My Personal TTI Full Exhaust Review

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tonysrt, 1974 was the start of the cat converter and the floor did change.
 
Darter6 said:
tonysrt, 1974 was the start of the cat converter and the floor did change.
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The floor pan (on drivers side of the transmission tunnel) changed for 1975 to accommodate the Catalytic converter.
 
I also used the TTI exhaust on my 69 Dart. Quality was great. The drivers side head pipe was a pita to get in. Manifold bolts were hard to get to. Had to cut up a wrench to get the bolts tight. I have a column shifter, and I had to modify the linkage. The only complaint I had, was the head pipes ended right at the trans crossmember. The pipes fit so tight that I couldn't use a standard clamp. I had to order band clamps to keep it from banging on the crossmember. Also, I had to use 2 gaskets at the manifold to get the passenger side tube to clear the trans crossmember. Again, the quality was great. No issues in several years.
 
Dodge72 said:
Hello! If you are here, you're probably either curious about TTI systems, how easy/hard it was to install, or just bored and reading things on FABO. Either way, I thought I would share my own experience installing one of TTI's full manifold-back exhaust systems.

A few things to note. I has never previously dealt with or install any sort of exhaust system. Anything that needed fixing or replacement had gone to a muffler shop, which was cheap enough to warrant the cost. This was also done on a bare concrete floor (okay, we had cardboard) with no garage and some 6-ton jackstands. I also had help from my boyfriend when pipes needed a bit more "love" to get into place.

Okay! So first, what I am dealing with. My car is a 1972 Dart Swinger, with a swapped in 360 on adapter motor mounts from a Slant-6 k-frame. I have 340 HP manifolds. A 904 backs the engine, and I have a 8.25 rear in the back. Stock spring location. I also have the 3-piece factory kickdown linkage, and a column shift. A lot of this matters when considering an exhaust, and TTI likes details; be sure to be accurate as some modifications and/or different PN for different pipes may apply.

Ordering was easy; I filled in their order form online, emailed it to their sales team, and within 24 hours got a confirmation of my order and a way to pay. I got the full exhaust kit within a week from SO. Cali to WA State. All packed up VERY well, and zero damage to anything. I got their manifold-back kit, 2.5" all the way through with the Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers and the H-pipe.

View attachment 1715536819

View attachment 1715536820
(Oh boy, a sticker!!)


The instructions were nice, although some pages were for headers and varying exhaust pipes. Not that it matters. Great info to have especially for a beginner. Pictures were all very clear and things were easy to read. If you want any scans of the instructions, let me know and I'll happily do so.

The kit came with everything you need; from pipes, to gaskets, to hardware. According to the instructions, they suggest starting from back to front. So, that is what we did.

Now I didn't take pictures of the entire process, sorry! But in reality it is only 8 total pieces, and the pipes were each stamped with their part number. so you knew which side was which and if you got the correct parts.

But tailpipes! The easiest part. I opted for the lesser expensive turndowns, but they still had a welded on L-bracket for the exhaust tip mount (included).

View attachment 1715536836 View attachment 1715536838

In the pictures, you can see where we decided to mount these. In the frame there are holes, and it helped to have somebody hold one end of the bolt while the other fit the washers and nut on the other side. Didn't need to drill into anything. We used a flathead screwdriver to push the washers into place, and a deep socket to lock them in. With that installed, wiggle and push that L-bracket of the tailpipe into place until it fully sits in to the bend. I should be sturdy enough to hold the tailpipes up for the next headache---er, install of the mufflers.

Sigh, the muffler hangers....since this was a slant-six (single exhaust) car, I only had one muffler bracket that was crumbling into dust after 48 years. TTI recommends using the rear seat belt bolts, which you can see under the muffler brackets as a rectangle with a bolt sticking out. So, taking out the rear seat, undoing the bolts for the first time in 48 years, and using the provided grade-8 bolts (they are longer). Personally, we needed to tap/clean the threads out. The longer bolts were the same thread, the holes were just very old and rusty. Get those in, go back underneath to install the hangers, aaaand....


View attachment 1715536845 Huh. Doesn't QUITE match up!!

I'm sure with all the slightly different A-body styles, their "universal" bracket doesn't suit everyone. Evidently, it doesn't suit a 2-door 70's Dart. In a video posted on TTI's website on installing their system, they show a Valiant and these suckers pop right into place.

Long story short, we tried to bend them but ended up going down to the part store and picking up the universal brackets. Got them bent up like the pic below, and was able to position the mufflers and the U-Bolt/clamp correctly. (This is Walker PN 36508).

View attachment 1715536823

The rest of it was slightly uneventful, just trying to position the H-pipe and everything in place. Uneventful was good; the pipes really, truly, bent in all the right places and tucked up underneath the car really well. I know a few people warned me on needing to modify the kickdown bracket: fortunately, that was only for console shift cars, and I had a column. Nothing was in the way of the driver's side. Note: I do have a mini-starter. I very much recommend one!

