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An important part of any high-performance engine is the exhaust system. Always wanting to extract every last pony of horsepower out of our project vehicles, the discussion of exhaust systems led us to the topic of mandrel bent pipe does not have the slightly restrictive crimps found in traditional exhaust pipe. For those of you who don't know, mandrel bent pipe does not have the slightly restrictive crimps found in traditional exhaust pipe that is bent on-sight at your local exhaust shop. Mandrel-bent exhaust pipe is the same diameter at all points, so it offers less restriction to the exhaust gasses.
At that point the question became, "If you don't use the standard bending systems found in your local muffler shop, how do you fabricate a mandrel bent exhaust system?" To build an exhaust system like this one you need to acquire several mandrel bent pipe sections and weld them together. MagnaFlow offers theses mandrel bent tubes in various diameters (2-inches to 3-inches), materials (aluminized steel or stainless steel) and in a host of bends (45 to 90 degrees along with 180 degree U-bends). Of course they also offer some excellent stainless steel mufflers that you are probably more familiar with. The straight-through, free-flowing MagnaFlow mufflers will offer us a throaty, aggressive sound and minimal back pressure.
Wanting to actually see what is involved in such an installation we turned to J-Sins B&M Muffler in Corona, California where Jason Garrett had a radical exhaust system in store for us. Jason is an expert when it comes to installing muffler systems like this one, so I followed along as he installed the system on a '67 Chevelle (for that matter he could have done this on just about any car, truck or SUV). Because each pipe must be cut to fit and then welded in place, and because there can be as many as ten sections on one side of the car, it takes longer to install a mandrel-bent system like this, and thus the cost is greater. But the performance, sound and look are worth it.
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