.colin
03-15-2011, 02:37 PM
Nobody makes or carries a straight pipe axleback so I decided to make my own. The 5zigen Superlap is the closest thing to what I was looking for, but I wasn't about to spend 400 dollars on some bent pipe. In Japan a company named 3Q Cars makes a straight pipe axleback, but nobody in the USA carries their product so I was out of luck. I already have a Spoon N1 midpipe, and I like keeping the stock axleback attached when driving around town. But for some days or when racing I wanted to make a little more noise. Not a lot of axlebacks exist for our cars, let alone ones that look good. I also wasn't about to commit to a catback since I would loose the ability to swap out the axleback if I got tired of all the noise.
Picture of the 3Q axleback:
http://carview-img04.bmcdn.jp/carlife/images/UserCarPat/1143368/p1.jpg
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/4775/ssdsd.jpg
So here it is my DIY for making a straight pipe axleback. I purposely kept the fabrication light so it could be made by anyone. Of course you can go to a muffler shop and they could make one, but the places around me quoted me some staggering figures and I don't like the idea of letting other people touch my car. This was just easier and I was able to build it how I wanted.
1) First thing I did was order an RSX Type S axleback off eBay. This would serve as the donor for getting the correct flange and bend in the pipe. A base RSX axleback won't work, the flanges are welded on at a different angle. This cost me around 70 bucks shipped to my door. There is a whole bunch floating around on eBay, the one I bought advertised a 2 1/2" pipe diameter. The other ones advertise 2" or 2 1/4". They may all be the same in reality, I have no idea. But the one I bought eventually turned out to be 2 3/8"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110647668485&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT
2) Once I got the eBay exhaust, I hacked off the muffler right where the pipe enters. I took a measurement of the wall thickness and the diameter of the pipe to make sure the section of pipe I bought was the same. Turns out it was 2 3/8" OD x 18 Gage (.049) wall.
3) I ordered an 18" piece (same length as the fart can I chopped off) of 2 3/8" OD x 18 Gage 304 stainless steel tubing from this website - www.profabrication.com. This was the cheapest place I found to get a piece of tubing in 1" increments. I liked the look of raw stainless, you can use whatever you want if you wanted a polished tip or other finish.
4) At the same time I ordered a nice clamp to attach my hangers. I use mcmaster.com at work, they have everything and it was easy to find what I wanted. The part number of the clamp I bought is - 5204K12. You could use any worm gear hose clamp, I just liked the design of this clamp and because it was stainless steel.
5)This is the only step where I needed outside assistance. I took my 18" piece of pipe and what was left of the RSX axleback down to a muffler shop and asked them to expand the pipe so it fit over the RSX axleback pipe. They did this for free! If you’re not as lucky I can’t imagine it costing more than a few bucks.
6)I had some scrap metal laying around my work for the hangers. I ended up using 3/8" OD stainless steel tubing.
7)Now that I had all my parts and pieces, it was time to start putting it all together. I bought some JB weld to attach the 2 pieces of pipe together. First thing I did was clean all the surfaces with some scotchbrite and denatured alcohol. The slip fit connection between the 2 pipes was already extremely tight so I wasn’t worried about it coming apart, but just to make sure I loaded up the pipes with the JB weld and slid them overtop of each other.
8) I fit up the exhaust to the car, saw where I wanted it to exit, and bent my hangers accordingly. This was a little trial and error, but eventually I got it. After it was all attached and hung I ended up chopping off 3” of the exhaust because it stuck out too far.
9) To finish it off I ran my scotchbrite over everything to get rid of any imperfections and to get rid of the writing on the tubing.
Overall I’m satisfied with my little project. It’s exactly what I wanted and only cost about 100 bucks to make.
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/980/img6070g.jpg
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9861/img1290e.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5845/img5099bd.jpg
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/5991/img4883m.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9744/img3993s.jpg
http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/4507/img2786.jpg
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/7549/img2412tm.jpg
Picture of the 3Q axleback:
http://carview-img04.bmcdn.jp/carlife/images/UserCarPat/1143368/p1.jpg
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/4775/ssdsd.jpg
So here it is my DIY for making a straight pipe axleback. I purposely kept the fabrication light so it could be made by anyone. Of course you can go to a muffler shop and they could make one, but the places around me quoted me some staggering figures and I don't like the idea of letting other people touch my car. This was just easier and I was able to build it how I wanted.
1) First thing I did was order an RSX Type S axleback off eBay. This would serve as the donor for getting the correct flange and bend in the pipe. A base RSX axleback won't work, the flanges are welded on at a different angle. This cost me around 70 bucks shipped to my door. There is a whole bunch floating around on eBay, the one I bought advertised a 2 1/2" pipe diameter. The other ones advertise 2" or 2 1/4". They may all be the same in reality, I have no idea. But the one I bought eventually turned out to be 2 3/8"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110647668485&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT
2) Once I got the eBay exhaust, I hacked off the muffler right where the pipe enters. I took a measurement of the wall thickness and the diameter of the pipe to make sure the section of pipe I bought was the same. Turns out it was 2 3/8" OD x 18 Gage (.049) wall.
3) I ordered an 18" piece (same length as the fart can I chopped off) of 2 3/8" OD x 18 Gage 304 stainless steel tubing from this website - www.profabrication.com. This was the cheapest place I found to get a piece of tubing in 1" increments. I liked the look of raw stainless, you can use whatever you want if you wanted a polished tip or other finish.
4) At the same time I ordered a nice clamp to attach my hangers. I use mcmaster.com at work, they have everything and it was easy to find what I wanted. The part number of the clamp I bought is - 5204K12. You could use any worm gear hose clamp, I just liked the design of this clamp and because it was stainless steel.
5)This is the only step where I needed outside assistance. I took my 18" piece of pipe and what was left of the RSX axleback down to a muffler shop and asked them to expand the pipe so it fit over the RSX axleback pipe. They did this for free! If you’re not as lucky I can’t imagine it costing more than a few bucks.
6)I had some scrap metal laying around my work for the hangers. I ended up using 3/8" OD stainless steel tubing.
7)Now that I had all my parts and pieces, it was time to start putting it all together. I bought some JB weld to attach the 2 pieces of pipe together. First thing I did was clean all the surfaces with some scotchbrite and denatured alcohol. The slip fit connection between the 2 pipes was already extremely tight so I wasn’t worried about it coming apart, but just to make sure I loaded up the pipes with the JB weld and slid them overtop of each other.
8) I fit up the exhaust to the car, saw where I wanted it to exit, and bent my hangers accordingly. This was a little trial and error, but eventually I got it. After it was all attached and hung I ended up chopping off 3” of the exhaust because it stuck out too far.
9) To finish it off I ran my scotchbrite over everything to get rid of any imperfections and to get rid of the writing on the tubing.
Overall I’m satisfied with my little project. It’s exactly what I wanted and only cost about 100 bucks to make.
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/980/img6070g.jpg
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9861/img1290e.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5845/img5099bd.jpg
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/5991/img4883m.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9744/img3993s.jpg
http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/4507/img2786.jpg
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/7549/img2412tm.jpg