Heres the skinny. My car needs a downpipe. My project is all but complete except for this pita. I have over 10K invested in a car that is just sitting there. I can't weld and I the car is in a po-dunk town where no welder can do any mobile work. The car is lowered and cannot be trailered as far as I know. I need to figure out a way to illustrate to the only welder I can get how I need the downpipe because he can't look at the car. (No mobile equipment). Anyway when Hahn told me I couldnt' get their version of the pipe(no headsup even though Brad and I worked together on my $6,000 + kit in the months proceeding the discontinue) I didn't think it would be this difficult. Any suggestions would be helpful short of boxing up all of Hahn's stuff and shipping it back to them. I have a call into Bill at Hahn hoping to get some kind of specs on the old eliminator. Thats all I can think of to get this project finished.




"And I say, 'Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.' And he says, 'Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.' So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."

Maybe im just being ignorant...and there's something I dont know. But couldn't you just take a picture and some measurements of the hahn pipe to the welder and he could fabricate you an exact copy? I guess maybe Im spoiled, but I come from an area with lots of ranchers, and they just make their own shit...no matter what they need.

Originally posted by Penguin
Maybe im just being ignorant...and there's something I dont know. But couldn't you just take a picture and some measurements of the hahn pipe to the welder and he could fabricate you an exact copy? I guess maybe Im spoiled, but I come from an area with lots of ranchers, and they just make their own shit...no matter what they need.

Yeah, you'd think it would be. I haven't gotten anything from Hahn and I'm not sure if they're interested in my problem. Hopefully BIll will bail me out. On my own I've even gone so far as to try fitting PVC fittings coming off the v-band ninety to get the bend right but its too tight to get around the PS/AC bracket. I might have to build it piece by piece. Oh, the only welder i can get to do stainless is 40 miles away off some back country road. If I was anywhere but Montana this wouldn't be so bloody hard. I wish I had started this project in my California home.

"And I say, 'Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.' And he says, 'Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.' So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."

I feel your pain. Im not far from you. Im in idaho. So I know what you mean about not having as many resorces...Its usually do it your damn self or dont get it done at all.

I will search around for some specs and measurments for you and post them if I have any luck. It shouldn't be that hard to fabricate a downpipe that will work...besides if the welder your taking it to does stainless steel...he must be somewhat competent.

That would be great. I'm sure he's a decent welder but any info would help out a ton. Hopefully Hahn will give me something to work with. Considering all the cash I've sent their direction I kind of figured its the least they could do.




"And I say, 'Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.' And he says, 'Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.' So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."

ok this is a bit wierd but it just might work.

if you can get to lowes, get some 3" flexi dryer hose (silver acordian stuff) cut the length you need and fit it like you would your downpipe.
then once you have it, get some fiberglass mat and cut it into 2" strips so you can easily wrap it around the flexi hose

once it hardens you should have a good mock-up to take to a place and see what they can do

other then that, you have to remove the bumper and then it can be trailered and taken to the welder

Thats a really good idea foggy. It depends on how much work you want to put into it...but you could also use some of that plaster casting they use to make casts. It comes in rolls and hardens pretty quick. I have had luck finding it at a local craft store. Just wrap the hose with it. Or you could use one of those foam "floatie" things that kids use in the pool. They sell them in walmart usually for like a buck or two. Then you could cut and bend it like you need, and it may be more ridged and easier to plaster or glass.

I didnt have any luck finding those numbers unfortunately. But if you get foggy's idea to work, that would be better. then you know its custom tailored to your car. Are you welding in the Flex section too?

Originally posted by foggy45
you have to remove the bumper and then it can be trailered and taken to the welder

+1, I swear I have to remove the bumper for everything. trailers, alignments, everything.

Well Mr. Bill Hahn Jr. called and left me message today telling me that I'm going to have to "Buck Up" and find another solution. They will have nothing further to do with my issue. This coming from the same company who promised to help see my project through from start to finish. They won't give any information to me and I pretty much got a lecture on business from Bill himself. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. (Hopefully Tech support won't pull the same crap on me.) Oh well, I guess I'll have to do what you guys are suggesting and do this thing piece by piece. Hopefully I can find a trailer low enough to accommodate my car being that I can't even get it on a lift at the dealership I used to work at.


I know everybody loves Hahn but damn. I ask for help and they make me, a 25 year old professional w/ a Bachelor's in Business feel like an idiotic child. I feel kind of gut checked now being that I dropped thousands of dollars with them. It's too bad to as I was planning on taking my other two project cars to them. I'll have to find another company.

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions guys. As soon as this car gets going I'm going to have to kick 2gnt.com some more cash for all the great shit they've done for me. Heres the thread for my project started way back in Feb. of last year.
http://forums.2gnt.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=89197&mode=full

Not exactly the same situation, but I made my downpipe with the welding machine 35 minutes away from my car. I started by bolting the turbo flange on the turbo and cat flange on the cat. I bought a bunch of 45 and 90 degree SS elbows, SS straight pipe, SS flex joint, and PVC straight pipe. I started at one flange and tighted taped an elbow to it with duct tape. I kept taping elbows and cut PVC pipe until I reached the other flange. I always left two spots on each joint bare, about 180 degrees apart. Before removing from the car, I marked each joint with a sharpie at two places (double parallel lines on one end of the piece and single lines at the other end). That lets you keep the rotation of the joints correct and prevents you from installing a piece backwards after you take it apart. Then I drove to the shop, cut SS pipe to match the PVC, and tacked everything together. Then I drove back to the car, cut tacks, rotated joints, and retaped the parts that did not fit. Then I drove back to the shop to retack. If you have some room in your engine bay, it might only take a few trips. Mine probably took 20+ trips over a month or so.

Corbin

'95 ESI-T
Now with more power and fewer leaks



Gimme fuel...Gimme fire...Gimme that which I desire

I must say that some of the ideas you guys came up with to help were ingenious, flex pipe and whacky noodles and what not with fiberglass or what ever to harden it, Thats just fing great. I now know how im gonna mock up a new down pipe for my own ride now. And sorry for your luck on welders man i no how ya feel, my dad use to have a farm in BFE and if you were there by certain times or needed something real bad you were sol plus everything closed earlier there than from where we actually lived

If you run into trouble, contact quicksilver99 on this board. He does fabrication for me from half way across the country. It all fits just as I intend.

MB

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'm going to call a towing company today and have them drop the car off at a muffler shop. I'm also going to order a couple of bends from here http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/sale/performance/Exhaust/Exhaust_Bends and let them have at it. My question now is this... The downpipe is suppose to be a 3" stainless, the v-band elbow I recieved from Hahn has an OD of 2 7/8", just al little smaller than the tubing I'm ordering. Will this give me problems? I don't think the shop should have huge problems with that but you neverknow. I'll post pics of how it turns out when I get back into town in a week or so.

they shouldn't have a problem tapering it down if they need to. (if they are good at what they do that is lol )

How Sad.






"And I say, 'Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.' And he says, 'Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.' So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."

Sad maybe, but once you get your dp, it will make it all worth it.

Though was it really that hard for you to get a dp made all you really needed to do was buy the flange and weld a dp to that plus even though hahn no longer sells the 3inch dp they should still have the 2.5 one they sell with the kit(sorry if i missed any of that in the post i am alittle slow).

Bring the exhaust shop measurements and a flange.. :shrug: