exhaust...

What sets your Spider apart from the rest?
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joshuagore

Custom Exhaust...

Post by joshuagore »

I decided I didn't want to spend the $600+ on the offerings of others. Those offerings being the Volumex ebay kit, or the Allison stuff. Those are much prettier than mine, and are likely much better, but I am stubborn, cheap, and dead set on learning how to do things myself.

A few months back I picked up a gas MIG from HF a big tank of co2/argon, and did my friends exhaust on his turbo 318is. Things went well, but we never could get it to work all day on one setting. We were always walking around the power range, and tinkering with the speed. This is likely due to temperature changes in the metal, and alloy differences between our mandrel bends, and straight tube. These are the same problems I had, and my welds will most likely require some grinding before I paint her black, but such is life. The total cost will be somewhere around $120, not including the headers, and downpipe from IAS.

I decided to reuse the stock rear mounts, and mount my Dynomax bullet up front near the stock spring mount. I will be using a stock spring mount up front, and out back I have welded on rubber bolt mounted hangers which fit perfectly, and should keep the resonation out of the chassis.

Resonation there will be because at first I am trying the exhaust with just the Dynomax Bullet. there are provisions for mounting a baffled muffler out back before my tip, and that will likely have to be done to make the car bearable for cruises to the dog park with the wife, and keeping up with neighborly relations in our town home complex.

Here are some pictures of the current progress. Making the bend over the axle was somewhat difficult, but not impossible. There were a few locations where I ended up cutting some slight angles on my mandrels to make it line up where I wanted it. This would have been much easier with 2" tube, but in the event that the car sees positive intake manifold pressure in the future, I want to be prepared.


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mbouse

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by mbouse »

always cool when you have a friend willing to be the first guinea pig.

looks good from here. besides, once it is on the car, the only one that knows about the quality of the welds is the welder :wink:
joshuagore

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by joshuagore »

mbouse wrote:always cool when you have a friend willing to be the first guinea pig.

looks good from here. besides, once it is on the car, the only one that knows about the quality of the welds is the welder :wink:
:mrgreen:
Thanks for the compliments.
Yes you are right, and I will introduce the car to people and mention every bad detail of my paint job, interior work, and now I can add, the exhaust is so so, I did it myself, im not the best welder etc.. etc..
The curse of the DIY guy. Loving to trash our cars in front of people so they can build us back up :) They will say 'I couldn't do half this good'. If only they knew I was going for twice as good as what there seeing... :)

Josh

p.s. The bad welds are out of focus. Nothing is leaky.
Last edited by joshuagore on Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
pope

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by pope »

Went someone looks at your car, make them put on out-of-focus glass and everything will be OK :shock:
mbouse

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by mbouse »

my car is a great five footer.


looks great from five or more feet away.
joshuagore

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by joshuagore »

mbouse wrote:my car is a great five footer.
looks great from five or more feet away.
Me too :)
bonezrx8

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by bonezrx8 »

The exhaust looks good hope it sounds good too....I'm planing om making my own some time in the future too. and my car only looks good through a camera :oops:

Bone
joshuagore

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by joshuagore »

bonezrx8 wrote:The exhaust looks good hope it sounds good too....I'm planing om making my own some time in the future too. and my car only looks good through a camera :oops:

Bone
It seems most Fiat owners are realistic about there cars value and subsequently do not do the all out resto like some of the other Italian makes.

I am ok with this, I know 100k+ of these cars existed at one point, and my interest is in driving :)

Josh
joshuagore

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by joshuagore »

Tonight I got it bolted together. I forgot to put the o2 sensor in at first so the test video I have is abit loud because of that. Later I plugged it, and it sounded great. The motor was also sitting for about 2 months, so excuse the rich flame shooting ;)

Josh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sn-MuUj ... r_embedded
racydave

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by racydave »

Josh, I applaud your efforts and appreciate your attitude! MIG welding is tricky sometimes, and puts you on a constant learning curve. I always seem to have one spark that burns thru my shoe to the top of my foot! I always end up grinding my welds. I will probably end up making a header for my 61. How did you bend the tube? I have acess to a hearth that Farriers use that will probably work. I think it looks great! Congrats and a high five! PS, what did you plug the O2 sensor hole with, I have a old sensor in mine that looks awfull, and do not need since its carbd.
joshuagore

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by joshuagore »

racydave wrote:Josh, I applaud your efforts and appreciate your attitude! MIG welding is tricky sometimes, and puts you on a constant learning curve. I always seem to have one spark that burns thru my shoe to the top of my foot! I always end up grinding my welds. I will probably end up making a header for my 61. How did you bend the tube? I have acess to a hearth that Farriers use that will probably work. I think it looks great! Congrats and a high five! PS, what did you plug the O2 sensor hole with, I have a old sensor in mine that looks awfull, and do not need since its carbd.

I had 2 threads left from removing my old o2 from my old 4-2 header. The reason it only had 2 threads left is likely because it seized, although it did have anti seize on it :?:

I am ordering a 18X1.5 bolt to plug the o2 hole until I decide what to do regarding the the o2 sensor. Why would I do that on a FI car, because in the event I decide to supercharge I will want a wideband o2, so I won't want to buy the same thing twice.

I am ordering a grinding wheel for my angle grinder to smooth up the welds. Any suggestions? I am ordering from mcmaster.

Josh
pope

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by pope »

I use 2" ROLOC 60 or 80 grit on my angle grinder and they work great. Get the green colored ones as they are much tuffer and can take a lot more heat. The 2" allows you to get in some tight spaces as well as normal grinding. Get 50 or 100 of them.
racydave

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by racydave »

I bought a electric 4 inch De Walt that I clean alot of my welds with, And one wheel lasts forever. Otherwise a cutting wheel on the die-grinder or abrasive pads for the finer stuff.
User avatar
manoa matt
Posts: 3442
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:28 pm
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider 1800
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by manoa matt »

I use a combination of grinding wheels and sanding flap discs. I think the flap discs have more controll on how much you take off and the final finish. Sometimes the grinding wheels take off too much and leave deep grooves.
joshuagore

Re: Custom Exhaust...

Post by joshuagore »

Here are some pictures after mocking things up.

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