Need Exhaust Recommendations

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GTXperience

GTXperience

Orig Stealth Mod
Joined
Jul 13, 2007
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Location
Sacramento Area, CA
Here's the scenario. The '71 Dart has a 318 that the PO had an aftermarket 4bbl induction installed. Besides a Flamethrower coil, that's it for the mods. The car still has single exhaust on it. I want to put dual exhaust on it (no headers). Because the Dart is what it is, I am trying to do this on the cheap.

Every exhaust shop I've been to wants to put new pipes/mufflers on it and I am getting prices in the $510-$600 range (which isn't in the budget). I don't mind spending this kind of money on one of the nicer cars but I have told myself that this needs to be done as cost-effectively as possible.

I started thinking really cheap when I thought that I could just have a passenger pipe run and then figured out that I would still need to get two new mufflers since I do not want to run two different mufflers.

One other possibility is that there is a gent selling a complete setup off of a '73 340 Dart Sport (one piece pipes from the flanges to the factory exhaust tips). Granted, he doesn't know what mufflers they are (they look like OEM replacements) and I believe the flanges/headpipes are going to have to be replaced/reinstalled since the angles are more than likely going to be off.

BTW: '73 340s used 360 exhaust manifolds, correct? Do they by any chance have the same headpipe flange angle as a 318? If I could just bolt these up, that would be fantastic. Can anyone think of any other issue(s) with using this exhaust on the Dart?

If anyone close by has any old exhaust pipes (especially a pass side) off of an A-body, let me know. This goes for exhaust tips to. They don't need to be OEM tips, just have an opening like one. I might as well add in mufflers too (center inlets/offset outlets with 2"-2.25" openings).

TIA
 
Ben, I am surprised at the lack of manifold-back exhaust systems vs header-back availability on the internet. Have you thought about maybe purchasing one of the Summit/Jegs header kits and having the shop fabricate attachments to the manifolds? This should keep your cost down to around $200-250 total? The only drawback is that you would be running 2 1/2, which is a little bigger than what you need. I had 2 1/2 on a stock 318 2bbl Dart Sport in the mid 90's and it still burned the one-legger down the road. So much for loss of torque...
 
I absolutely agree. 2.5 inch system from one of the above vendors, plus a couple bucks at the local shop, to make the manifold to intermediate pipes, and you will be golden.
2.5 might be slight overkill, but it will allow it to breath, and it should handle just about anything else that might pop up, such as a larger, better breathing engine (408 Stroker, MMMMM)
 
I agree. Get the Jegs/Summit kit and have the head pipes added to the manifolds. 2.5 may be over kill for it but it beats paying $500
 
I think Jegs or Sumitt sell a 2.25 piped kit. Reguardless, the Jegs kit I used fit well and needs a minor trim at the tail pipe by the bumper. The surplied mufflers are not to loud and sound OK.
 
I agree with everyone else GTX the jegs or summit kits will probably be your best bet as far as inexpensive and everything you need to install it short of getting them hooked up to the manifolds but that shouldn't be too much money hopefully.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I really appreciate it. I think I will go ahead and purchase one of the kits and have the headpipe modified. I am hoping that there is a 2.25 setup available because I would feel much more comfortable with that vs anything larger for this application.

The only other concern is the labor charge. I don't think it's going to be $50-$100 like some think. I will have to nail that down before I commit to it. Again, thanks.
 
I just got charged $150 for adding 1.5 ft from collectors to existing exhaust plus they welded up where po just tacked it and added 4 brackets/hangers.
 
That sounds about right for our area and that does not include removing the old setup and hanging the new one. Who knows, maybe going with the system quoted (w/MagnaFlow mufflers) from one of the local shops might end up being in the same ballpark.
 
