REVscene Automotive Forum - Exhaust speciality shop

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Quote:

Originally Posted by bcrdukes (Post 8236075)

The problem is that they can't do anything at Muffler Man, or rather, don't want to especially if it's outside of their comfort zone. So Tig, Mig, or gas and what have you could not save their lives if they depended on it. Any way, this isn't about Muffler Man. I went off topic on this one.

And the whole "performance exhaust" shop thing...I think the term is just being thrown around loosely to imply a performance shop. If you want, Godwin, weld me up a Dinan replica exhaust for my M3. Thanks. :)

Yup.
Regular, run of the mill Muffler shops usually hire bottom dollar welders who can't lay a proper bead. They're paid below minimum wage(for a welder). Why should they care if the weld is any good?

If anything, thier welding fuckups sustain thier employment. Oh, you have an exhaust leak again? Let me charge you a full hour of work, for a 20 minute fix.

Thier regular customer base isn't based on a good reputation like Tuner shops.
Hell, some tuner shops are guilty of this too. Bottom dollar "Welder" who can't lay a bead. These are the guys who failed thier CWB/ASME cert, and could only find work in a muffler shop.

I forgot who it was, but there was a member on here who had thier exhaust ruined, then Speed Syndicate fixed it.

Bring it to any speed shop that has a tig welder if you want your exhaust to have nice welds. Mufflerman is fine for building a full exhaust but they don't do anything with stainless and mandrel bending.
Muffler man is probably the best if you don't mind a crush bent and non stainless piping.

Any shops that does tig by job? It adds up quick if it's by hour.
Posted via RS Mobile

That's the thing, can you trust a cheap tig job? Even if the weld looks nice but it was not prepped / cleaned properly, you will get containments and it will rust. (stain-less means less likelihood of rust, not never), especially since there will be some kind of electrolytic transfer especially if you bolt on part of a replacement exhaust. Even looking at OP's "factory" weld, the weld on the driver side pipe didn't go all around the flange on the right side.

You want to save money and not charged by the hour?.. spend the $400 to get a Tig welder, DC model if you want to weld Al eventually. Practice on some scrap stainless steel cheap at $ stores and go at it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AVS_Racing (Post 8236321)

Any shops that does tig by job? It adds up quick if it's by hour.
Posted via RS Mobile

Just because a shop has a tig welder doesn't mean they can operate it properly. I have a knife but I wouldn't perform surgery.

I think godwin means ac for aluminum. DC can work but you would use AC 99% of the time at home.

My tig sells for $4000 and I have used $500 tig welders that will do the same thing (for exhaust anyways). It's about the operator and prep.

-prep work is 90% of the weld
-ZERO gaps and backpurged with no filler is proper sanitary industry procedure for ss tube ~.065" but it doesn't look "baller" and takes more time to prep so very few people do it
-most people think any weld that has color is excellent when in reality it means squat from a functional standpoint
-color is technically contamination with the atmosphere but it's automotive and people like that kind of thing
-the outside of an exhaust only tells half the story
-the proper way is to backpurge the tube with argon so the backside of the weld doesn't react with the air in the tube. Without doing this you can't get full penetration and end up with "sugar" inside.

In the end it's a damn car exhaust and you can get by without backpurging and fitting with gaps and cheating bends. You won't be running milk through it and feeding it to your kids or going into space.

I shoved my camera into a Ferrari formula one header last year and this is how it should look. 100% penetration. They didn't use tube for this part of the header. It is flat sheet cut and then rolled into a cone to a certain angle and bend radius and then welded along the seam.

anyone been to MDA fabrication? seems like they build some pretty crazy cars

Have any of you looked at a stainless tig welded exhaust five to ten years after it was installed on a daily driven vehicle? It rusts. Stainless steel and tig welding (altho better then mild steel and mig) are not impervious to the elements. Especially when heat and moisture is present.
There are many grades of stainless some more impervious then others but automotive exhausts sold to the masses seldom use the real good stuff and never assembled in a manner as Sdubfid posted thats bottomless money pit stuff.