Cost for dual exhaust?

[Trevor B]

I'm ready to put on pipes and went to a local shop... he quoted me $800 out the door to put on the pipes and mufflers. It sounds quite high to me.

My car is a 73 Duster 318 with 340 exhaust manifolds. I have the old flanges and some hardware. I was thinking 2.5" pipes and Dynomax mufflers, although I don't have much to compare with.

Does anyone have an idea of a ballpark figure for pipes and installation?

Thanks!
Trevor

 

[momoparman]

Sounds high.

Try $110 for a pair of Dynomax super turbo mufflers and about $350.00 for the tubing installed.

$450.00 or so but that's for steel pipe. Will be more for aluminized steel tubing. That's a middle of the country price. Since your in CA that $800.00 may be a good deal!

 

[72bluNblu]

I installed a summit 2.5" kit on my car. They sell for $250 and include the mufflers.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-680144/overview/year/1974/make/plymouth/model/duster

Fit was great, I had to shorten a couple of pipes with a sawzall but didn't make any other modifications. Whole thing was done in an afternoon with the car on jackstands on the front apron of my shop. I did end up swapping out the mufflers for dynomax ultra-flo's.

If you have the stock manifolds all you would need is a set of headpipes.

 

[momoparman]

He's looking for an installed price. Can he assume your gonna put it in for him.

Looks like you do nice work.

 

[72bluNblu]

He's looking for an installed price. Can he assume your gonna put it in for him.

Looks like you do nice work.

I do ok. But yeah, I'm not going to install it for him. ;)

But he was looking for a "pipes and installation" price. If the pipes with mufflers cost $250, the rest is installation. If I can do a full installation in an afternoon, including welding all the joints, $550 seems high. Even in California that's a good 5 hours of work at mid-to-upper rate shop, and on a lift it shouldn't take nearly that long with guys that do exhaust work all the time. I'm not a novice, but I don't install exhaust systems every day either, and I did mine laying on my back under a car on jackstands with welding slag falling on me.

Obviously there's more to it than that, part selection makes a big difference. My Dynomax ultra-flo's set me back $160, that whole summit kit is only $250. Of course, the flip side is an exhaust shop should be able to spend a lot less on materials. Even the mufflers.

$800 isn't totally out of line if we're talking a high quality operation with name brand mufflers and mandrel bent tubing, but it's definitely the high side. I would think you could save a least a couple hundred bucks on that rate depending on what you're spec'ing out for mufflers, etc.

 

[tekslk]

Im in pa I was quoted 800 also. I found a old buck with a pipe bender and lots of experience he had the car a week but did it for $400, and a very nice job I might say.

 

[diymirage]

350 is what I was quoted in MI by lentz

250 is what I ended up paying for the summit kit

 

[goldfish65]

If you see a Caprice, Buick, Cutlass, that's been "customized," ask the owner what shop did their duals. You'll go to a part of town you wouldn't otherwise visit, it will be about $400, and take half a day. I've done it twice with good results and enjoyed the adventure!

 

[Serj22]

I had one single custom pipe with a chambered muffler put on my turbo system. He bent a downpipe for it, welded a V-band flange on, 02 bung, some swooped 45s to get under the car (all in one section of pipe - bent not welded) and then ran 2 1/2 to the muffler, and out below the bumper for a slant.

That cost $180. I could image if it was duals it would be $400 maybe.

That was at ABC muffler, Benicia Ca.

They do lots of custom stuff, and can make whatever you're thinking of in your head, and usually have a turn around (that I've seen) of 1 to 2 days. They get swamped.

 

[Dustert73]

I bought a dual exhaust kit through jegs which was around the same cost as the summit kit 72Blu is talking about (around 250$).

My 318 came with a y pipe/head pipe deal. I cut the head pipes after the drop and within the strait section of the pipe (before it turns into the y). I plan on welding (but can be done with some clamps) a 12 or 24 inch section of pipe on to the newly cut head pipes to connect the jegs/summit header back exhaust system. Save from having to buy head pipes from accurate exhaust for 100$+

If you would consider DIY. But I guess it gives you a idea how much it should cost too.

