V6 exhaust: Should I buy a DYI kit or take it to a mechanic?
 

I'm wondering if there's any benefit to either buying a DIY kit compared to taking my car to a mechanic, in terms of price and quality (sound and performance). It seems like the kits would be cheaper, but from what I've read from the forums some of you have had the work done for far less.

Obviously it depends on the kit you want or the mechanic you choose. I don't have any "mechanic friends," so I don't have the luxury of that sort of discount.

What route should I take? To be honest I haven't called anyone locally for a price quote. I just supposed that buying the kit and doing it myself would be cheaper.

Also, I don't have a specific setup picked out yet... I'd like to go with true duals but as of yet I haven't decided what to buy.

The mechanic is going to do the same thing your doing. Hes going to buy an exhaust system and install it.

The only difference is who installs it. The quality of the install varies depending on your mechanical skill.

So unless the mechanic buys a shit exhaust system I likely wont be paying any cheaper than I would if I got one myself.

get a custom exhaust system with dumps

The cheapest thing to do would be to buy the mufflers and tips you want and have a mechanic fabricate the rest. It cost me $200 for two mufflers and two tips and another $200 for the mechanic to fabricate the rest of the exhaust and install it.

Switch that's a great idea! Thanks!

Just buy a catback. bolt it on. done.

+1. That's what I'm doing. I ordered a mac catback and it's on backorder right now. I paid 303 and some change. I called the muffler shop that I got up the road and they said if I supplied the mufflers and tips they would charge 250. I'm just going to bolt up a catback and later get the y pipe removed. That should end up being cheaper.

Go to an exhaust shop. Have it made up for you, and have it welded..

That bolt on shit sucks. Things get loose, you roll over something and the bolts bend or something breaks..

The benefit of welding - leaks don't occur unless its a poor weld (most guys that have been working in a muffler shop don't do a bad job, and its normally TIG) Even if you bend it, good chance the weld isn't going to break..

Also, you'll spend what..300+ dollars on a exhaust system?

For 350 I had the Y Pipe cut, H pipe welded in, two magnaflow mufflers dumped before the rear axle..and am much happier with it all.

Update- I've been to two so-called "exhaust" shops thus far and they are giving me the run around in this setup. The first one wouldn't even give me a quote because supposedly "they don't make one for the v6." The second shop at least understood that a GT system would work. They wanted $800 for the work, NOT including mufflers or tips...

I took mine in to a place on saturday they cut the y welded in straights back to new mufflers (no H or X) and gave me tips for 200 out the door

When I got mine, I did the basic work of taking off the stock and putting the new catback on (first mod I've ever done with a car), but was having trouble getting everything to fit correctly. I just took it down to a Midas and they actually fixed it for free, since it wasn't a huge job. I'd imagine that if you can get MOST of the work done and then take it to a shop, you'd probably be looking at $50 at most.

Hey guys. Had the work done on Friday. I ended installing the MAC exhaust. I found a shop that would do the install and hook it up to my cats. Total for parts & labor came out to $231

It sounds great!

Gj a full custom would be nice. But..hey..you got a hell of a deal.

The other two shops are either morons, or just don't want to make money. Thats their fuckup though.

Congrats on your exhaust.

when i first got my true dual set up i paid just 300 for the work(makin it true dual) plus dual glasspacks(i wias a newb then) and 3 in. tips..but i need to my whole set up redone since ive had it cut and chopped by 3 different places