Dragaholic

iTrader: (180)

If so, could you please post some pics? Also, whats needed to do it? How hard was it? If you had to do it again, would you have a shop do it, or would you do it yourself? Where did you get the supplies? How long did it take? Thanks.

V8 HUGE

yes i did it myself, got the parts from jegs...

luckily for me, i work at a power plant and have access to a machine shop and a bunch of welders.... did all the cutting and fitting/measurements
and had my welders connect it all together.
no pictures yet, but intend to post soon.
if u check my thread (started today) you will see that the tru dual and header install has so far been anti climatic, as the cpu doesn't like the new setup -> engine backfires.

383ss

iTrader: (14)

yep, got the parts from Jegs, headman x-pipe kit. and an about an extra foot of 3" tubing.

Dragaholic

iTrader: (180)

I really would like to do it myself, but I dont know what all piping I need. I dont wanna buy too less or too much or buy the wrong stuff either. I have the Spohn torque arm, so its going to be much harder to do than the one in your pics. I already have the Dr. Gas x-junction, 2 Dynomax bullets, and I have stainless steel Bassani ball and socket flanges on the way to connect my Kooks to the beginning of the exhaust. I didnt want to slip swedged exhaust over the ends of the collectors and use band clamps or use the standard 3 bolt flanges, so I opted for the ball and socket flanges. A pair of male and female with the flanges and bolts was $100! I know its a lot of money for flanges, but I felt it was worth it and Im sure Ill thank myself for buying them later. Anyhow, if I was to do it by myself, how would I determine what bends and specific piping I need? Id like mandrel bent piping too and if I can get the ends or at least 1 end pre-swedged, that would be even better.

383ss

iTrader: (14)

why are you worried about buying to much pipe??? it's not that expensive. just buy 2-5 feet and you should be fine. we just laid it out in under the car, holding it in place and tack welded it, then took it out and finished welding it. pretty simple and you'd use the same process for what you want. a little more precise on fitting, but same thing and not too much harder.

mooleyz28

Im curious about this to. My friend owns a shop and we would be accesable to do anything. From what i understand we were going to use j-bends to make the headers. then go into two 3 in collectors into one 4 in collector (we also have been thinking about and x or h pipe... NOT SURE YET) and then into 3 in pipes. I am open to MANY suggestions and would like any and all thoughts to be expressed. Do you think maybe I should buy the headers and then make the pipes from them on? Should i make some custom headers? I checked out the sound clips on true duals. they sound good but nothing as smooth as my borla i have at the moment. (which im selling) Is there a way to get a awsome sound that will be a big "head grabber"? Please give your input on all these matters if possible. Thanks. I hope i not only gave u a better idea but hopefully i will have my questions answered as well. by the way Go to www.jegs.com and then go to exhuast... Thats where the parts can be found. I also beleive the bends u need if your doing your own True duals all custom... go to this site http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...27&prmenbr=361 I hope this helps and if im wrong.. please correct me. Thanks

SilverGhost

iTrader: (53)

my buddy and i did our own on our cars last year at an exhaust shop we were friendly with. mine was the pain in the *** because i had SLP headers at the time and they were too low to allow anything to clear the cross brace for my TQ arm, his was much easier.

SilverGhost

iTrader: (53)

oh i got rid of it in the fall though. i have hooker headers and y pipe to 4" mufflex now.

mooleyz28

So do u suggest headers to y pipe to muffs? Or do u suggest true duals?

Dragaholic

iTrader: (180)

2-5 feet of piping, I dont think I coud build a whole true dual kit with that much. Its not that I dont want to buy too much, its that I dont know what bends I need to buy. I dont have a tubing bender that will bend 3" pipe and I certainly dont have a mandrel bender. So I was wanting to buy prebent mandrel bent piping and building the exhaust like that. I dunno, if I had a bunch of different bends to choose from, maybe I could buy some and fab it up. I dunno, Im really stumped on this. I even thought about buying something that will simulate the piping, but where I can bend it but will also hold in place. Basically enough to bend, but enough to stay in the position that it is. Anyhow, getting something like that and do the whole true duals with that and then pull it all out when Im done, then buy the piping that I need and build it. Basically like building a model for it and then building the real thing when its all done. What do you think of that idea and what could I use to simulate the piping? Thanks.

2001CamaroGuy

iTrader: (6)

I used the Dr Gas x-pipe kit, 2 bullets, 2 slashcut tips, 4 2-bolt flange sets, and 4 U-bends to build mine. From start to finish was a morning (7-12) on the garage floor.

98Blubrd

iTrader: (13)

Do you buy the U-bends just so you can cut it and weld another pipe so you can have the bend be at the perfect angle. I am thinking of fabing up a new set up and i was just wondering about the angles and how to bend the pipe. thanks.

2001CamaroGuy

iTrader: (6)

yep...I wanted to have mandral bent tubes (better flow) for when I go over the axle (I'm converting from under the axle to over the axle) and because I don't have a tube binder I couldn't have bent the pipe even if I wanted to.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

I used a "Mandrel Bends Grab Bag" from Stainless Works.
http://www.stainlessworks.net/Bends%20&%20Tubing.htm
It has about 10 short mandrel bends of various angles so you can put them together to get what you need. These were 3" diameter, but you can specify other sizes. I used a combination of MIG welds and stainless steel band clamps to put it all together.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Two 90's work well on one side, for the other side I used two 45's and a 30* bend. All were included in the Grab Bag from Stainless Works.

Dragaholic

iTrader: (180)

That sounds like a really good idea. Too bad my Dr. Gas x-junction is aluminized. Will that grab bag be enough for me to do my whole system? Will I need to purchase any more piping or will it cover it all? Lastly, are the ends of the piping swedge or at least 1 side? Thanks

By the way, I dont really understand they little guide...Im looking for 3". If you look on the part number size at you look for 3" it says center line radius is 4.5, but if you look at the center line radius first for 3", its part number has 2" in it?

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Look to the left, the tube size is in the part number. No special treatment on the pipe ends; I delt with this by using band clamps (which actually work better if both pipes are the same size) and by simply butting them up and MIG welding them. It holds just fine that way. You can weld your aluminized X-junction to the stainless steel no problem, that's what I did. You can use steel or stainless steel wire in the mig; I used stainless. I think the grab bag will be all you need except for a small amout of straight tube; I only needed 2 feet but yours may be different.

Inspector12

iTrader: (29)

Yeah Jeremy do it yourself I want to take a look at it. I think that is a great idea so now you will appreciate the exhaust shops you go to. And you will save alot of $$$!