Man i'm glad i don't live down by you guys the local shop here just did the same thing for a guy i know that had headers on the previous motor and then put in a 318 with manifolds so they had to hook his exhaust back up to the manifolds I think they charged him 50 bucks if i remember right. I guess it would cost a little more if your gonna have them hang the whole system though. Whats the possibility of you running the system and bolting it up loose and taking it to the exhaust shop on your trailer to let them throw the pipes on from the manifolds to the exhaust system. It seems like it would save you some money. Even still the 2.5 inch system from jegs is 189.00 + the handling charge of like 11.95 i think plus 200.00 labor your at about 400.00 and the jegs kit is mandrel bent so is the summit but its a couple bucks more. They just seem like a better kit than what you would get at the local exhaust place but I may be wrong. Good Luck Justin
 
I had my exhaust system done at a local Midas shop,
the Albany NY one, thats near Armory Garage {Local Chrysler dealership}

The man who did the work took his time, and did a superb job,
I talked to him before he did the job, and he suggested I get
Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers rather than use the Midas turbos,
he was also glad to use the 1969 era 340 chrome tips I had.

It was worth the extra money to have a custom installed job done.

Yes it was about $500 but I still think it was worth it.
 
cavemanmoron said:
I had my exhaust system done at a local Midas shop,
the Albany NY one, thats near Armory Garage {Local Chrysler dealership}

The man who did the work took his time, and did a superb job,
I talked to him before he did the job, and he suggested I get
Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers rather than use the Midas turbos,
he was also glad to use the 1969 era 340 chrome tips I had.

It was worth the extra money to have a custom installed job done.

Yes it was about $500 but I still think it was worth it.
Click to expand...

Caveman, usually I would have no problem throwing down the extra cash for something like this but with three motors now at the machine shop and what I call my keeper cars looking for some TLC, I have to try and draw the line somewhere on Joyce's car that is used mainly on the weekends as a Sunday driver. The single exhaust on it is fine right now and pulling an extra $200-$300 (let alone $500-$600) away for the other projects is difficult. Sometimes, I wish I only had one car to focus on because I know it would actually be done by now. Thank you for your input and btw: I absolutely agree with using the Dynomax mufflers - must sound great.
 
Again, thanks everyone for the feedback. I just ordered the Sumit kit and even got $30 off by using some Summit bucks so the total was $177.70. Even with the fabing up of the headpipe for the exhaust manifolds, I don't hink I can wrong here.

Now, does anyone have a set of tips that they would be willing to sell or trade? At this point, some nice used OEMs or aftermarkets that look something like the OEMS would be fine. Let me know what you have. I'd like to find something before installing the new system. TIA.
 
Dusterboy15 had a nice set for sale. I think Crackedback has his email address.
 
GTX, saw a pair of original 340 duster tips on e-bay the other day. They looked used, but good. The seller wanted 75 bucks buy it now, but I just looked & they are gone. Only thing I can find is the re-pro tips & they run around $125-$130 bucks a set. Plus an extra $60 bucks for the hangers. Out of your price range I would imagine. Your local muffler shop might have a nice set of tips tho...

E-bay tips. $129.95
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1968...019QQitemZ290172624870QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V
 
Bigmacdak said:
GTX, saw a pair of original 340 duster tips on e-bay the other day. They looked used, but good. The seller wanted 75 bucks buy it now, but I just looked & they are gone. Only thing I can find is the re-pro tips & they run around $125-$130 bucks a set. Plus an extra $60 bucks for the hangers. Out of your price range I would imagine. Your local muffler shop might have a nice set of tips tho...

E-bay tips. $129.95
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1968...019QQitemZ290172624870QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V
Click to expand...

Bigmac, thanks for checking for me. I appreciate it. You are correct, the repop tips/hangers are not in the budget for the '71. You are also correct that the exhaust shop does have some tips that I am considering but thought I would check here first. I'd rather give my money to someone here than to the exhaust shop.
 
GTX, set it up with the Noise Reduction package like the factory did. Not sure if 71's had it but they used a tighter muffler and turned down tailpipes instead of the chrome tips. You could tell everyone that it is stock on yours that way :):). I might still have mine in the basement, not sure if we used them on another car or not. I know I have the noise reduction stock 340 Duster mufflers still.
Tom
 
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