DIY low budget stainless side exit exhaust for 92 L300

[AKcub]

I've been watching my Deli's exhaust slowly disintegrate on my '92 Starwagon and the pain of patching has exceeded the pain of spending real money on a new exhaust setup so I started collecting parts for the new setup. I couldn't see paying $1,000 dollars to a shop for what amounts to 3 welds and less than $200 dollars in metal so I started formulating a plan and collecting parts. Turns out one of the hardest parts was locating a local welding/fabrication outfit (Seattle area) that was willing to work on a 1 hour project and that would TIG with stainless filler rod.

I measured the angle between the turbocharger outlet (book calls it an exhaust fitting) and what I thought was a good angle for the side pipe exit. It came out to 52 degrees on a protractor I stole from my sons school backpack. I took that measurement and went to Stan's Headers in Auburn, WA. (253) 854-5310. Stan's has the only mandrel bender I found in my area. They came up with 50 degrees. In hindsight, I could have ordered a 50 degree bend from Amazon for much cheaper. Maybe half of what I paid (109$) The guys at Stan's were awesome and I probably would have had them do it all if they weren't booked out over a month.

Next I did the same for the tailpipe, guessing that a 60 degree bend would work out ok for the exit. This piece came from Amazon (Vibrant (13070) 60° T304 Stainless Steel Mandrel Bend Tube, 37.97$)

I ordered the muffler from Amazon (Magnaflow 10416 Satin Stainless Steel 2.5" Round Muffler, 64.10$)

The flange came from Ebay. (2 Bolt Universal Flange with 2.5" ID hole CNC 3/8" Thick Exhaust Custom Weld On, 18.95$)
More on the flange later. I ended up going with slotted holes because I didn't get a good feel about the measurements I found on here.

The only other thing I needed was a gasket and a piece of stainless rod to use as a hangar. And somewhere to weld it all up.

So far I'm into it for 246$
Tail pipe - 37.97$, Vibrant (13070) 60° T304 Stainless Steel Mandrel Bend Tube, Amazon
Down pipe - 109.00$, Stans Headers, Auburn Wa. Local
Flange - 18.95$, 2 Bolt Universal Flange with 2.5" ID hole CNC 3/8" Thick Exhaust Custom Weld On, Ebay
Muffler - 64.10$, Magnaflow 10416 Satin Stainless Steel 2.5" Round Muffler, Amazon
Gasket - 1.40$, Local Auto store Issaquah Wa, Oreilly's I think.

Between procrastination and real (non Deli) life it took me about 4 months to get my act together.

Pics next.
Pile of parts waiting, and growing

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[AKcub]

I had a feeling the flange would be a little bit tougher than order and forget because I couldn't find solid measurements for the the flange or studs.

I live in two states so it wasn't going to be as easy as pulling the Deli into the barn and dropping exhaust and measuring for myself. Here is what I came up with for measurements. Your mileage may vary tremendously with these numbers.

Here is what I came up with
Stud diameter - .537" or 13.66mm.
The slots on the flange I bought were cut to 1/2" so I borrowed a mill and used an end mill to enlarge the slots to .625" or just under 16mm. I had to guess a little on this dimension because I left my caliper in Anchorage and the van is in Seattle. I could have gone a couple thousands smaller. Ignore the little bobble on the one side.
The studs turned out to be 3.64" or 92.5mm on center apart. That works out to a little over 3" inbetween the studs so my 2.5" pipe would fit no problems with the hold down springs on the studs.
Just for fun I measures the exit hole on the turbo downpipe and it's at 2" give or take a little. The 2.5" exhaust may be a little overkill, a guy could save a couple more bucks by going 2.25" pipe.

Exhaust flange after milling and turbo manifold

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[AKcub]

Finally had some time to work on this cause the family is out of town so I dug in.

First, I pulled the old exhaust to make room for things. Then I test fit the flange to make sure my measurements and cuts were good. So far so good

Next, I left new flange in place and did a trial fit of the down pipe for angle and clearance. Also, worked out good. I ordered the downpipe a little long on purpose incase I needed to make up some length to make it to the side of the van when it as all put together.

First pic is checking the fit of the flange

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I placed downpipe in flange and used a sharpie pen to mark it up when I was happy with things. When I got to welding shop for them to tack it it turned out to be pretty much flush on back side of flange. Good news on angle measurement (50 degrees).
After tacking the downpipe to flange

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I needed to drive the van back and forth to the welders and wasn't going to re-install the old exhaust to do that so I rednecked things and just put the original downpipe back on for the drive back and forth. Not pretty but functional.

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It's interesting the difference in sound running just the downpipe. At idle it's very "whistly"- you can hear the turbo spin and more air noise than engine noise. I described it to a pal as sounding like an angry forklift with a lisp. Off idle it gets louder but not horrible with a little more engine noise. On the freeway there really isn't a huge difference in noise just cruising along. I wouldn't want to run it like this for very long though because the noise from 15-20 mph to 35-40 mph under acceleration is pretty tiresome.
All in all it sounds very similar to our John deere dozer which is exhausted pretty much the same with a straight pipe coming off the exhaust manifold.

[AKcub]

Old exhaust:

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Workshop:

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[AKcub]

Now I am just waiting for the welding shop to weld the exhaust up for me. It will be done tomorrow but I probably won't be back in the area for a couple weeks so the final install will have to wait. They guestimated about 60 dollars for the whole project, that's an hours work. Great shop!

I drove the van to the airport which is about 37 miles. It's definitely noisier in a tiresome way running it with a straight pipe. I'm glad I only have to make that run one more time.

Update when I get things back.

Scott

[Growlerbearnz]

Looking good so far!

[AKcub]

Finally got a chance to update this- Have a month or so on the new exhaust. Still have a couple things to complete (permanent hanger, better gasket setup) but it works great.

I might tweak the tailpipe angle/length a bit. I left it short on purpose so I can add a tip to it so it won't look as industrial.

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Changes noticed so far- it's louder than the stock setup on acceleration and idle but at cruise I don't think there is much of a difference. It's pretty subjective but I think the EGT's are down about a hundred degrees in cruise. Doesn't seem to be a change in fuel economy, I sit at 21 mpg for most every tank.

Thanks to all of the prior exhaust posters who helped get this done!

Scott