I'm looking for a reputable exhaust shop in the Roseville area that won't charge me an arm and a leg for some exhaust work. Thanks guys.

 

Are you looking for a stock replacement? A custom setup? Cat back? Any special requirements? Add a few details and I'll do some asking.

I know a guy, that knows a guy...

 

I actually explained my situation in detail to a fellow FTE'er through PMs. Allow me to copy and paste my message to him:

"When I bought my truck about 10 months ago it had an aftermarket exhaust setup with 3 inch pipe back from the cat, into a single-in/single-out muffler (no-name...POS), then into a 2.5 or 3-inch single pipe out the back. Pretty basic setup but it was not loud enough for me. I recently took my truck into have a new muffler put on with duals and got fuggin ripped off. The guy was super nice and sweet talked me into a single-in/dual-out Jones performance muffler plus pipes and tips + labor for around $300. I came back to pick up the truck and he had installed smaller pipe than we agreed on because "it wouldnt fit" (total horse crap). To top things off, hes a crappy a$$ welder so now I've got a few exhaust leaks around his weld beads, and my right pipe hangs about 1/4 inch lower than my left. Needless to say I'm gonna take it back to have it fixed FREE OF CHARGE. Regardless of all that, I'm very satisfied with the sound that I've got now, nice deep grumble at idle and roaring growl at WOT.

So next I went and purchased 2 new high-flow magnaflow cats on craigslist/ebay because this turd sandwich wanted $100 a piece + $30 labor for the cats installed (I got them for $40 each). I took it back and he told me it would be $80 labor PER CAT! The jerk marked up the parts to make it look like he was a nice guy with cheap labor, then marked up the labor when I brought my own damned parts. So now I've got the 2 cats lying around and I can't install them myself and I sure as hell ain't paying $160 to have them installed(totalling $240 for parts and labor for JUST CATS).

So now what I would like to do is purchase the Flowtech longtubes, a y-pipe, and install the y-pipe in place of my front cat (which acts as a y-pipe), and replace the rear cat with the other hi-flow magnaflow. The rest of the exhaust, cat-back, can stay intact.

PHEW! Lots of typing. So that being said, how do you suggest I go about doing this? I'm definitely not going to get reamed by that same guy again so I'll be finding another shop. I am pretty hand with a wrench and I have tons of mechanical and power tools at my disposal (my deceased father used to work on cars). Andym from the forum is pretty knowledgable with these Ford trucks and lives nearby. If I could con him into helping me with the install of the headers do you think it's doable for 2 guys that have never done this job before? I'd really like to make-up for some of the cost that I incurred when getting screwed by the exhaust guy."

ON EDIT: At this point what I am planning on doing is installing the longtube headers myself and having an exhaust shop make the y-pipe and plumbing back to the cat.

Thanks for your help OldDog.

 

I want the ending result to look very similar to Conanski's setup:

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Due to technical difficulties, pics can be seen in post #18

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

It's always "better, faster, cheaper", pick two. I'll see what I can find. Give me a couple of days. I'll do my best to leave off a couple of the expletives...

Chet

 

You're the man Chet. And from those three words: cheaper & better. I'm not in any rush.

And sorry 'bout the language, that message was initially a private message to another member. I took the liberty of cleaning it up a bit. A thousand apologies

 

Hmmm, there's always another alternative here...some your fellow chapter members can handle welding equipment pretty well and might be sweet talked into helping you with this install. Personally, I've done quite a bit of exhaust work in my day and weld almost halfway decently...at least, my welds dont break or leak so I should be one up on the turd sandwich in that department. 3Mike6 (if he's willing...and he usually is, he's pretty easy!...wave a sixpack under his nose and he's there!) isn't too awful bad with a welder either, between the two of us we should be able to make that exhaust happen in pretty short order. With you and Andy helping we could make that be-otch scream in no time!

The only problem I see with doing it is the logistics of when and where. Do you have any welding equipment at your disposal? I might be up for a road trip after the project truck weekend...

I also have an uncle who owned an auto parts store in Roseville for many years, he should should know all the old established automotive businesses in the area.

 

Hey now, if I'm a charging, we start at a 12-pack

Depending on how you have it run, it may need to be gas welded in order to get to the top of the pipes, and I'mnot that good gas welding, I can do it and make it leakfree/etc, but usually ugly weld and a few burn throughs.

If the exhaust is removable and can be welded and put back up into place and clamped in, then I can MIG it without issues.

Other thing to consider is how things were welded in before, and what need to be done to correct it, one issue here is if a bent piece of tubing needs to be replaced, you're almost stuck with a shop, as most of us don't have the type of tubing benders needed to massage exhaust tubing.

 

If you deside to go with a shop, the guy that put the new exhaust system on Teddy was Porter Muffler in Roseville. He did a good job and he got-er-done on time. I think he is located on Atlantic St. Good luck, Jag

 

Wow you guys are awesome. Well theres plenty of room at my mom's friend shop up here near Roseville. And he has a MIG at my disposal too. I'm not quite 21 yet (I'm 19) so I can't exactly buy alcohol, but I'm sure I could get some beers lined up for you. If you all are really up for this then I'll order the parts and we can get this thing going. I can't tell you how excited I would be if I could get this done without having to pay for crazy labor rates. Let me know. Thanks a ton guys.

 

I can fill in on the welding where Mike comes up short, as oxy-acetylene is my forté. I have a set of smaller easily portable tanks that I could bring over, just in case. I also have (over here anyway) access to a tubing bender, but what I prefer to do is buy pre-bent sections of mandrel-bent tubing to weld in for my bends, although there's not really a lot of point to doing it that way if the rest of the system is crush-bent.

 

This is starting to look hopeful. And yeah I was assuming I'd buy some mandrel bent tubing that we would weld together in a shape similar to the pictures above. Anyone had experience with installing longtubes before? Andy says he's never done it and would prefer to have a shop do his when the time comes. I really would like to save some money here and do it myself, no matter how frustrating.

Where exactly are you located Dan? I am located in the foothills near Auburn.

 

I'm at Clear lake, about 2-1/2 hours NW of you. And yes, I've installed many a set of longtubes. I'll have to do a little research into the pics of Conanski's setup as the pics you posted above don't show up for me. But I should be able to find them through links...

ON EDIT: Looks like his Yahoo site is down right now, I just get an error message. Are the pics in your earlier post still showing up for you?

 

I just get the Red X as well.

Wow, we're even more spread out now Auburn...I'm getting an idea...take run his way, then head over the hill to Boomtown and see if we can come back rich men

 

I dunno, guess we could make an exception just this one time....