74 Charger 318 Exhaust problems.

[acelondon]

So the other night i gave it a little much gas, and my rusty exhaust pipe broke off in front of the muffler.(Bad motor mount?)  Loud, but ok.
Nothing was hanging to badly, so i kept driving cause i didn't have an option.
Pulling in to the driveway, i tore the muffler off on the lip of the road. Removed what was left with a sawz-all. At least there was a fun part.

Now i need a new exhaust system. i would just patch it up and toss the still good muffler back on, but i realized i have nothing to weld to. The pipe from the manifolds to the muffler crumbles in my hand, solid rust.
Tired to find a new Y-pipe for a few weeks. They don't exist from what i can tell.

I'd love to just to headers and 2x2.5, but i have column shift, so headers are not possible for me. I do not have the skill to do the necessary mods.

Should i just have a muffler shop fab up some head-pips and use the stock manifolds to dual mufflers and back? Any other suggestions?

Right now im bone stock, 727 trans 318 with 2bbl. i plan on do some decent performance upgrades as funding allows, so i'd prefer if anything i do has some room to perform later.

Thanks!

[firefighter3931]

Summit sells exhast sytems but those are designed for headers. You could just purchase the summit kit and have the local shop fab up some headpipes and clamp them onto the Summit system. When you're ready to upgrade to headers the exhaust sytem will be in place. A 2 1/4 system would be good with your smallblock.


Ron

[acelondon]

Sounds like a good idea. I can get the summit kit for under 200. Ive noticed your wisdom on many threads, but Its been recommended by some of my Chevy buddy's that i get the 2.5inch. So i well see what the general consensus is.

How much do you think a shop will charge for the install and the fab job? I want to shop around and get a good deal, but i don't want to be a jerk to a guy making a reasonable offer. I have absolutely no idea how much this should cost. Any thing over 200 is a big number to me, but I'm willing to pay what the guy deserves.

[firefighter3931]

Sounds like a good idea. I can get the summit kit for under 200. Ive noticed your wisdom on many threads, but Its been recommended by some of my Chevy buddy's that i get the 2.5inch. So i well see what the general consensus is.

How much do you think a shop will charge for the install and the fab job? I want to shop around and get a good deal, but i don't want to be a jerk to a guy making a reasonable offer. I have absolutely no idea how much this should cost. Any thing over 200 is a big number to me, but I'm willing to pay what the guy deserves.

If you're thinking that you might upgrade to a 440 at some point the 2.5in exhaust would make sense but for now a 2.25 system is plenty. If the engine combo is making more than 450hp then a 2.5in exhaust works better....below that a well built mandrel bent 2.25 system with good mufflers is fine.

If the shop is being reasonable, the installation and headpipes should run you approx $200 or so. That is what i would expect to pay in my area. 


Ron

[acelondon]

thanks a lot! I'll let you know how it goes.

[firefighter3931]

 

[Drop Top]

I'm putting together a 72Dart for my little grandson right now (he's 4 years old). A guy owed me some money on a job and I took it in on a part trade. Anyway, Its got a 318 2bbl auto in it. It still had the oraignal single exhaust on it that was falling apart. I took it to a local shop. A no frills, cheap 2 1/4 dule exhaust all the way out of the rear with chrome tips ran me $175.00 cash out the door. Sounds not too bad and helped the gas milage by about 2 miles to the gallon. Improved the bottom end too. I can spin the one wheel wonder about a half block now if I want. I'm planing more up grades. But it runs so good right now that when he comes over to "Pa Pa's" we work on the outside of the car together.

Make a few phone calls before you make any choices. That 175 was out the door. All I did was drop the car off in the morning and he called me by noon to come pick it up. He even let me look under the car before he took it off the lift.

[acelondon]

Just got a quote for $475.

He refused to install the Summit kit because "Those kits never fit anyway. The time it would take us to get it installed it would be cheaper to get it from us."

Looking elsewhere...

[Sublime/Sixpack]

Do what you will, but $475.00 isn't unreasonable for a complete custom quality dual exhaust system.   

[acelondon]

It is when your in college.

[Sublime/Sixpack]

I think you missed my point. But so be it.