I'm planning on going with a 3" catback soon, however none of the shops around can do mandrel bends that are 3"....How would 3" Press bent piping compare to mandrel?

Would it be safe to say 3" press bent is about equivalent to 2.75" mandrel bent? Let me know whatcha think.

if the press bends are done correctly, you won't see much of a difference. But sometimes, press bends can get crushed down to 1" in places if not done right.





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There shouldn't be that big of a difference between mandrel bends and press bends at 3". I believe it's fair to say that the press bent 3" pipe is equivalent to a 2.50-2.75" at the bend. The inside diameter will be towards the 2.5" with press bent 90 degree angles. Depending on how much the muffler shop will charge you for parts and labor, the press bent piping should be fine.

Yeah, i run 3" cat back, press bent piping, and it works great. I agree with the above posts on what the inside diameter becomes at the bend. Just find a good shop to do it..lots of exaust monkeys out there :)

same here... i run 3" go with it, you WILL be happy trust me, dont do a muffler though, trust me, just get a huge ass glasspack like 2 1/2 feet long, it gurgles! heh its great :)

Also, my muffler has a 2.5" inlet -- could a shop open the inlet to 3" so there isn't a restricton right there?

yeah man, whats up with a lot of nice looking mufflers only coming with 2.5" inlet?

I have a hahn stage 1 and until two weeks ago, i had stock exhaust. My cat was shot, so i went to a local shop and had a 3 inch cat and 3 inch press bent piping installed with a 3 inch glass pack and a 5 inch stainless tip. The glass pack was 18 inches long. The cat and glass pack had 3 inch cores. Make sure that if you go this route that the cores are 3 inch, not just the inlet and outlet. the turbo spools much quicker and I reached higher than recomended boost levels, so I had to adjust the wastegate actuator. the guys at hahn explained how to do it. so now the turbo spools quick and i'm running safe boost levels. the total for all the exhaust work including the cat was $460.00:thumbsup

>I have a hahn stage 1 and until two weeks ago, i had stock
>exhaust. My cat was shot, so i went to a local shop and had a
>3 inch cat and 3 inch press bent piping installed with a 3
>inch glass pack and a 5 inch stainless tip. The glass pack was
>18 inches long. The cat and glass pack had 3 inch cores. Make
>sure that if you go this route that the cores are 3 inch, not
>just the inlet and outlet. the turbo spools much quicker and
>I reached higher than recomended boost levels, so I had to
>adjust the wastegate actuator. the guys at hahn explained how
>to do it. so now the turbo spools quick and i'm running safe
>boost levels. the total for all the exhaust work including the
>cat was $460.00:thumbsup

Ouch, 460 bucks... i did mine for 300, w/ cat included :/ didnt want it sound like a bad deal, its still a good deal imo just cause its a real nice setup

$300.00?!... Thats great! I think they racked me a little because they had a tough time getting the second bend past the muffler but overall i was pleased, and they spent some time on it. it hangs very secure and there are no rattles, but you made out great, 300.00 couldn't buy a good bolt on cat and a pacesetter system.:thumbsup

With a 3" does the piping go under the rear or do they still make that crazy bend right before the muffler?

They were able to make a slight bend in my piping to go over the axle cross member. Its VERY close, but it fits. I'd say if you got a true mandrel bent 3" piping, it will not reall fit, unless you put a small crush in the piping.

3'' Mandrel downpipe, eliminating cat, including 3'' stainless flex secton here in Indiana AT a performance shop, $180 bucks

same place, 4'' mandrel "cat-back" ~$150 bucks

dynomax 4'' straight through race muffler ~120 bucks from i think Jegs

I suggest anyone turbo do the same, other than 3'' instead of 4'' ;-)

How can I get a 3" Mandrel bent downpipe for the HRC kit? Must be custom...right?

Yeah, custom, but really its no big deal to have one made up, just like having cat-back piping made up, just a little more of a pita making the bends fit nice and smooth. Took my guy 3-4 hrs to complete the downpipe.

How much would he charge for a 3" downpipe? I would pay you top dollar if you had him make a replica of yours for me... shoot me an e-mail..