325e exhaust squished..

[kdfwagen]

So I noticed this when i first bought my car but have not got around to fixing it yet (Idea's?).

How much would this affect performance? I notice a weird sort of lost of power in higher rpm's, its like the engine is having a hard time breathing? It sort of pulses on and off power. Not very severely but enough to where you can notice the engine power losing and than gaining power very slightly. Could this be the exhaust seeing at higher rpm's more pressure is in the exhaust system?

what would be a cheap way to fix this?

there is no actual leak I can see. Could I cut it out and weld in a new piece?

[Albuquerque30]

Mine's a hell of a lot worse than that. (Unfortunately) I couldn't imagine a small flat spot would effect performance that much, if at all. I'm sure some wise guy will know better than me. ;)

[yyi]

out of all the stock exhausts that i've seen, they are all like that. I just started assuming they came that way from the factory.

[e30huh]

suppose to be like that

[CHIF8008]

ya, it's flat so it can sit closer to the frame. factory design

[kdfwagen]

but if you look closer in the second picture the exhaust is dented from the bottom up as well.. seems like it would be pretty restricted. I will take a better picture tomorrow.

[ForcedFirebird]

The bottom did get crushed, only the top should be flat. ETA's are just sluggish in the upper RPM's, period.

[kdfwagen]

So the questions is... worth repairing? Maybe ill do a vacuum test on the manifold and see if it changes much from idle to 2000rpm.

[ForcedFirebird]

Cheap way to fix if you think it's an issue is to cut it out, and add a pce of pipe from the parts store that has a flared end with a coupler on the other end with some exhaust clamps.

[MR 325]

Bottom is pinched but it's not worth wasting money on. If anything find a stock i exhaust and swap it out. If you were in SoCal I'd have one to sell you!