New Exhaust (56k, hold your horses)

[Whumbachumba]

Tanabe Hyper Super Medallion, 425 dollars, 6 hours of labor. 5.5 installing, .5 cleaning. Pictures, and lots of them.

[jeffcoslacker]

Yikes. I wouldn't pay more than $25 for a muffler with rolled seams, whether it's mirrored or not.



It does look nice, though.

[Whumbachumba]

Well, it was better than paying 750 bucks for it.

[jeffcoslacker]

Definately.

Don't get me wrong. I like the look.

I'm just partial to welded chamber mufflers that look like crap but sound great and don't blow out when 400 hp backfires through them.

[Whumbachumba]

I wish I knew what the difference was on the seams. If you could explain, thanks, and infact, this might get more response in a different forums, but I don't know which...

[jeffcoslacker]

It's just the way the endcaps and outer casing are put together, they use a machine that overlaps the ends of the metal, folding them together then rolling them to create a gas tight seal. That's the "bead" you see at both ends and the seam along the bottom of the shell.

It's standard muffler construction, low-cost and effective, the only drawbacks are that since they are essentially just pressed together, not physically joined, the seam can (under extreme stress) open up. And it creates a place for moisture holding dirt to collect, eventually leading to rusting.

The thing is, to get a high-polish, mirrored effect like you now have, you couldn't really do it any other way, as the welding process discolors and distorts the metal around the weld, so it would look like hell.

Rolled seams give very crisp lines with no distortion around them.

[jeffcoslacker]

This is a three chamber 16 gauge aluminized steel fully mig-welded chamber can. Ugly, but indestructable and great sound.

[jeffcoslacker]

I did some looking into Tanabe's construction. Wow! They are serious. All laser-cut, all joining and welding done in-house, looks like an excellent product.

There's a lot more precision in that system you have than at first glance. Nice choice!

[Whumbachumba]

Thanks. It was definetly worth the money, great looks and great sound. Now I just need to get the money for the drop and rims or spend that 3k on a supercharger.

[jeffcoslacker]

You got that system at about half price from what I see listed...how'd you do that, was it a closeout or something?

I'm seeing like $880 for that system...

[Whumbachumba]

No, I bought it used. Is only a year old too, so there are a few small dings in the pipes and scratches off the tips, but nothing horribly bad.

[jeffcoslacker]

Got any Never-Dull? It kicks ass for getting scratches outta chrome and stainless and protects it from moisture and etching from chemicals and salt.

I use it extensively on my motorcycles.

You can polish cast aluminum to a mirror finish with it if you try hard enough.

[Whumbachumba]

I haven't even heard of it, but I might give it a try some time. I just used Mothers Chrome Polish to clean it, brought the shine out very nicely.