Exhaust stupidity!

[beebster]

Well, i idid it again. I always say "you get what you pay for" well, i tried to do my own exhaust.
I started out by "studying" the underside of my 71 longhorn, then went on Napa auto parts website to find just the right bends. So after a week of busted knuckles and about 50 dollars spent, i just felt my homemade exhaust didn't "sit" right.
so i went down to the muffler shop (2 blocks away) and said "here's what i got, what can you do?" i figure he'd just "tack weld" everthing solid and i'd be good to go.
Well he looks at me like i'm some alien and says "that'll have to be redone, that's all wrong" . Now i've known this guy since the 70s and know he's no bs'er. After giving it a "hard" look i had to agree with him.
I should have known better, and i always tell my son and his friends the same. but trying to save a few bucks is sometimes "stupid" .
Final bill for the whole job ( 2 1/2" dual exhaust with brand new cherry bomb turbo mufflers exit straight out the back) a whopping $150 bucks which is probably what i spent in wasted time.(i'm positive he felt sorry for my dumb a##)
damm, somtimes i feel too stupid to live. LOL
P.S. the cherry bomb mufflers were mine.

beeb

[big mike71]

I don't think that trying, but failing is stupid. I think that not trying is. Hey you gave it a shot and it didn't work there's no shame in that.

[grayharville]

so, what was wrong with it? exhaust work is about the only thing i dont like to do myself, ive been taking mine to a real good little shop for a few years now, never had any problems, and its always been great work, plus the peace of mind i know its done right, not just rigged up parts store pipes clamped together ya know.

[beebster]

thanks guys, yeah i do tons of stuff myself. But this is one tha i knew i could do.
gray, you hit it on the head with "rigged up pipes and store clamps". that exactly what it came out to.
You talk about a "real good little muffler shop" this one is it!
It's got that "old time" garage feel to it. Just a mr coffee maker in the corner, and a couple of car magazines with pics of his old drag racing memories on the walls.
I figured 50 bucks beats 400 bucks. Had i known it woud be under 200 i wouldn't have wasted my time doing dumb ****.
plus now i've got peace of mind.
dont get me wrong, i'll still tell everyone i did it myself. i'll say "i do this stuff all the time" LOL

[grayharville]

hah, yeah ive tried doing exhaust work a few times, but everytime i catch my shirt or hair on fire i say screw this and take it to the muffler shop. Its alot nicer to watch the muffler guy do the work!

[beebster]

ya gotta admit, if a guy is doing it 8 hrs a day 5 days a week he's gonna be fast and good!

fast,quality labor and getting the pipe at low cost is gonna win everytime.

[crapy67]

Last summer me and buddy put exhaust on my 71 long bed, I bought a Sumitt dual exhaust kit and went to work, It took us about 7 hours and a case of beer . I went to a local exhaust shop and was blown away at the $ 700 dollar price he gave me because it was a "custom job", I will never pay anyone ever again to do exhaust.

[beebster]

those custom exhaust kits from LMC and summit are a different story,everything is pre-fit and come in around 250 bucks. I looked into it but decided to do it myself.
THIS exhaust i got from the muffler shop is around that price(i bought the mufflers seperate). so i'm coming in around 220 bucks.
I would never pay 700 bucks for an exhaust though.

[71 super]

If you will go to AUTOANYTHING, you can get the heartthrob kit lmc sells for $230 or so for around $185 regular (no mufflers) or with a discount they offer from time to time for less than $165 to your door (just bought my second set from them) . This is all mandel bent parts with clamps, hangers and bolts/flanges to install. They offer free shipping and ship very fast! As I said my second set and it is a well put together kit
and it goes together easily!

[vectorit]

Originally Posted by big mike71

i don't think that trying, but failing is stupid. I think that not trying is. Hey you gave it a shot and it didn't work there's no shame in that.

x2

[beebster]

next time i'll do MORE research guys.that "autoanything" kit looks do-able (and affordable)
thanks a bunch for the replies. 71 and vectorit!

[grayharville]

when i got my exhaust done on the 70, it was 115 dollars, including the 3.5x18 inch echo tips, those were 40 by themselves; and of course i dont have mufflers so that made it cheaper too!

[beebster]

$115 was a " chunk" of dough back in '70, I was 5 LOL

[Hubscrub]

i know how ya feel, a couple years ago i tryed cutting the H-pipe out of my 85 4x4 and patched it up, i showed my wife and she said this thing sounds like crap so i got i fixed right

[grayharville]

Originally Posted by beebster

$115 was a " chunk" of dough back in '70, I was 5 LOL

bahaha I was NEGATIVE 23!

[beebster]

Originally Posted by grayharville

bahaha I was NEGATIVE 23!

funny story about age.
A guy i know has literally 30 0ld chevy's at his "shop" and he plans on restoring each and evry one!
he's 72 and i say more power to ya.
I'll offer him cash for one and he'll say "that one is next on my list to restore"
i think they are like his babies.

[grayharville]

i know quite a few people like that. I have enough projects to last me my lifetime. I finally finished the ramp on a trailer ive been building today, i sanded a little more bondo on my 70, i found a cab for my stepside, and i just looked at the buick, thought about firing it up, and realized i didnt care enough to worry bout it. and thats only half the projects! lol

['72customdeluxe]

Originally Posted by beebster

those custom exhaust kits from LMC and summit are a different story,everything is pre-fit and come in around 250 bucks. I looked into it but decided to do it myself.
THIS exhaust i got from the muffler shop is around that price(i bought the mufflers seperate). so i'm coming in around 220 bucks.
I would never pay 700 bucks for an exhaust though.

eh, sometimes the pre fab stuff isnt the greatest either. i've read some horror stories about fit on here. A truck magazine (forgot which) did an article on the magnaflow kit (installed by magnaflow) and it hung down a good bit. And have experienced the fun of a pre-fab dodge dynomax exhaust

[pmpski_1]

I did two of the pre-fab kits from Hooker (Summit). The first one, on a 76 K5, went pretty well. Well enough that I tried another on my 71 C20. The second one fit all wrong. A guy at a shop down the street fixed it up for me and added a bung for an A/F sensor for < 200 bucks. I won't mess with exhaust anymore, but unfortunately the shop looks like it went out of business.

[Jacfourteen]

I tried exhaust before and it didn't turn out well. I found a local guy that has a family run business and he (or his son) do great work for reasonable prices. One car that I had kept snapping hangers because the hanger was mounted to sheet metal and when the engine twisted front to back (front wheel drive f**d) it would flex the metal until it would break. I kept taking it back and he would beef it up some more, but it kept breaking. I knew it wasn't his fault and I offered to pay his time, but he refused it, by the time all was said and done I had brought it back 3 times and he never took another penny from me and he made it right. So ever since then I take all my stuff to him, and I recommend him to everyone. I have had him put on 11 mufflers for me in the last 5 years, including the set on my 68.

[mclairmo]

I tried welding up a universal kit from Jegs or Summit and it hung down way too low. Had to have a muffler guy redo it from scratch. Leave exhaust work to the pros.

[beebster]

that is kinda how i feel right now. ha ha.

[bfay17]

I used to always just wanna let somebody else deal with it until i figured out one of my close friends dad owns a exhaust shop Now i weld for them and all my exhaust gets done right and i do the work myself I couldn't tell you how many exhaust jobs we have done but were always learning from his old man. O yea his dad has a 68 chevelle with a 396 and his uncle has a 64 nova and a 69 camaro along with a 60s truck and burb