Thread: Exhaust to Stainless or not

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I am building a nice driver. And wanted to get your thoughts on stainless exhaust systems. I have had some good work done on a powder coated frame. Stainless 4 bar front end with Chrome 4 inch drop magnum axle.
I am torn on wether to go all polished stainless. Or not worry about it.
And just put the extra bucks towards other items I need.
I know a lot of guys say dont put to much in the underside. Put more
details in the body and interior end of things.
Thanks
Creep

Why stainless? I can think of several reasons to have a stainless exhaust, but there are two why not to have one. The first, too costly. The second, I can build my own out of regular steel tubing and did. The Flowmaster mufflers were ~$90 each, the rest of the system, less then $100 including all clamps, U and J bends and 10 feet of tube, welding gas and wire

You can probably do ss as cheap as ceramic coating, and you can still weld/repair/modify it at any time

Plus, stainless is truly forever. I just polished up the 20+ year old mufflers from Stainless Specialities on my 27 and they look like new, inside and out. Spreading out the cost over many years, stainless becomes a real bargain. It will never need any work again, unless you want to bring back the shine at some point.

Don

I agree with IC2 and the other thing that was pointed out to me when I had my custom headers and exhaust system built for my Anglia. Stainles exhaust create an unusual exhaust note that some don't like. We have two different companys in NZ that do ceramic coating which I would recommend. Don (Itoldyouso) has ceramic coated headers on his Bucket that hasn't discoloured from use.

Budget wise .... don't worry about it.

I'm with IC2 on this one.

REGS

Tough call - I have stainless exhaust on my Harley that is ceramic coated inside and it is as bright today as the day I put it on. The ceramic coating inside has kept the stainless from turning gold, as sometimes happens with stainless steel. Once it turns, it's impossible to polish out.


I just got some ceramic coated headers from Hooker and they look pretty good - will keep you all posted as to how they wear.

The last 3 cars I've built all had 3" stainless systems on them. Why because 3 or 4 years ago I bought 100 ft. of 3 in stainless pipe for $50 dollars. All I needed was the mufflers. I welded them all with stainless and never had a problem. As mentioned earlier stainless dose sound different.

I will say .... best sounding headers I ever had .... borla ... stainless steel. NOTHING sounded better. Cost - out of this world!!

REGS

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

You can probably do ss as cheap as ceramic coating, and you can still weld/repair/modify it at any time

Jerry's exactly correct. It's going to cost you $500 to $600 to ceramic coat a full mild steel system, with headers. The cost of mild steel plus ceramic is close to the same price as SS.

One thing not discussed is heat radiation. I drove my roadster for 7,000 miles "in bare steel" before I took it apart for paint. While the car was apart I had the entire exhaust and headers ceramic coated in satin black (at EMBEE). It is amazing how much cooler the exhaust system runs after it was coated. I was concerned about the heat because I run smooth hood sides and did not want to be blistering the new paint.

When building the system make sure you design it to have parts that are "no longer" than five feet. I spoke with several ceramic coaters before I built the system and that seemed like thats the maximum oven size for most ceramic coating companies. Also, I used stainless steel V-Band clamps to connect the mufflers, and they work great. The hardest (most time consuming part) of building the whole system was building the hangers.

Originally Posted by glennsexton

Tough call - I have stainless exhaust on my Harley that is ceramic coated inside and it is as bright today as the day I put it on. The ceramic coating inside has kept the stainless from turning gold, as sometimes happens with stainless steel. Once it turns, it's impossible to polish out.


I just got some ceramic coated headers from Hooker and they look pretty good - will keep you all posted as to how they wear.

I put all polished SS from headers back, One hard run and it all turned ugly gold. Had no idea I could have had the insides coated.

for guys with 32-34 fords with rear coil overs----a take off from mustangs late 90s to 2004 will fit the car pretty nice and go right around the coil overs and line up under the frame rail---just got to shorten the extension--and they are in stainless and if you look--there are probably some in your neighborhood--just ask the guy with the loud pipes what he did with his old stuff--hangar system for them is great also

Jerry are you saying that it will run over the diff, and that this will run from headers too out the back of the car

they will run over the diff, around the coilover and line up along side fuel tank directly under the frame rail--you need to cut the extension loose and slide forward to fit the car

the mufflers can be mounted forwrd of the axle with stock mustang hanger rubbers by simply adding a cross piece for the hangers

as on any car you will need to route the pipes from headers to the mufflers

take a look at a 2003 or 2004 mustang with stock exhaust(if you can find one!!!!)

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

for guys with 32-34 fords with rear coil overs----a take off from mustangs late 90s to 2004 will fit the car pretty nice and go right around the coil overs and line up under the frame rail---just got to shorten the extension--and they are in stainless and if you look--there are probably some in your neighborhood--just ask the guy with the loud pipes what he did with his old stuff--hangar system for them is great also

just got some new respect for Ford. SS exhaust. Huh would never have known that cool.