home-made turbo setup.
the turbo has the downpipe flange on there, with a piece of the downpipe still on it. (it looksl ike it has been cut off)
so i went to orchards supply hardware (OSH) and got a 90 degree 2.5" galvanized steel pipe. and a straight 2.5" 8 inch long pipe. so they can screw together.
since i have limited space from the engine bay (exhaust side of turbo facing passenger side of engine bay) i got that because it saves alot of space.
im thinking about putting the manifold and turbo on, then set the pipes where they need to be, and im thinking about setting a 3 bolt flange welded onto the bottom of the pipe. (like a stock header, how one piece on top, then a bottom piece bolts onto it from the bottom with 3 bolts)
then that would make it easy to install and remove. then the lower piece of the downpipe would have a 3" flex pipe in it. and would be able to bolt directly onto the rest of my exhaust.
how does that sound?
or should i install a little gapper (spacer that we stock have between the cat and lower piece of the header) so i can gap it on track days?
ideas? im going to pull everything off right now so i can get things together. i’ll come back and check when im done.
forgot:
after i mark the pipes for test-fitting, i’m going to take that to a shop to get welded together, then get home, bolt it back on, then drive it there open downpipe, so they can weld the rest of the exhaust back on.
Why dont you just drive it there open downpipe anyways and test fit and weld it there?? Will save you a trip! Plus things always work out better when you have a professional ‘testfitting’ things for you
Thats what I had to do with my setup. It was a 20 minute drive too… I was paranoid about being pulled over by the cops… I made this crappy little downpipe thing that just pointed straight at the ground… I drove there so slowly… And everytime I approached an intersection I just let it drop back to idle and coasted… It just screamed otherwise… But it went hell quick!!
hahaha, that sounds pretty scary. how did u rig a downpipe to stay on it? my friend convinced me to just go buy the piping, or just take my car to the shop without a downpipe on, and have it fabb’ed there… so ima look around, get everything else done, then go to a shop.
has anyone had trouble getting shops to make it? would big companies do it? i.e. midas? or do i have to find small shops that do this type of stuff…
quoted me 90 bucks. he said he’d have to order two 90 degree pipes. when i asked how much labor would be though, he said $75 for labor alone. so im out to find u bends… i might get one from jcwhitney, then go from there…
Yeah it was a bit scary… But it was well worth it!!
I acctually had to get an exhaust housing flange laser cut from some 10mm steel plate. I had 3 of these made, one for the crappy ‘get me to the exhaust shop’ downpipe, one for the actual complete product and one for a spare. (I’ve got a Garret T28 from a Nissan 200SX)
What I did at the suggestion of a friend was buy a complete 2.25 inch tail pipe section from a Ford Falcon (well it’s an aussie only car, but I’m sure there would be something suitable over your way) basically this features 7 mandrel bends with different angles which you can just cut and weld as you please. Plus it only cost me AU$70, which is about $50US… So basically I just cut a small section off and did a crappy home weld onto the plate. I had a lot of problems because I have my exhaust housing on the alternator side of the motor (your driver’s side, but it’s our ‘passenger’ side in australia coz we right hand drive!) But after some creative work with the hammer I had it in. This was just the shitty downpipe to get the car running. Plus I now have a fair few mandrel bends to practise welding on, or to use on other projects down the track…
When I got to the shop, the guy made my downpipe section using press bends (not as good as mandrel, but they work pretty well still and are cheaper) and one small section from a doughnut pipe, which is basically just a spun bit of steel pipe which is 2.25inch diameter the whole way round. So you can cut out sections for tight bends. He then cut the ball flange off the end of the factory downpipe section (that bolts to the cat) and welded that to the downpipe. The ball flange is designed so that it can allow a bit of movement in the pipe sections as they heat up. All up it cost me AU$300, which would be about $220US.
Basically just go into a few exhaust shops in your area and have a chat to them and you should be able to tell whether they possess the skills to do the job… Also try and find one thats close so you dont have to drive too far open downpipe!!
wow… 220 us for the downpipe, then i guess my 90 i got quoted was a pretty good price.
the guy was going to purchase two 90 degree 2.5inch exhaust pipes, then he was going to make it from there, my friend who lives in the area has had work done there before, and recommended it. this is the closest shop to me, so that’s why im trying to get to this one.
but as things are right now, i got my hands on a welder, so im going to go downstairs in a little bit, and start welding my el cheapo & el ghetto downpipe together. i also need to drive down to another exhaust shop to get a o2 bung though… i think my car will be running open downpipe until i can either find some piping that i can use to weld on to attach it, or until i can find a way to re-use some stock honda downpipes…
Plus they are local. They are nice because the are easy to take out. Unlike a weld on you need to work it out because you got this long piping welded together. All you need is a 90 and aim it down. Than get the 45 and aim it to the rear. But they only come in 3in which is better :burnout:
Acctually come to think of it, the AU$300 was for the aforementioned tailpipe section, the laser cut plate and the actual fabrication of the finished downpipe. So when you take out the 70 for the tailpipe and 40 for the laser cut plate it was only AU$190 which is a little steep but not too bad…
Just take it to the shop you mentioned, if your friend has had work done there before and recommends it then you cant go wrong. Just make sure you are very specific as to what you want done. As for the O2 sensor bung, they should have hundreds of them lying around at the exhaust shop. I acctually had one that i’d gotten off my engineer cousin, but when I got to the shop the guy said they are only like 5 bucks. They just drill a hole and weld it in. Mine is on the bend about 4 inches from the turbo. (OBD0 1-Wire, so it is NOT a heated sensor) meaning you want to keep it fairly close to the original location, although I know of people who have put them down near where the downpipe bolts up to the cat with no probs.
