How long does a custom manifold back dual exhaust system take to bend & install?

[Billett]

I made sure to ask my shop ahead of time. He told me he couldn't get them any cheaper than I could so he'd have to charge me more for them, which I knew. But, he also told me to just order them myself anyway. Told me it saved him some time. I'll be going back there for sure.

[jrblanke]

I paid 350 for my mufflers (borla stainless), 100 for 2 magniflow cats from advanced auto, and then 300 in labor + Pipes from manifolds back.

$750 for the complete manifold back system with the above parts and labor.

[carboncrew]

I had a really good experience here in Phoenix. $600 and that included flowmasters, cats, tips. Exhuast was 2.5 and you could hang from it when he was done. He's gotten probably 5 other jobs from people just seeing mine finished.

[WuchaGot]

Originally Posted by Billett

I paid $400 for my dual setup with an x-pipe and all I supplied was the mufflers. That sounds absolutely insane!

That sounds on par. $250 for the install and $150 ($5-8 dollars per foot) for tubing. I went to a few exhaust shops today after class and I got some written/printed estimates, one for 2.5 hours of labor, another for 4 hours of labor, and a verbal estimate of 3 hours of labor. I pretended like I needed the work done and tried to get written/printed estimates so I could show them to the shop I had my work done at. The guy who quoted 4 hours was only that high because he included fabricating the X-Pipe (he didn't know I bought the kit).

Originally Posted by nobull2

i don't see a problem with 6 hours if it would have been 45 an hour thats 270 but you said they hit you for 500 85 an hour is pretty dang high.

No, it was almost $500, $487 to be exact. I didn't understand everything about the bill and when I went to talk to them about it they pointed out that I was charged 6.8 hours. But I think 6 hours is INSANE regardless of the price per hour.

Originally Posted by nobull2

if this was stainless and tig welded that does not sound to high to me, the muffler guy that did mine was just regular muffler pipe for 210 out the door.

I supplied the pipe, stainless or regular pipe doesn't matter because the $487 is just labor. And two of the estimates I got today was for stainless and both the shops estimated the same labor time (2.5 hours and 3 hours)

Originally Posted by krazy_texan

around here a lot of shops don't like you to bring them materials but rather use there own and actually charge a fee if you bring in your own stuff

I doubt any of them like it but that's just tough luck. All the estimates I got today I asked them to price the same MagnaFlow muffler. The first shop quoted me $125 per muffler and the second shop quoted me $95 per muffler. You do a search for that muffler on summet racing, eBay or Google and the average price is $77 per muffler. I got mine off Amazon.com for $49 each, I paid less for BOTH my mufflers on Amazon than it would have cost me to buy ONE from a shop. None of the shops I talked to today seemed to have a problem with me bring my own materials but I still got quotes with and without materials.

[WuchaGot]

Originally Posted by jrblanke

I paid 350 for my mufflers (borla stainless), 100 for 2 magniflow cats from advanced auto, and then 300 in labor + Pipes from manifolds back.

$750 for the complete manifold back system with the above parts and labor.

I went back today and raised a little bit of hell. The owner cut me a check for $120 refund. I am down to a total parts and labor cost of $667.00.

[WuchaGot]

Originally Posted by carboncrew

I had a really good experience here in Phoenix. $600 and that included flowmasters, cats, tips. Exhuast was 2.5 and you could hang from it when he was done. He's gotten probably 5 other jobs from people just seeing mine finished.

Yea, that's what its supposed to be like. I went and talked at them a bit today and the owners excuse was that they are not an exhaust shop and that they can not do exhaust as fast as exhaust shops. I asked why they advertised exhaust services and why they wouldn't disclose that its going to cost twice as much to use them.

Anyways, I got a $120 refund and the labor cost is still a little high but with all the saving on the materials it panned out. What sucks the most is that I could have had a high quality low cost system if I had just driven the truck to Lewiston and had a muffler shop hang everything.

Live and learn

[LEEVON]

Originally Posted by WuchaGot

I went back today and raised a little bit of hell. The owner cut me a check for $120 refund. I am down to a total parts and labor cost of $667.00.

Well props to them for dealing with you.

[Billett]

Yeah the place I took mine to is specifically a muffler shop. I wouldn't have exhaust done anywhere else. Even if they can do it they won't really want to so the work won't be as good. My pipe was 2.5" stainless btw and he made his own x-pipe. Bent it up and around the diff and trailing arms, put in a few sections with band clamps so I could remove it easier later, AND got the whole thing done in less than a week. I was very impressed.

[Tx Firefighter]

I've been thinking about this thread for a couple of days now. I hope my response doesn't cause too much offense.

-I hope when you went to other shops after the fact to price compare that you didn't lend the impression that they were possibly going to get to do some work for you. It would be dirty to waste other shop owner's time just to get their price when you had no intention of them doing the work. I'd hope you told them up front that you had already had the work done elsewhere and were simply needing to gauge prices after the fact.

-We can all sit here all day and night telling you what prices we pay for exhaust work around the country, but there is no way to compare apples to apples. I've used the same exhaust shop for over 20 years exclusively, and his prices are significantly higher than other places around (about double). But, his quality is beyond comparison. For me, quality is king and price figures in further down the list of priorities. I want my stuff to look like art when completed. I'm OCD to the extreme.

-You admit that the fellows did good work on your truck. Good work costs money. Who is to say that the other shops' work would have been as good ? You can take two exact same jobs to two different shops and get radically different final results and prices. Quality is what makes the difference.

[survivingalone]

do you have any pictures of the work that was done? how does it sound with that setup? thanks.....