Nice work but where's the kitteh?

 

lolwut

 

I ceramic coated some of the most ugly home made **** down pipes and they all they all look the same with ceramic on them. I can show you where to find the stuff to do it then let it air dry, then put it on the car to cure it.

That is if you don't know which you probably do. All you need is a $40 HF hvlp gun and dry air.

 

Welding looks like bird sh*t

 

Hey!....that's not fair to birds.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

Try using a Tig instead of a Mig, Better results on Stainless.

 

If I had a TIG welder I would, but I'm stuck with MIG. Either way, they look like **** because we cut the welds 3 times each almost, so it's alot of buildup since we got lazy and didn't want to grind it all away. It's functional, not pretty.

I'm going to grind them down a big and polish the whole pipe, and I might give it a ceramic coating too.

 

I have to give you mad props! people talk **** about the welds but least you had the creativity to make it yourself and not just buy it off the shelf

 

wow...if your time isn't worth more than $150, something is wrong in your life. The obx is far superior to whatever hangover induced pile of welds that is.


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wow...if your time isn't worth more than $150, something is wrong in your life. The obx is far superior to whatever hangover induced pile of welds that is.

Sent from my Military Air Portable

Way to be a complete dick. You know, instead of taping off your car and plastidipping your molding, you could have bought painted trim or paid someone to paint it. What, isn't your time worth it? Guess there must be something wrong with your life.

 

Not bad for a first try from a amateur welder.

I'm building the same thing. But with a cat. I have 3" piping all ready with a magna flow high flow cat. Good to see I'm not the only one attempting this at home lol

 

Sorry Photo, I gotta back up Prienzo on this. I have a buddy who makes well into the 6 figures as a commercial captain, and yet, he just started paying a retired BOCES instructor 50/hr to teach him to weld so he could do all his own welding on his Mustang Restoration. Now, it will take him much longer to do it all himself than it would take him to earn the money to pay someone else to do it, BUT he will have the satisfaction of knowing his own skills produced something valuable to him.

Also, you're forgetting about the part where the OP said "we", which means it was as much a social activity as it was a cost-saving one. Any time you can combine a few buddies, a few beers, high voltage and molten steel, all in one place, you're winning in my book.

Props to the OP for still knowing what it means to be a MAN.

 

+1

It's all about the satisfaction of doing or creating something yourself.

He is winning for sure.

Still not sure about Charlie though...

 

nice o2k , yep this does sums it up...lololol

 

Question to the OP--did you use stainless wire, & what thickness? I have a MIG but have only done mild steel. Been thinking about replacing the resonator with straight myself, heard MIG'ing stainless wasn't easy. Also, did you have to do anything significantly different than when welding mild steel?

 

We used stainless wire. I don't remember the thickness, it's a bitch to weld compared to mild steel, also the fumes are horrible in comparison also.

As for the look of the welds, as it's stated in the first post.. We had to cut and weld the same pipes a couple times, so instead of being a few solid pieces we had to sorta botch it together after the 3rd try. We had to weld onto some welds.. At this point we didn't really care about how it looked (unlike the first try) so we didn't do much to make it pretty. I'm still going to grind the excess off and polish the DP, so it won't be so ugly.

Even if it's not perfect, it will still flow more than a stock one with a cat, seeing as it's going to have no restriction. Also, I DID buy an OBX, to use as a template, but even the OBX didn't fit properly so I had to cut and weld that into a proper fitting shape. The OBX also started to rust after 30 days on the car, which was just horrible. It's 150$ since they use ****ty flanges, poor quality steel, and it doesn't fit properly. I decided that I wanted to make one better, which I feel that we accomplished. The turbo side flange is one from a stock DP, and the catback side flange is a Vibrant performance SS 3" flange. The 304 stainless pipes also came from Vibrant.

 

LOL at ppl pointing out the welds. Props to you doing what more than half of the people here wouldnt do lol.

 

If it were an cat back system, it'd be a different story and the welds wouldn't be an issue. But because it's a downpipe, you want it to be as free flowing as possible. Throwing 5 butch welds on a pipe isn't going to give a great flow. Prienzo, I've seen you be a dick, and DrBrutal is almost always a dick, so why the hell would I care how I come off on an online forum? You think a professionally done $8000+ paint job on a car is really a fair comparison to a $150 metal pipe? I thought you were in college?

 

Just because the outside looks like **** doesn't in fact mean the inside isn't free flowing. Beauty lies within a piece of art, you should know that mr. Photographer!!!

 

When do you plan on reproducing this for your profitability...as my OBX is rusting to hell.

 

I would have to get another flange, since I don't want to use aftermarket... I could probably have a couple made within 2 months.. I'll let Sihk.R review his first. They would be more than OBX, but I'm thinking less than 300$ shipped... Depends how much materials cost, Vibrant is expensive for anything besides pipes themselves. The o2 bungs were 10$ each >.< (stainless)

I could easily make one out of mild steel for like 75$ lol 304 stainless is expensive though.

Also, did you weld on a bracket for the exhaust bushing?

I did not yet, I've got to get some hangers, sometime this week probably.

 

Also, did you weld on a bracket for the exhaust bushing?

 

Cool, thanks. It's too bad stainless is a pain to MIG, that alone is enough to deter me (still a novice welder, will probably always be).

 

I'm always late to these trash-talk parties, seriously.

Can we get a bit more civilized in here? Sure the Downpipe welds don't look the best, but I've seen much worst welds. Props in making your own and I'm sure once you grind down the welds and a nice ceramic coat, it'll look just as nice as the next downpipe. Add some heatwrap and this becomes a moot point. As much as we like the asthetics, a downpipe can look crappy; As long as it's solid, higher quality SS, and a higher flow compared to the stock downpipe, then it's winning.

 

I need a Miller in my life, my old tig isnt cutting it anymore. Props to you my man.

 

sooo lets get this on my car soon, yeah?

 

ahh it's sikh.R not Sihk.R lol

When do you want to come get it put on?

 

ahh it's sikh.R not Sihk.R lol

When do you want to come get it put on?

Whenever your free, sir. You work all week?

 

Looking good. I will always be willing to do the work myself even if it costs more than another product. The feeling of putting everything together and knowing you made it just makes it a whole lot cooler.

 

This is true. Besides normal labor costs, I'd say (parts alone) cost about 170$.. I could get stuff for cheaper if I looked harder. Was sorta one of those things was just like LETS JUST MAKE A DOWNPIPE LOL