For the passenger side, I did use a 90* oil adapter in able to clear the downpipe (the instructions mention this). I pointed the oil filter towards the firewall, like so:

View attachment 1715536853

I will also mention I used Remflex gaskets (PN 8070). Lots of crush and zero leaks.

The rest was just a few tips which, I suppose would be obvious to a lot but wasn't obvious when we were under the car for the 8th hour:

- Don't tighten anything up until everything is mounted and in the place you want it. We didn't do that, and thankful we didn't because we needed to remove pipes multiple times.

- Install the H-Pipe as a UNIT. Otherwise it will be very difficult/near impossible to get it to mate with the other half of the H-pipe (it slides in) AND the downpipe exit. Install the two sides first, then slide it into both downpipes at the same time.

-When you finally go to tighten it, do yourself a favor and go FRONT TO BACK on tightening. We went gun-ho on it and tightened every single bracket, then ended up undoing some on the downpipes because we needed the flexibility in positioning the flange to the manifold properly. Avoid that.

-Six-ton jackstands really made a difference in lifting the car up a few inches higher so there was more room underneath.

-While we tried to go rear-to-font on the install, it ended up being "test-fit-everything-then-take-it-all-down-and-install-for-real" sort of thing. The final install was actually front to back after we confirmed things fit nicely.

All in all it took me and the boyfriend a total of maybe 9-10 hours to get it all done, including lunch break and part store trip. Overall, SUPER HAPPY. I couldn't ask for better fitting pipes. Everything is super clean and tucks in underneath like it was meant to be. Nothing rattles, nothing shakes. While I could gripe about the hangers, it was only one real misstep that was remedied by a very easy to get part.

View attachment 1715536859 View attachment 1715536860
(Yes, I fixed the crooked mufflers before it was tightened down).

If you're curious on what Dynomax Super Turbos sound on a mild 360:



Personally, maybe a little quiet for me? I'll have to drive it around to see what I think. I do like the tone though. If anything, they can be remedied by their Ultra Flows.

Wow, you read til the end! Maybe I rambled on something as trivial as exhaust, but I know I really appreciate all the long threads and 'how-tos' on FABO. Maybe this will help the next guy. I hope this helps somebody, or at least amused you for a few minutes! :)
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Read with interest and hope to be ordering the system for our 70 Dart soon. I was wondering about modifying the column shift or kickdown linkage but hopefully not. Thanks for posting!
 
Great and detailed write up, thanks for the pictures and suggestions from all of you, especially the O.P.
I'm just curious, how much did the system cost shipped to your door?
Also, what would it be like compared to an Accurate brand exhaust system including price?
Sounds good, BTW!
 
Dartnut said:
Great and detailed write up, thanks for the pictures and suggestions from all of you, especially the O.P.
I'm just curious, how much did the system cost shipped to your door?
Also, what would it be like compared to an Accurate brand exhaust system including price?
Sounds good, BTW!
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Thank you! For my cost, being that it was:

2.5" pipes
H Pipe
With Mufflers
Manifold back

All in was $820 shipped to my door. This was in comparison to around $1,100 for an Accurate system that would be very similar for my application. I've never heard anything bad about Accurate's systems (a few qualms), and they make it a bone stock swap in. I looked the more performance aspect of TTI (and it was cheaper!) and that they also had great reviews. Can't go wrong with either system.
 
Dodge72 said:
Thank you! For my cost, being that it was:

2.5" pipes
H Pipe
With Mufflers
Manifold back

All in was $820 shipped to my door. This was in comparison to around $1,100 for an Accurate system that would be very similar for my application. I've never heard anything bad about Accurate's systems (a few qualms), and they make it a bone stock swap in. I looked the more performance aspect of TTI (and it was cheaper!) and that they also had great reviews. Can't go wrong with either system.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your response.
It sounds like a good deal to me, less money and more power is a win/win situation.
I just heard from several people that the Accurate system although pricey, fits like a glove with no hassles.
But myself, I am all about tinkering with it a bit to make it work like you guys did and especially the bonus of more power and less money to boot.
To me that's a better win/win situation than stock any day of the week!
 
Thank you for posting the great pics. I am going to buy their 3" tail pipes Looks like the 2.5 " fits well.
 
Thanks, I had the exhaust hanger issue. I also luckily had some of the same style exhaust hangers you used/described here at the house. THANKS.
My Dyno-max mufflers had DANGEROUS sharp metal shards on the ends.
Also some of the supplied collector bolts were "too short by a thread", the passenger rear collector bolt would never fit so I had to go down by one bolt size.
This is an outstanding system but you have to ensure that you are patient and get it right, and then tighten it up.... THANKS MAN

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