Thanks! I hope it comes out the way I think it will in my head.

You get any timeline on your build?




lol stay strong brother.





Thanks! I appreciate it. This forum needs more build threads.

 

i have a build going on now but just too lazy to start a thread. i do take pics of what im doing tho

 

Same.....I'm absolutely balls-deep in my car right now in terms of the teardown lol. I should go update my build thread...Why do that, though, when I can instead gawk at this gem? What I've got going on doesn't compare to THIS.

 

We were hoping for last fall but that didn't pan out, and this fall doesn't look too good either. I told him to take his time when I took it up there a couple years back. Hopefully by next spring I guess.....

 

Dang. Thats got to be a little rough to not drive it for a while. I hate when mine is down.






Some of the exhaust getting done. Its going to be a little low going under the diff/axle....but since it is inline with the wheels I think it'll be ok. Its going to have to angle up over the subframe tie bar and then angle down under the diff. I was thinking about just leaving the subframe tie bar off but I don't know as it basically connects the forward lower control arm together side-to-side.



Coming off the downpipe I decided to keep the vband on there so I wouldn't have to modify the downpipe too. This probably keeps a couple pounds in the exhaust, but will make it easier to install/remove down the road.












The stock exhaust tips allow for a 2.375" tube to fit inside. I had to cut a piece of 2.5 tube and split it to compress it to fit inside the 2.5" tube.












Enlarged these openings to make it easier to bolt on a piece plate to the exhaust tip and then weld it to the muffler. It should be enough space to get a torch in there to weld.












Rear hangers tacked/welded onto the body. Should've cut some small pieces to use as doublers where the rod welds to the body. But I will add some braces to disperse the weight of the mount/muffler.










And a couple of through the muffler pics

 

Exhaust is done. Weight of the old exhaust was around 45 lbs. The new exhaust is 23 lbs. I imagine with a single muffler you can get it to 14-15 lbs.


The section that snakes around the lower subframe brace and under the axle area and then splits 2.5" to each side.







Then welded to the rest of tubing.





How it sits before welding to the mufflers












bolting the tab that holds the exhaust tips on. The orange is just thin cardboard to make sure nothing binds when sliding the tips on.










Reinforcing the muffler hangers. Also added a small bar to connect each hanger to each other. This strengthens the side to side while the bent plate strengthens the front to rear.








Getting the mufflers to sit on the car so I can start making the tubing to connect it. Having flat top/bottom on the muffler made it a little easier to keep them even with each other by clamping some angle to it. And just cut some foam spacers to try and center the mufflers in the opening.













Some of the 2.5" tubing. I went with pie-cuts because 4 90° 2.5" bends would have cost around $600. Pie cuts with shielding gas/filler is under half the cost.






Experimented with heating the tubing a bit. I only had a medium sized propane torch, so getting the color to come out even was a challenge for me. At first I tried for a straw/golden color, but ended up with purple (the next color) in a few areas. Not sure what I'll do with the mufflers/tips. For now they will be left alone.

 

Beautiful! Excited to hear the setup!

 

That exhaust looks awesome!

Makes me want to pick up a tig welder that can do titanium.

 

Awesome work on the exhaust man. Glad to see you stuck with the dual exhaust instead of the single. The dual just looks better and not so ricey, IMO.

 

Thanks! Same here. I'll probably wait for everything to be done before I drive it.



Everyone needs a tig welder imo, lol.





Thanks, I agree with the dual comments. Only way I'd go single exit is with an ap1 bumper with a single-exit cap.





Onto messing with the front duct again. So I put about 5 coats of wax on the foam to help release the duct from the foam. After I sprayed a few coats of PVA onto the waxed foam. I don't know if I did this the right way or not as the gelcoat seemed to react with the PVA film, lifting it in some areas. Maybe I didn't clean the foam well enough when spraying the PVA.....but I figure its all waxed so really nothing should really stick to it anyway.

This is the gelcoat being applied. Theres probably more to it....but it seems like basically a tinted resin. Goes on like a thick paint. I put 2 heavy coats on and let it tack up. The smooth side will be the side against the foam plug, so the way it looks on the outside kind of doesn't matter as long as you build a little thickness.









Next step is a thin layer of fiberglass cloth. Has the consistency of a dryer sheet. This thin material will contour to the base a lot better than thick mat would.









I put on 3 layers of 1.5oz mat. I could have probably gotten away with 2. I added layers and wet them past the foam, let it harden, and then flush-trimmed the excess with a vibe saw.











Sooo yeah, I had to destroy the foam to get the duct released from the foam. After the middle was removed I split the foam from the foam just by flexing and then using compressed air to help split it further. Didn't work too bad.

Most of the duct came out decent, but the areas where the PVA lifted was obvious. As well as some low spots/etc that would need some bodywork. I just used filler for the voids and then brushed a couple coats of gelcoat on top of that and sanded it flat.













Making some plates to attach the duct to the intercooler. The intercooler's top and bottom plates are just thick aluminum, so I will just tap holes into the intercooler itself to bolt the duct to it.