A.J.
02-11-2008, 10:58 PM
I had bought a 3" swing valve and down pipe from Chris at Turbos Unleashed for my mini-van. He asked me what I was doing for the rest of my exhaust. I told him I was going to buy some mandrel bent elbows and weld them together. He suggested I try one of his newly designed mandrel bent exhaust systems that he sells which now fits several applications. For the time and money I'd spend on pipe and welding verses the price of his exhaust, I figured I'd give it a shot. So I headed over to Turbos Unleashed headquarters where Chris offered his lift. Since this was the first actual installation in a mini-van Chris wanted to be personally involved to verify and document the fit. I would have been just fine doing this on my garage floor. Since Chris had business to conduct, I was able to tackle most of the project on my own with little assistance required from him. The TU Mandrel bent exhaust kit fit WITHOUT ANY WELDING OR CUTTING. This is a bolt up affair. The only cutting I had to do was cut pieces off of the straight pipe Chris had in stock. He said the mini-van kit is going to include the pipe so its still a bolt up deal. I only had to drill one hole. I also had to use three universal exhaust hangers you can pick up at any parts store and two 3" U-bolt clamps to use with the hangers. I had the hangers already from my 2.5" exhaust. One other thing that I highly recommend is using T.U. stainless steel band clamps. They're just $7.95 a piece and you need four without a cat and six with a cat. These clamps are amazing. I'm not just saying that so Chris can sell more clamps. I had my doubts about these until I used them. They can be used with over lapping pipe or pipe butted together. On my way home from TU's shop my exhaust began hitting the undercarriage. When I got home I was able to loosen the clamp and readjust the pipe in only a few minutes. If I used a U-bolt clamp it would have creased the pipe and I would have had to heat it up to move it. DON'T BE CHEAP AND NOT BUY THESE CLAMPS, YOU WILL REGRET IT. I'm sorry for the blurriness of the pictures. I was more interested in the install than the documentation. Okay here's the write up:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/oldandnew.jpg
That's my old 2 1/2" exhaust laying next to the TU 3" exhaust.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/downpipe.jpg
After the down pipe you have a 15 1/2" gap between the down pipe and the muffler. The muffler is a Magnaflow I also purchased from Chris.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/Catmissingfaraway.jpg
You need 15 1/2" pipe or a cat (the cat Chris sells is 13" long) and a 4"-5" piece of pipe. The muffler and cat slide over the 4”-5” pipe. After the muffler you install the "S" pipe. The short end goes in the muffler.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/spipemuffler.jpg
This is the only place I used a U-bolt clamp to clamp the pipe because it is the same place as the hangers. The reason my exhaust hangers are bent at a 45 degree angle is to get it as close to the body as possible.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/lefthanger.jpg
The one hole you have to drill is for the left side exhaust hanger.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/lefthangercloseup2.jpg
If you look closely at the above picture, you can see the factory hole in the heat shied where the original hanger was. My new hole is about 2”-3” to the left of the original. On the right side use the hole that the factory exhaust hanger uses.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/righthanger.jpg
This exhaust shifts over 3" to the left. Which makes it ideal for T.U. cast iron header which I have on order.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/spiperearview.jpg
The 13 3/4" pipe goes on the end of the "S" pipe.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/aroundgastank.jpg
The other mandrel bent pipe goes next. The shorter end goes in towards the S pipe.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/overrearaxle.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/outback.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/entirefromback.jpg
There is a factory hanger in the rear that you bolt the last universal hanger to.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/tailpipehangercloseup.jpg
Then you have enough room to put on whatever tailpipe you want. I picked one up from Autozone for $6. I also had to cut my bumper a bit for clearance. The 45 minute trip from Chris' shop to my house was starting to melt the bumper cover from the exhaust blowing right on it.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/tailpipeoutback.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/tailpipe2.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/tailpipe.jpg
This write up sounds a lot easier that it is was. It took me between three to four hours but only because it was the first mini van install. Using the photos and the pipe measurements it will only take maybe an hour or two. The time consuming part was determining the proper length of the pipes to make stuff line up just perfect. With only having to drill one hole it's about as easy as your going to get for an after-market exhaust. I took many pictures. So anything I missed in the write-up hopefully the pictures will explain. If you do have any questions Chris or I can answer them.
A.J.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/oldandnew.jpg
That's my old 2 1/2" exhaust laying next to the TU 3" exhaust.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/downpipe.jpg
After the down pipe you have a 15 1/2" gap between the down pipe and the muffler. The muffler is a Magnaflow I also purchased from Chris.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/Catmissingfaraway.jpg
You need 15 1/2" pipe or a cat (the cat Chris sells is 13" long) and a 4"-5" piece of pipe. The muffler and cat slide over the 4”-5” pipe. After the muffler you install the "S" pipe. The short end goes in the muffler.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/spipemuffler.jpg
This is the only place I used a U-bolt clamp to clamp the pipe because it is the same place as the hangers. The reason my exhaust hangers are bent at a 45 degree angle is to get it as close to the body as possible.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/lefthanger.jpg
The one hole you have to drill is for the left side exhaust hanger.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/lefthangercloseup2.jpg
If you look closely at the above picture, you can see the factory hole in the heat shied where the original hanger was. My new hole is about 2”-3” to the left of the original. On the right side use the hole that the factory exhaust hanger uses.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/righthanger.jpg
This exhaust shifts over 3" to the left. Which makes it ideal for T.U. cast iron header which I have on order.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/spiperearview.jpg
The 13 3/4" pipe goes on the end of the "S" pipe.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/aroundgastank.jpg
The other mandrel bent pipe goes next. The shorter end goes in towards the S pipe.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/overrearaxle.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/outback.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/entirefromback.jpg
There is a factory hanger in the rear that you bolt the last universal hanger to.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/tailpipehangercloseup.jpg
Then you have enough room to put on whatever tailpipe you want. I picked one up from Autozone for $6. I also had to cut my bumper a bit for clearance. The 45 minute trip from Chris' shop to my house was starting to melt the bumper cover from the exhaust blowing right on it.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/tailpipeoutback.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/tailpipe2.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/thebest4/tailpipe.jpg
This write up sounds a lot easier that it is was. It took me between three to four hours but only because it was the first mini van install. Using the photos and the pipe measurements it will only take maybe an hour or two. The time consuming part was determining the proper length of the pipes to make stuff line up just perfect. With only having to drill one hole it's about as easy as your going to get for an after-market exhaust. I took many pictures. So anything I missed in the write-up hopefully the pictures will explain. If you do have any questions Chris or I can answer them.
A.J.