Took my 96 SR5 to CarX last week to have them quote me replacement of everything from the back of the cat (cat-back). About fell outta my chair when they showed me $647! Today I stopped off at Advance Auto looking for mandrel bends and just mentally putting together the piece parts I'd need to do it myself. As an aside, I asked him if they had any kits for DIYers. He said they source mufflers from Walker, so I asked him to look up a QuietFlow system. He looked up my vehicle, showed me a pre-bent system, and quoted me $167 for all parts from the cat back (includes all clamps and hangers and is a 'no welding necessary' system). I have a welder, but figure I'd rather clamp at this point, cause I might end up swapping in a Gibson later. This beats the systems I've seen on ebay (after adding in the shipping costs)
Anyone else do their own exhaust? First time for me and just looking for any tips from those that've been down this road.
The Following User Says Thank You to 65riv For This Useful Post:
Finished the exhaust system today. For those considering replacing everytihing rearward of the catalytic converter, you may want to consider replacing it yourself. Though I've replaced trannies and rebuild engines and front ends, I'd never attempted an exhaust system.
Took some pics, but haven't tried posting em here before.
Cost ended up about $175 vs CarX's $650 quote. The definitive tool is a reciprocating saw, which made short work of cutting through the bolts holding the catpipe flange to the intermediate pipe flange. Once you're through those, at least one end of each bolt should fall to the floor. Then just tap the other with a center punch and hammer (through the hole left by the side that fell out).
A couple 'materials' things to mention. The Walker kit ordered from AdvanceAuto came with the intermediate pipe, muffler, and tailpipe. Period. So if you're not welding, pick up a couple of 2 1/4" clamps from the store. Also, make sure they order the gasket that goes between the catpipe flange and the intermediate pipe flange, cuz the old one will not be reusable. Also grab a couple of stout bolts and nuts, with four washers (two on each end of each bolt). These are for holding the cat and intermediate flanges together.
I reused the OEM rubber hangers. One tip is that a drop of oil placed on the tip of the metal will make it easy to pull the old muffler hangers through the rubber. The hangers on mine had a nipple on the end of he steel, making them a lil tough to pull through at first.
All in all, on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the hardest), I'd call this a 1.5. Very satsifying when done. Would have taken two hours, except the guy forgot to order the flange gasket. Oh, one last tip: a paper yard waste bag makes a nice mat for laying on when working under the truck. Beats the hell out of concrete when the weather's 0-10 degrees in there. ;-)
The Following User Says Thank You to 65riv For This Useful Post:
65,
Thanks for detailing this. I've got 3 leaks back of the cat which I've been ignoring since they're under the bed and not the cab... but my muffler is starting to sound like hell too. I was nervous about getting the bolts off, but I happen to have a cordless sawzall.
When cutting the bolts off did you take any precautions to avoid killing the cat-end pipe? Did you just cut the bolts off from the muffler side, not worrying about the bracket? Were the parts at all rusted together otherwise?
I've been putting this one off worrying about that separation.
I haven't been underneath my T since the before-purchase peek for excessive rust or leaks, but I've done exhausts before. The Sawzall sounds like a nice trick - I used to use bolt cutters to pretty good effect, too.
When cutting the bolts off did you take any precautions to avoid killing the cat-end pipe? Did you just cut the bolts off from the muffler side, not worrying about the bracket? Were the parts at all rusted together otherwise?
Cheers,
Rob
Yeah, the two bolts were solid rust. So much in fact, that the heads weren't shaped enough to grab hold of. The bolts went through the flanges (~6 inch wide plates) that hold the end of the cat pipe to the front end of the intermediate pipe. So I cut with the sawzall coming in from the side, so as to split the plates and cut the bolts at their midpoint. Didn't damage either flange. Keep the intermediate pipe attached to its hangers as you cut though (for safety).
Those two bolts were as surgical as you need to be with the sawzall. Once those are off, you can pretty much just cut the rest of the pieces off: intermediate pipe to muffler connection, muffler to tailpipe, then maybe cut that tailpipe in half so the garbage men take it. Again, watch the clamps and weight coming down on you.
I highly recommend trying it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
hey 93T100cook, a "cat" is what you are calling the converter, and i have never seen a header-back system for the T, not saying theres not one there, i take it yours is a 93, and your cat is bout to fall off, id hate to see my 3.4 without a cat...cause i currently am mufflerless, and boy she is LOUD!!
but i refuse to redo my exhaust system until i install the stainless headers on the truck
93T100cook, i'd probably start by calling your local auto parts (Advanced Auto, NAPA, etc) and see what they carry and for what $. You might also want to have Midas, CarX quote you, cuz it'll help with the motivation factor -- a lot!
The Walker kit from Advanced bolted right up, but I didn't have to mess with the cat or anything forward of it. I know you read this post, but let me just underline reciprocating saw Let us know which way you go with this, cost, etc.
Hartzog is correct. The cat is rusted and detached on the end closest to the manifold. I will call advanced and discuss the Walker kits. I also got the quote for replacement before I posted. Believe me, I'm motivated.
I have another question. I've heard of "headers" over the years, but really don't know exactly what they are. Can someone explain.
RIV: NAPA has the parts I need to replace the system, but i'm assuming they need to be welded together?...which is something I can't do. Hence the kit....
Also, Does anyone know if they could weld the converter to the pipe, or if that's advisable?
I'll try to get a few pics tonight and get a closer look underneath. I need to trace the pipe from the cat to the manifold and make sure its ok as well.
My AutoZone $180 (shipped) cat-back exhaust showed up today. Took me about a good hour to pull the old one out and put in the new one. Don't fergit yer new crush gasket!! Most of the time was working the bolts free and then wiggling the old exhaust out. I ended up jacking the truck up so I could git more clearance under there to maneuver the new exhaust system in. Not a bad job fer just around $200 cash and my time.
Looking at my old exhaust...I can count about 20+ holes in it...
I can't really tell if it's any louder or not...haven't driven it on the road yet...but that's coming. Time to go git it inspected now...
Bam, yup that's the friggin gasket that did NOT come with the Walker kit I bought from Advanced. Didn't realize it til I cut the old away and started the install. Had to wait a day for that to show up (was around $6 I think). From the price, sounds like you went stock. What brand did you go with?
RIV: NAPA has the parts I need to replace the system, but i'm assuming they need to be welded together?...which is something I can't do. Hence the kit....
I didn't do anything from the cat to the front. But if the connections are male/female you should be able to do it with clamps alone. The kit I got did not come with clamps. I have a welding machine, but it was around 0 degrees when I installed the kit and I just couln't see the benefit of welding. I was also thinking of swapping a performance muffler on there at some point, and since all I did was clamp the muffler, I can do that if I want. Just remember, if you weld on, you'll need to burn off. btw,I checked today and the exhaust system is completely solid, nothing loose at all. So the clamps will hold. It's just personal preference whether you weld or not.
65riv, i would check often, atleast for the first month or so, after that the metal should have heated up and cooled down enough to get good and snugg, i had a pipe on my T100 clamped and failed to check it and tighten it and in about 3 weeks as i was driving down the road with mom, i hear....CLANK CLANK, and it fell off, luckily the nice man behind me had work gloves, folled me home and dropped my pipes off for me, i figured, hey i should be nice, so i gave the man a $5 bill, and thanked him greatly, cause that pipe had my muffler on it also, and it was a $75 magnaflow, sounded alright, lol
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Discussion forum for the short-lived but extremely popular Toyota T-100 model.
exhaust system alternatives (DIY)
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