EXHAUST aluminum or steel

[beppomarx]

ok so i want to get my exhaust bent and put on. so i bring my car to she shop and they say that they will not do a stainless steel exhaust because it will rust and need to be replaced in a year or 2 of NY winters. hes only got this galvanized aluminum which looks good, its insanely thick like 3/32 probably and he says its all he uses on all cars becaus eits just as good but thicker and will last forever. he says that there is no performance difference between this heavy-duty aluminum and steel. the mandrel bender is amazing so the bends will be smooth. does anyone recommend a steel that will NOT rust in the salty winters like a grade? my muffler is 409 steel can i get that for the piping as well?

my question is that do you think galvanized will be as good of performance (sound and weight aside)??? also he sayd it will take 2 DAYS to get it done which i cant believe and it will be $250. thats with me supplying the headers; gasket; flex pipe; car; and muffler. all hes gotta do is bend pipe i dont think thats worth $250? :dead::dead:

ALL opinions from ppl with custom exhaust or anyone else are welcome thanks

[AUTOBOT]

Stainless steal will not rust.:hmmm: That is why most exhausts are made of it.

The best material is Titanium, light weight, strong, will not rust, holds up to insane amounts of heat and will basically last for ever x2. But be prepaired to pay out the nose for it.

[skierd]

That guy is a fucking MORON. Aluminum MELTS at 1220°F, and there are times that the exhuast coming out of your motor is hotter than that. If not that high, its near it which is enough to turn th aluminum soft and putty like. DO NOT USE ALUMINUM FOR AUTOMOTIVE EXHUASTS.

[AccentMangaGL]

Ya what they said...:hmmm:

Don't use aluminum even galvanized aluminum, the reason its that thick is because he knows its going to partially melt.

They always beat me to the good posts :disappointed:

[beppomarx]

thats what i thought as well but he showed me a piece of piping that he supposedly had laying out in the snowbank next to the road this winter and it was not rusted at all. but i still want stainless because with how insanely thick that aluminum was i bet even steel would be lighter.

he claimed the aluminum had just as good performance as he pointed out a few older muscle cars that he had in the shop and he says 'performance: i use it on that car and that one and all my cars does that prove it' and im thinking 'no it doesnt because the car had balls to begin with being a big built V-8 duuh' :hmmm:

then he went on to say that once the metal gets to a certain temperature it starts to create backpressure which was good because all engines need backpressure to run! i did not feel like arguing with him in the middle of his own shop so changed the topic....

thing is this guy has owned this shop for about 25 years now; longer than ive been alive and works about 10-12 hrs a day. i figured he wouldknow his stuff but i really think he doesnt have all teh facts straight.

also he said i would need to drop the car off on friday evening for it to be done on sunday because it would take 2 days to put on the headers and all of teh exhaust and like i said wants $250 probably $200 even if i buy the tubing myself. i think im going to find a new shop; shouldnt it be cheaper than that or am i wrong? uzzled:


edit

anyone know where i can order SS tubing off the net? the stuff that summitracing has is aluminized steel i think but i want 304 or 321 grade steel if anyone knows a good place to get it. thanks.

[Edited by beppomarx on May 19, 2003 5:59 AM]

[loneshark]

you can get pieces from www.summitracing.com, and that guy is a flaming retard, he probably forgot to mention how many times hes had to replace broken and cracked exhaust peices, aluminum????? omg, its all about steel, and for steel, materials would only cost like 50 bux, and what 2 hours labor, 150 is even much.

[beppomarx]

hmm well ive found 304 steel so far for $9/foot plus shipping. i have a guy caling me back locally later today to see if i can get pricing but the other price ive heard around here was $17/foot. this guy says that he willm atlk to his supplier when he makes his next order on thurs morning and inquire about getting soem actual 304 stainless just for me. he quoted about $60 for each 10 foot piece and i would need 2 because it would be more than 10 feet. but im gonan measure out exactly how much i will need tomorrow exactly if i have to order by the foot specifically. anyway, then i got into arguing with him because i wanted either 16 guage (.065") or 18 guage (.049). he said that it wouldnt last one winter being that thin. he suggested either 8 or 10 guage which is what he is using for his aluminum piping. like i said this shit is like 3/32 to 1/8 thick and i felt about a 2.5 foot piece of it and i swear it was like 6-8 pounds.

see it sucks because here in fUlToN NOBODY IS COMPITANT. i called cole muffler, monroe, and NAPA and neither of them can a.) order me 304 stainless tubing b.) neither cole or monroe will bend a custom exhaust for a car as small as mine because 'theres not enough space to work with.' so basically they suck too much to duplicate a stock setup and are only talented enough to put straight pipes on a pickup truck or in older cars where they have room for error. i have not yet met a compitent auto shop in my area which is a big reason why i do my work all myself. shit i even paid $65 for an alignment just for my camber bolts on both right and left front to come loose on me; one was loose when they set teh toe so th toe was way out and now i just gave up and am measuring camber with a carpenters 'L' square on the rim surface and measuring 3" from teh ground at teh wheel and 3 1/4" at 16 inches from the wheel. toe ive set by straightening out my steering wheel and looking down the front tire to see if its pointing acuratly at the rear tire. i dont know why there is no decent service in my area its VERY frustrating to say the least.

oh and by the way i already asked about the sumitracing stainless tubing; it says that it is aluminized on teh welds and that makes me think it is just a steel pipe and not STAINLESS steel but i asked if anyone knew for sure. i live in NY where its winter for 8 months and this needs to LAST!!!

again; any suppliers of SS tuibing would be great!!!

[beppomarx]

well thank god i found a new dude that will do the entire install PLUS supply 18 guage 304 stainless for $250 if it takes 4 hours; and less if it takes 3 hours. i kinda wanted 16 guage but he says his machine wont bend it well so were sticking with .049 tubing.

$250 is a better price because he is supplying the piping and hangars and such and he figured about $90 in parts plus 3-4 hours labor i think that sounds fair enough. well its teh best deal i can find so far but it wont even be on this weekend, it wil be one day next week :dead:

i hate waiting...

[skierd]

At least you found a semi-qualified shop.8D

[beppomarx]

yeah its actually a guy that got referred to me from a true race-shop that builds supermodifieds for oswego speedway. all this guy does is build custom headers and exhausts out of his garage and i was so relieved to talk to someone that knew what the hell they were talking about!! i cant wait to call dutch (what kind of name is dutch anyway lol) back thursday and be like 'hey guess what. youre an idiot!!!!'

http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/fool.htm

muahahahaha!!! :bandit: