for those not running headers

[picklesgarage]

it seems the Canadian Y pipe is not easily attained these days. i'm also guessing the measurements of the pipe are the same 1 7/8s as the tail pipe. are there options not going to headers or is that the better option? its a stock 318 in an 86 5th ave with only plans for a 4 barrel swap. not planning to run dual exhaust, just maybe a 2 or at largest 2.5 inch with a performance muffler of sorts. im guessing the tail pipe with have to be custom to stay at that size as well. seems like this is one area where people have used a wide array of pieces and parts to achieve their desired system. id be pretty happy just being able to eliminate the leaks, which is basically everything from the muffler to the manifolds as easily and cost efficiently as possible. hopefully you all have some good input for me. thanks

 

[Duke5A]

An exhaust shop should be able to make a Y pipe for you, but it might cost more than it's worth. I ran a 318 in a Fifth with dual 2.25" exhaust with the mufflers under the back seat. There is enough room to get 2.25" pipes up over the axle and dump them right behind the wheels. You only run into an issue if you want to take the pipes to the bumper.

For what you're doing the manifolds will be more than sufficient.

 

[volare 77]

I agree that any good exhaust shop should be able to make one. I`m sure it probably would be more costly then a off the shelf item but I wouldn`t think it would be a lot more.

 

[Aspen500]

If they can use the stock pipe bend spec card, or program if computer controlled, it's possible to make a duplicate using larger pipe. Might take a little tweaking here and there but going from 2" to 2 1/4" shouldn't cause any clearance issues.

I haven't bent exhaust since the Ford dealer I worked at closed in '07 but more than once, I made pipes using the stock vehicle bend card but used larger pipe and never ran into any fitment problems for customers who wanted a little more breathing than the stock system.

Hardest part now days, is finding a shop that does custom exhaust bending anymore.

 

[picklesgarage]

Aspen500, I completely agree, finding shops that can do work like that are becoming scarce. I didn't know that there are spec cards for doing bending, that's really cool. ive never worked in a shop that has done pipe bending

 

[Aspen500]

Now it's probably on on a computer screen but when I was doing it at the Ford dealer ('86-'07) there was a cabinet with cards. You'd look up the vehicle in the index and get a card number, then get the card. It had the total length of pipe needed, length between each bend, the angle of the bends and the rotation angle of the pipe. An angle gauge was clamped to the end of the pipe to read the rotation angle. The trick was to keep it all straight and not miss or misread something. It worked pretty good. After a while on common vehicles (like F-150) we knew where to modify the specs to make the pipe fit better, especially if the truck had mud flaps. The stock pipe would melt them so, add an inch between the last bend and decrease the bend angle and,,,,,,,,,,instant mud flap clearance. Finally you would flare and/or ball socket the pipe and expand or swedge the end for slip fit connections. Really sucked when you got all done and then noticed "crap, forgot to put the flange on the pipe before making the ball socket or flare". Son of a....... Only downside was, our pipe bender did compression bends, not mandrel.

 

[Oldiron440]

I have a longtime friend who has a mandrel bender that goes up to 3" and maybe more, the bender makes nice bends but unfortunately he doesn't have a person who cares about doing super nice work or doesn't know how to do it. Every thing I've ever seen done there didn't follow the bottom of the car nice and neat like you would expect. I'm going to have a couple of systems made up for my Ford project but I'm going to have him make what I want then I will put it together.

 

[BudW]

There is muffler shop not far from me that does a top-notch job. I had a rusty Y-pipe (1-7/8” pipe, I think) they used to make a nice 2-1/4” into 2-1/2” Y-pipe, that I sold to @XfbodyX a while back (or I think that was the sizes on it).

The original Y-pipe on my ’77 318 wagon is 2-1/8” for down pipes and into 2-1/4”.

I found what appears to be a muffler shop replacement (maybe) Y-pipe from a ’80 Aspen wagon at a local pull-a-part that I grabbed to replace the 3-cat Y-pipe on my ’86 Fifth Ave (which was starting to get plugged up) in 2016. It cost me $6.38 (US) to carry it out the door (after I pulled it off). I’m not sure what the down pipe size is but the exit is 2”.
No, it is not for sale.

Now that I found out the cats on my ’86 are now mostly/totally stopped up, I gotta replace that pipe rather soon.

To help with pipe size vs. air flow:

A Carter BBD or Holley 2280/6280 (2-bbls) only flow about 325ish CFM (going by memory). Also, exhaust shrinks as it cools, which is why exhaust pipe typically goes down in size as it gets closer to the exit.
This is done for cost, but mostly to reduce the resonation noise/vibration (which I find highly irritating).
BudW

 

[jasperjacko]

I bought some stainless and bends and fabbed my own y pipe. You can do it too!

 

[Aspen500]

That's how I built my entire exhaust system. Lengths of straight pipe, some U-bends, 90 degree bends, 45 degree bends, etc. Lots of measure, cut, fit, tack, weld, grind, and a million trips under the car and back out test fitting each piece. (I was younger then, lol). Not the ideal way but I used my compound miter saw with a fiber metal cutting blade. Not really powerfulenough for that but it got the job done.Tons of work but it came out nice, nothing hits or hangs down too low and have dual 2 1/2" from the headers all the way out the back with both t-pipes out the right side under the bumper. Used aluminized steel, not stainless though. After it was all done I sanded, cleaned and painted it all with VHT primer and then VHT flat silver exhaust paint. Eight years later, still looks like the day it was put on. Don't think my body would let me do it a second time though

 

[8T2TOP]

Wish Walker would bring back the y pipe...
Probably not enough sales...

 

[picklesgarage]

Aspen500 do you have any pictures of you exhaust?

 

[Aspen500]

Yes pickle, but I'll have to find them in my computer (Mr. Organized, lol) first. Soon as I figure out what picture files they're in, I'll post some. Stay tuned.

 

[Aspen500]

These are some I managed to find. I swear I've got some better ones though.

 

[picklesgarage]

those are fantastic. glad to know 2.5 will fit over the axle like that.

 

[Aspen500]

The t-pipes get really tight and JUST fit in the space between the tank and spring shackle but they do clear and I got lucky, they never touch or rattle. The t-pipes were the part that took the longest to build.
Had a '78 Cordoba in the late '80's to mid '90's and did the same type of t-pipes on it (both out the pass side). It was when I worked at the Ford dealer and made them with the pipe bender instead of cut-n-weld.

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Even a 3" pipe will clear over the axle, although in a slightly different config.

The performance exhaust shop in town did this for me, very happy with the results.

And here is the up-front part of the pipes.

 

[Elwood P Dowd]

Walker Direct Fit Y-Pipes 40491
Summit Racing still has Y pipes, Here you go.

 

[8T2TOP]

Really? They were out of stock last I checked..
That would be awesome if they started making these again!
New windshield amd now the exhaust maybe ANOTHER J body in the future?

 

[Elwood P Dowd]

Really? They were out of stock last I checked..
That would be awesome if they started making these again!
New windshield amd now the exhaust maybe ANOTHER J body in the future?

I just ordered one yesterday and got my shipping notification this morning so apparently they have them in stock again.