 

[krazykuda]

You have to be careful who you use. I had a guy do a system once, and he had one of the exhaust pipes rubbing the seam of the gas tank when it was done. It eventually caused the tank to leak...

You get what you pay for...

I never went back to him... I found a place that did custom work after that and he had much better workmanship and was capable of fabricating an H-pipe from scratch.

 

[Trevor B]

Hey 72 - that really is nice looking work!

Thanks for the input, folks. I did some more calling around and found a place that had a good reputation, only about 15 miles farther away. The "dual" guy, Don, quoted me $500 out the door. I would love to be able to do this but have no welding equipment or experience and don't particularly want to learn that skill on this car.

It never occurred to me to chase down someone with 22" custom rims and ask where he got his work done. But I love that idea.

 

[dibbons]

Paid $300 for custom dual exhaust for 1972 Satellite at 209 Muffler and Performance in Stockton, CA. I provided the two purple hornies and they supplied the aluminized tubing and everything else. The tailpipes exit in front of the rear tires. The work was commendable.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4BvryeGDOY"]1972 Plymouth AVI video - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Beatnik]

Just buy a universal kit from Summit or somewhere and have a buddy weld it up! Got this done on the Duster just recently! Way nicer and more reasonable than the hack at muffler man or uber priced custom shop! Plus all mandrel bent! Credit goes to my friend Andre (Ironside on FABO) for the work! He did a badass job!

 

[Woods74]

You don't need to weld anything.... Order up a kit and slam it together. Get some grease on those fingers.

 

[stroked340]

I have a local shop here do my exhaust excellent job every time,and its done exactely the way i want it,find a good shop and have it done YOUR way...

 

[72bluNblu]

You don't need to weld anything.... Order up a kit and slam it together. Get some grease on those fingers.

You don't NEED to weld it, but I would strongly recommend it. Otherwise you'll end up with 12, yes, 12, exhaust clamps in your system. While having that many joints is a good thing when you're getting everything fit and tucked up under the car, it's not going to work for the long term. That's just 12 different places for your exhaust to leak. And it will.

And then there's the really fun stuff! I dropped my entire exhaust system off of my Challenger when I had it clamped together like that. Dragged over a speed bump. A few blocks later getting on the freeway on ramp the whole system fell off the headpipes and started sliding on the pavement. I loosened up a couple of clamps to break it down the rest of the way (it only went to the rear axle at the time), threw it in the trunk and drove home with open headers. Started welding everything together after that. Only clamps I leave in the system are at the mufflers.

 

[lou3500]

500$ front to bumper installed, alumanized 2 1/4 bumped to 2 1/2 for mufflers [Magna Packs] and S.S.tips, Tarpon Springs Fla.

 

[Woods74]

You don't NEED to weld it, but I would strongly recommend it. Otherwise you'll end up with 12, yes, 12, exhaust clamps in your system. While having that many joints is a good thing when you're getting everything fit and tucked up under the car, it's not going to work for the long term. That's just 12 different places for your exhaust to leak. And it will.

And then there's the really fun stuff! I dropped my entire exhaust system off of my Challenger when I had it clamped together like that. Dragged over a speed bump. A few blocks later getting on the freeway on ramp the whole system fell off the headpipes and started sliding on the pavement. I loosened up a couple of clamps to break it down the rest of the way (it only went to the rear axle at the time), threw it in the trunk and drove home with open headers. Started welding everything together after that. Only clamps I leave in the system are at the mufflers.

This is why I use a #8-10 self-tapping lath screw at the joints, right under the clamps, locks them in. Problem solved!

I'm not opposed to welding; it's just a major pain in the *** and I can never commit to a pipe clocking. So far so good with clamps, sure there's some black soot at the joints, but not enough of a reason to pull the system and weld it up, one day maybe. It's also a pain in the *** to remove sections after being clamped together properly. So it's not going to magically spring a leak.

I like your rear section hangars.

I've done this both ways and the whole debate, clamp vs weld is old hat. The sky hasn't fallen yet!

OP, do what you want to, your going to anyway...