I have a Borla Turbo Muffler in 2 1/4" size currently on order from the local shop I order through.

I called a local exhaust shop that came heavily recommended by lots of people. Keep in mind the prices are in Canadian Dollars.

The muffler is going to cost me $171 CDN.

The exhaust shop quoted me about $150-175 CDN to do all the work, bending, installation, with my muffler, with 2 1/4" alumnized steel pipe (So Parts IE pipe & hangers, and labour). So I'm looking at about $350-ish total for the entire job.

I just went outside and measured, and I figure that conservatively I would need no more than say 8' of 2 1/4" pipe total, to do an exhaust on my truck, and I've incorporated the fact that there will be bends and such to that length, from the cat-back, including the approximate length of the muffler.

My question is do you think it would be worth it to go to stainless tubing?

I found a few sites on the net and they sell stainless 304 aircraft quality tubing for about $10 per foot US. Borla sells 5' sections of this tubing on their website (or their retail price) for about $65 for 5 feet, so it's somewhat similar, although slightly more expensive if you buy their 5' sections.

I would obviously call the shop and make sure they have the equipment neccessary to deal with S/S tubing (I would imagine that wouldnt' be an issue). But how much would you think the Alumnized steel is in comparison?

 

Make sure you speak to the exhaust shop, see if they have the equipment to weld s/s.

 

Well, if they're gonna weld on a stainless muffler, they damn well better have the right welder/wire (most places use MIG nowadays, so it's just a matter of the right wire...)

Aluminized will rust. Especially at the welds. 4xx series "stainless" will rust (but it passivates, so the rust doesn't eat through). 3xx stainless will not rust. Ever (well, OK, not ever, but not in your lifetime). I would say it's money well spent.

I don't think you need aircraft quality. Seamed tubing will be fine. Since it's not going to rust, you can go with a pretty thin wall and save quite a bit of weight. I have a Borla stainless cat-back on my Impala, and I swear it weighs half as much (and flows 100x as much) as the factory exhaust because of not having a corrosion allowance...

 

and for the record, stainless will weld just fine with mild steel wire. the welds will rust and therefore it won't look the greatest after a while, but it won't hurt anything.

 

Yup, ss will weld find with mild steel wire. They just have to be more careful but keep in mind muffler shops weld stainless steel tips on vehicles everyday so they know what they are doing. Also as far as the welds rusting. Get a can of xo-rust or some other rust preventative spray paint and spray it over the welds. This will keep the welds from rusting as quickly.

 

Hey guys, thanks for the input. Here is some additional information: http://www.stainlessexhaustsource.co...tions-p-3.html

After reading your guys posts and reading that I think I may settle for 409 S/S. The only issue though as noted in that FAQ I just posted the link to is it might be tough for the exhaust shop to bend S/S compared to Aluminized steel, so I might need to consider if it's worth it to pay to have them weld mandrel bends on (does anyone know of an exhaust shop in Vancouver or anywhere that actually does their own Mandrel bending? I think it's very rare?). I just went outside and looked at the stock exhaust again and the part that goes from the muffler and out past the shocks & spare tire, and through the leaf springs, looks pretty "hairy" and I think would be better to bend than do mandrel bend.

If you note the link also posts recommended rod types for welding S/S to each other, and to other types of S/S, etc.


Thoughts?

 

mandrel bending is out of the picture for most exhaust shops, as a mandrel bender is a VERY expensive and complicated machine. maybe some of the super high performance shops have one.

 

hey are you going with a dual setup, cause im actually looking at getting the borla turbo muffler as well and wanted to know what your set up is going to be thanks

 

No, just a single 2 1/4" pipe. I don't think my truck puts out enough exhaust to warrant a dual set up, and the plumbing is hairy enough as is where it exits on the stock side, let alone trying to run a second pipe down the right side of the truck and out. If you saw my other post, I actually found a shop near my house that has a mandrel bender. They quoted me $430 CDN, plus tax, which includes all parts and labour (mandrel bending) and that is marine grade 304 S/S which is top of the line shat. They said they don't carry or use 409, and their suppliers, they said for them the cost difference is negligeable to get 304 over 409 so might as well consider going 304. So the entire deal, including muffler, will be about $600-ish CDN including tax, but that is still much cheaper than a Borla Catback, which for comparision purposes cost $550 US give or take (at least the Borla catback system for the 2nd gen 4runner - they never made one for the pickup). And it's bascially the same thing, only it's professionally installed too (so labour included) as opposed to a Borla Catback which is that cost for parts only.

I'm probably not going to get around to having my exhaust done untlil the end of May or early to mid-June-ish. But if you want keep in touch, I'll probably do a post with some pictures on here when it's done, and I"ll let you know how it sounds, performance, etc.

By the way, I asked in my other thread, perhaps I'll ask again in this thread - for curiousities sake - what is the difference between 2 1/4" mandrel bent pipe, and 2 1/2" pressure bent pipe (assuming that for examples sake the 2 1/2" pipe at the pressure bent, bends, had 2 1/4" diameter as an example). Would the overall volume of the 2 1/2" be greater than the 2 1/4" thus causing the exhaust to cool down and not perform like 2 1/4" mandrel bent would? Or would it flow similarly?