Exhaust options?

[Fraser]

My turbo iX build should be buttoned up and ready to tune next week. One of the last high dollar issues on my white board list is the exhaust.

Have most of you guys built your own? I have access to a decent welder and I'm not afraid to put it together myself- I'm thinking just simple 3" exhaust with a small muffler somewhere. No emissions so no cats.

Is there a good resource to source mandrel pre-bent pipe online?
I'm worried about having to order so many bends and pieces that it may not be cost effective compared to just having a local shop do it in house.

This is a fairly conservative budget-ish build but I don't want it to be flat out ghetto...

[MrBurgundy]

I would just have a local shop do it.

They're typically not too expensive

[Q5Quint]

I did a 3" myself many years ago, with a broken hand. It was a learning experience for sure.

I will try to look up photos so you know what to buy, but I made a list at one point:

3" from the downpipe back. It was lots of fun welding it up myself, although looking back I should have just got the turbo working first and then worried about a bigger exhaust when I actually needed it. Summit racing has all the parts you need. I read that 3" made a big performance difference and I felt like giving it a shot so I bought a 80amp stick welder from ebay and a metal cutting blade for my chopsaw and went to town.
The welder was horrible but what could I expect for so cheap. It worked and I am happy.

3" in/out magnaflow 3 chamber
one straight 3" pipe section
one 3" cat
2 big 3" u mandrel bends
2 2.5" to 3" reducers (the turbo outlet is 2.5".
1 2.5" u mandrel bend for the downpipe.
1 5bolts flange to attach to turbo
1 3" stainless band clamp for dowpipe attachment
some header wrap for less heat
some normal ss clamps to hold on the muffler/cat (I bought some steel ones from napa and they will rust to hell in no time, go with the stainless if you ever want to get the thing off again.)

It worked great and was cheap... but was honestly the loudest thing on earth. Do it!