It would depend on material. Stainless I'd TIG weld solid. Steel exhaust tubing tends to be kinda crappy and a pain to weld. Small diameter mig wire in a wirefeed machine is your friend if you take that route.
Pay a local exhaust shop $150, (steel not stainless) be clear on what you want.
I've done this a couple times, unless you are experienced with exhaust and or have bought a kit. My time is more valuable as I get older. Really depends on if you want everyone to look at your exhaust when you turn turtle or if you are sitting in a mall parking lot with mirrors under your jeep.
Do you plan on having to remove it? I had to cut an almost new exhaust off my 55 Chevy when I put a TKO transmission in it. I had flanges at the headers but the rest was solid. When I had exhaust put back on it the muffler man put stainless V band clamps at the headers and right at the mufflers. Now I can drop the front section and X pipe out. It cost a little more upfront but saved me a lot of headache last winter when I had to replace the throw out bearing.
Yep no way i'd fab one in a straight shot. Plan on some flanges or break points. Don't do slip fits either. The seem collects moisture from heat cycles and might as well be welded in a few years.
Stainless band clamps are amazing. They make them for butt connections or slip fits. They're reusable, quick, simple, pretty cheap, and seal up really well. V bands are really nice, but have to be more of a precise fit. These give a little more leeway. I'd probably weld up the tailpipe section and make two cuts somewhere further up so you can drop a section out and leave the flange bolted together at the manifold/header.
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Some of the butt joint ones have another piece of the band that slides under the other so it fully surrounds the pipe to eliminate any gaps or leaks. Either way, I love band clamps and will use them on all exhaust related work.
I’m a fan of clamps. After working on my old fox body, being able to remove and reinstall the exhaust to get to stuff was a time and money saver fo sho. If it wasn’t in the way of anything crucial I might weld it, but the fox was tight underneath. Starter was the main thing.
Those are sweet too. I have them on my gray silverado.
I cut the collectors off the headers and welded the ball end on them. They sealed up great the first time, not quite as well the second time, but I still like them!
Update : the Amazon seller cancelled my order then jacked up the kit price by $85!! I called Amazon and they stepped up by giving me an account credit to use however I choose. I bought a muffler and cat for Henry’s to install as they custom bend the tubing.
Henry’s on capital hooked my Jeep up today! I made the appt a week ago. After a quick conversation about what I wanted, I left and had it back a couple hours later…. They did a super clean install using the stock mounting locations, tight install and clean welds.
I strong recommend them and they’ll get my 65 con when the time comes for that too!
