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Does anyone here still build downpipes?

M

MDDave

Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2022
Location
Annapolis MD
Contemplating mods to the 945 turbo now that stage 0 (minus rear main seal replacement) is complete. Thinking of a 16t which would need a new exhaust. If this is too hard I would just go the 15g route.

From lots of searching, it seems some members used to build DPs, but all the posts I found were quite old. Only other options I found were shipping from Europe, where freight made this pretty expensive.

Have seen lots of "just do it yourself" recommendations, but honestly I know how good I am at welding. Not an ideal project, and my professional welder brother in law lives five hours away.

Are there folks out there still building them? Or do I drive to the exhaust shop 20 miles away blowing hot exhaust at the hood :omg:?
 
I've crawled their site a bunch, lots of great options....but 253 Euros shipping for the exhaust system as a whole. Or 130 just for the downpipe.

I'm loving the dollar/euro parity, but that's still a huge percentage of purchase cost going into shipping! Time for a European vacation with some empty suitcases?
 
kl racing is another option, but most of theirs seem to be on backorder at the moment.

Also interested if anyone is making them
 
MDDave said:
I've crawled their site a bunch, lots of great options....but 253 Euros shipping for the exhaust system as a whole. Or 130 just for the downpipe.

I'm loving the dollar/euro parity, but that's still a huge percentage of purchase cost going into shipping! Time for a European vacation with some empty suitcases?
Click to expand...


I bought one of their exhausts a few years ago and it came with a downpipe. I didn't need it as I already had one of Jessie (Jao's) from his last group buy so I sold it. What I can say is it looked cheap, I never installed it so I cant comment on fit but the finish was average.
 
I had their exhaust as well and it fit perfectly fine. I just didn't like how quiet it was and didn't want to hack it up so I sold it on here and built my own.

Side note, GSWAGON I can build you a downpipe if you want, we're fairly close to each other.
 
Lots of good information here! Nice to know about the relative quality of the European pieces. Is Jaos pipe still sold?

Have a local exhaust shop but didn't have a way to get the car there without driving it so didn't know how to get there with a open turbo.
 
You could also do it the TB way? there?s nothing rocket surgery related to building an exhaust? an angle grinder with some cutoff disks, a mig welder with gas, and a selection of aluminized pipe. That?s the recipe a bunch of us followed having zero fab experience and it made us into the fab gods we are now. It only has to cost as much as you?re willing to spend. Buying off the shelf parts for an old Volvo, I?d kinda expect them to be ridiculously expensive. Do it yourself!
 
740atl said:
You could also do it the TB way? there?s nothing rocket surgery related to building an exhaust? an angle grinder with some cutoff disks, a mig welder with gas, and a selection of aluminized pipe. That?s the recipe a bunch of us followed having zero fab experience and it made us into the fab gods we are now. It only has to cost as much as you?re willing to spend. Buying off the shelf parts for an old Volvo, I?d kinda expect them to be ridiculously expensive. Do it yourself!
Click to expand...

It's not that the parts are expensive, shipping is just too much. Like you said, you can build one yourself for less money. I recently did an exhaust, including piping, v band flanges, o2 bung, clamps and one muffler. I'm in a little over $200. Bonus, it sounds good because I chose the muffler I wanted.
 
Building it yourself guarantees it?ll fit. Welds don?t have to be beautiful dimes, just whatever penetrates and doesn?t leak, grinder and paint will make you the welder you ain?t
 
740atl said:
You could also do it the TB way? there?s nothing rocket surgery related to building an exhaust? an angle grinder with some cutoff disks, a mig welder with gas, and a selection of aluminized pipe. That?s the recipe a bunch of us followed having zero fab experience and it made us into the fab gods we are now. It only has to cost as much as you?re willing to spend. Buying off the shelf parts for an old Volvo, I?d kinda expect them to be ridiculously expensive. Do it yourself!
Click to expand...


I had zero fab experience and took the DIY route. I had an exhaust shop make me
a short stub pipe with the flare on it needed for the turbo. Then since I didn't have
a flange it was extra money but I had a machine shop make me the flange. Next
a 180 U pipe and 3' of straight pipe from Summit and I had everything I needed. I used the walker lap joint sleeve exhaust clamps from Summit racing and I welded it all together.

When I went to the not so local high performance exhaust shop they priced a
downpipe at $500. It wasn't even in stainless steel. LOL. That was 15 years ago.

Edit:This was a 3" downpipe. Once installed it raised the boost 2psi and flowed so well that the turbo had boost creep. Very fun upgrade.
 
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MDDave said:
Lots of good information here! Nice to know about the relative quality of the European pieces. Is Jaos pipe still sold?
Click to expand...

He hasn't been online since 12/2020 so I suspect he is no longer interested in making them anymore. As a matter of fact he last thread he started was a group buy to make the pipes. I take it after that he had enough.

https://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=312079
 
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How much fenagling would be needed to make the JT Tuning 3" 740/940 angled flange or straight flange downpipe fit in a 240?
 
The public shaming of my lack of willingness to try fabbing this has me reconsidering! Good to hear the encouragement of how much of a difference this will make!
 
smoothdurban said:
I bought one of their exhausts a few years ago and it came with a downpipe. I didn't need it as I already had one of Jessie (Jao's) from his last group buy so I sold it. What I can say is it looked cheap, I never installed it so I cant comment on fit but the finish was average.
Click to expand...

The quality is definitely not a TIG welded instagram worthy stainless steel setup. It's mig welded and plated. Fitment is probably as good, or better, than any OEM replacement NA exhaust I've installed.

That being said, the fit is absolutely excellent on a 240 and required very little fiddling to make it fit well. How many places (or members here) make/made a over axle 3" turbo setup that doesn't smack or rattle into the axle or body. I ditched the u-bolt clamps and used either strap clamps or welded the system together once it was aligned/fitted.

I will say, the turbo 3" system with a single muffler sounds great with a v8.

holtzboy said:
How much fenagling would be needed to make the JT Tuning 3" 740/940 angled flange or straight flange downpipe fit in a 240?
Click to expand...

My guess is that it'll hit the firewall on a 240. But a tighter upper and lower bend would alleviate that.
 
culberro said:
How many places (or members here) make/made a over axle 3" turbo setup that doesn't smack or rattle into the axle or body.
Click to expand...

:wave: :shh:

Mine was built with 2 vbands. 1 right at the downpipe and 1 before the rear axle. It took me 2 half days of crawling under the car on jack stands to do it and it was well worth the effort. I'm self taught, so none of its perfect but it turned out really well.
 

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Following many here I built my own....didn't have any experience welding. I decided to by one and watch videos on YouTube and taught myself how to do it....it's not bad and it's worth your time
 
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