Flexible Exhaust "Test Pipe"

[HiImBrian]

So I got the idea to fab up a piece of pipe to swap out with my muffler at the drop of a hat. Essentially go from muffled to straight-piped and back again. I've heard it called a "test pipe".

I've got a spare flange to use, but I'm having issues with finding a piece of pipe. All the shops by me want $40-$60 for a 3ft piece of pipe with 1 "slight" bend in it. Maybe it's me, but that's BS.

The only solution I've been able to come up with so far is to use a piece of flexible pipe. It can be had at Advance Auto for around $10. Has anyone used this piping before? This will not be a "permanent" solution, but it may be left on for a little while if I like the way it sounds or sufficiently pisses off my neighbors

In the State of Florida, I can pretty much cut off my exhaust at the headers and get away with it if I wanted to; but I think that would be a little too much...

 

[DanielJ]

I was actually going to post a question about this.. No joke. I bought a tip for mine just to get under it and find out the guy i bought it from cut the pipe down to where its under my cabin(which explains the smells of exhaust all the time) but it has a curve to it so i cant put the tip on. Is that flexible pipe strong enough to hold a tip with clamps and what not? think it could potentially fix this problem?

 

[HiImBrian]

I was actually going to post a question about this.. No joke. I bought a tip for mine just to get under it and find out the guy i bought it from cut the pipe down to where its under my cabin(which explains the smells of exhaust all the time) but it has a curve to it so i cant put the tip on. Is that flexible pipe strong enough to hold a tip with clamps and what not? think it could potentially fix this problem?

You have to get it out from underneath the body to keep the CO2 out of the cab and use pipe hangers to support it.

My question was directed more toward the durability of the flex pipe, and I would only need to use 2.5'-3' of it...

 

[DanielJ]

I know, thats why i was wondering if i could do this. Ill have to get some and pipe hangers to give this a shot. I noticed it mainly when i throttle really hard or when im sitting in park idling.

 

[Teejay4490]

Just my 2 cents but flex pipe sucks

 

[streetessencems]

1. Its not legal, at least in my area
2. I used to sell it at my store, its horrible, it leaks, it does not have any strength, you would have to support it every 2 ft.
3. Its probably going to be too loud

If it were me, i would probably just buy a decent muffler the first time. But i hate exhaust work to begin with.

 

[Teejay4490]

Yeah what he said

 

[HiImBrian]

1. Its not legal, at least in my area
2. I used to sell it at my store, its horrible, it leaks, it does not have any strength, you would have to support it every 2 ft.
3. Its probably going to be too loud

If it were me, i would probably just buy a decent muffler the first time. But i hate exhaust work to begin with.

Yeah man definitely re-read my first post and check my signature. I've got a Magnaflow cat-back on it already, so I've got a nice muffler. And like I said I could just run headers and it'd be legal where I'm at. I want it to be loud, that's the point of it being temporary. I can swap with my muffler whenever I want.

Your #2 is helpful though. Thats the opinion that I wanted... What's everyone else's feelings about it as a temporary solution?

 

[Black Dynomite]

Do you mean a cutout like this?.

Would you need to re-tune every time you swap between pipes?

 

[HiImBrian]

Do you mean a cutout like this?.

Would you need to re-tune every time you swap between pipes?

Essentially yeah. That's just a fancy version. All I want is a 2.5 foot pipe that I can swap with my muffler. It's all bolt together anyways...

Ideally I'd like to not re-tune every swap. Say I want to go off road. I don't want to put a hole in my nice fancy muffler, so I swap in the piece of pipe instead.

 

[DanielJ]

So its pretty much not worth a try then? Whats the cheapest way to get my exhaust from where it is to about 1.5 feet out to the side so the exhaust doesnt fill my cabin. Could i use just a plain metal pipe to just extend it?

 

[Inspector13]

My suggestion would be an electric exhaust cutout (they also have manual exhaust cutouts here --->http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-670136/. They are a bit more expensive but I would say that it is far better for what you want. Flex pipe is horrible stuff from my experience. I used it once to make a test pipe (which is actually a pipe that goes from your manifolds/headers to your cat-back that has no cats in it). It allowed the entire exhaust to rattle against the heat shields and it leaked a little bit. In my opinion the money saved isn't worth it.

 

[Wills05xlt4x4]

^^^^^^^
That's what I was going to do for my s10 V8..true duals extremely quiet, sleeper style then those for racing etc just dump it just past the cab...

 

[HiImBrian]

My suggestion would be an electric exhaust cutout (they also have manual exhaust cutouts here --->http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-670136/. They are a bit more expensive but I would say that it is far better for what you want. Flex pipe is horrible stuff from my experience. I used it once to make a test pipe (which is actually a pipe that goes from your manifolds/headers to your cat-back that has no cats in it). It allowed the entire exhaust to rattle against the heat shields and it leaked a little bit. In my opinion the money saved isn't worth it.

It was my understanding that a "test pipe" was anything used to temporarily omit an element of an exhaust system, muffler or cat.

I won't need to do it on the fly, so I'm going to pass on any kind of switch. I found a guy to fab up a pipe for me for 40 bucks, and I'm going to try and get him to pull my third cat while he's at it. I'll have an update this afternoon.

 

[DanielJ]

This is what im working with currently, do you think it would be possible to cut that curve going downwards to a straight, then get just a piece of pipe to slide over thats already there to extend it to the outside of my ex so the exhaust isnt going into my cabin? Since the flex stuff is a bad ill take your word and not waste time on it. Just wondering if my plan would work.

 

[Inspector13]

HiImBrian ~ Usually when I see test pipe it is in reference to the mid-pipe just without cats. I haven't seen it in reference to mufflers but then again I don't know everything about cars either. So it very well could be. The manual cut-outs may be more your style. They are $40 I believe. See if your exhaust guy can put that in place of your 3ed cat maybe??? That would be cool IMO.


DanialJ ~ Because of the hanger right there it may have to be welded on to keep it in place. If your looking to run it out the side in front of the rear tire you could, but the pipe is going to hang a little low as it will have to go under your frame. With some more piping and some bends you could make it come out just behind the rear tire or the back if you'd like. I had a dumped exhaust on my old 1974 Nova. I had the turn downs angled down and to the side so it was at a 45* angle to the ground. The only time I got that exhaust smell in the car was if I had to idle for a couple minutes (ie traffic jams, traffic stops).