First chance to legitimately use my new gas mig welder!!! So far, about $24 in parts. 4 2-1/2" chunks from Autozone with flares at one end. Welded small end to small end. 2-1/2" hole cut in the middle for the H. i got the 18" 2-1/2" pipe for free. I am making it so it slips on front and back for easy disassemble later on. So I can pull off one quarter of the exhaust at a time, if I need to. All I have left is to hang it all back up with the slip-on pieces on, take a final measurement of the H-portion, cut it and tack it up. Then pull it off for final weld. I hope that drone goes away after this!!!
Looking good man! I'm also thinking of making my own when the time comes. I'm also planning to replace the collectors on the 6901s, they're a pretty crude design. But for the price I shouldn't be expecting more anyways.
i need to do a little more work on the cuts, to clean them up. Also, my welder was acting weird, laying down an ugly weld on the first piece. Found out that over the past 3 moves, the wire tension had loosened up to nil, and wasn't feeding for crap. Turned up the power and tightened down the wire feed, and the second one laid a nice even weld. So the final weld should look nicer than the first one...
Yeah been thinking of the same way, much easier to see it set up and ready to weld up how did you cut your holes? Hole saw?
Harbor Freight hole saw set using the 2-1/2" saw. Didn't quite go through the first entire pipe before wearing out. So sent the wife out for a bi-metallic from Lowe's and it went through the second one like butter. The cuts on the cross-pipe were done by sticking into the holes, marking with black marker, and cutting by hand with rotary cut-off tool, then grinder to smooth it out. I would have just bought an H-Pipe but none of my pipes are perfectly horizontal, so the entire exhaust would have had to have been re-done. If this project doesn't come together as planned, I will most likely redo the entire system and go with a siamesed glasspack setup. Have I mentioned that the drone is driving me nuts?
That is how I "fishmouth" all of my rollcages that I put in stock cars over the years. Some holesaws won't go completely through the tubing but if the 1/4 inch arbor bit went all the way through, I would just use the hole saw from both directions and that would work. Makes for a nice radiused tight fit
Next is an X pipe lol If you have an angle grinder, try sanding (80 grit) the areas where you will be welding. Zink/galvenize can cause trouble when welding. I use hole saws all the time and a little oil helps them to last longer.
Once I got the heat up and running right, it welded up just fine. After I ground the welds down, I scoped them out to make sure there were no holes or cracks at the joints, then threw them around the garage to make sure they didn't fall apart. The first weld, before I got the heat and feed correct, snapped right in two (just 3 tacks), so I knew I had to do something to get a deeper weld.
Uhhh, sorry...Went wakeboarding today. Weather was AWESOME, other than a bit of wind chop on the lake. I should be finishing it up tomorrow. The wife will be working on her college work, so i need to stay out of the way, and out in the garage.
This is odd...I know that my headers end in different places, and at different angles, so the muffler guy had to make odd bends and twists in the pipes to get them sorta parallel to the driveshaft. But when I took this off to finish weld it up and took a picture from the top, it was AMAZING how asymmetrical that dual exhaust system really is! Before pic... When installed, this H-pipe is perpendicular to the centerline of the car, but when you take it off, it is hard to imagine that this is true. Anyway, it slips on with a bit of pressure, needs to be tapped on and off with a hammer to the h-pipe (gently, not enough to ding the pipe. Then the tail-pipes slide in fairly easy, and bolt up right where they belong. I will try to take a shot when assembled. Then strip out of my sweaty wet clothes and into some dry ones and take for a test drive
pics of the H-pipe installed, then with the rest of the exhaust installed. moral of this story is "Don't expect to buy an H-Pipe or X-Pipe and just stab it into your existing dual exhaust setup without adding a LOT of extra fabrication, or rebuilding a good portion of your setup." Will test drive after I find a plug to fill my O2 sensor bung hole. Not using the A/F gauge, so don't need the sensor in there anymore.
Well... test drove it. Drone is still there, but moved from 50-60 mph down to the 40-50 mph range. Just as loud as ever, but it cruises highway speed quietly now, so I guess that is an improvement. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?p=773924#post773924
I gotta say that at least you been diligent trying to find that drone.. I have always used glass packs in the past. I have had my mufflers for sometime now, but never really got to enjoy them.. Maybe your exploration will help me later when I get mine going. Hopefully I don't experience a drone that I can't find. Other than the drone, do you like the sound?
I LOVE the sound of the Super44s. They have a nice idle, and the H-pipe got rid of the typical Flowmaster "ping". When I gun it, it is very aggressive, and up above 5k rpms, the only way I can describe is it a large cat-like scream, not lion roar, but panther sized cat howl. The wife enjoyed her first ride in it today through a parking lot. Set off at least 8 car's alarms at idle! She was in a pissy mood, but that cheered her up! The only complaint about the flowmasters is this drone, which has haunted me for years as I tried to figure out what was causing that "out of balance cyclical moan". So everything that could cause that sort of sound has been replaced, and most likely could have used being replaced, considering how old it all is. My next step is to extend the pipes outside the car instead of dumping at the axle, and see what that does to the noise. link to the exhaust, but shifting at around 4500 http://scooper77515.fordmaverick.net/jpgs/super44installed.mp3 Dyno run was up to 6000 rpms but indoors, sounds a bit hollow, but you can really hear the cat-roar when he gets it up there...http://www.youtube.com/user/TheScooper77515#p/u/8/7DM5dvxl1ZQ
