Jordan Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 Yesterday I was backing into a parking spot and long story short there i didnt realize it dipped down and there was a storm drain there and i rammed my left muffler into it pretty bad. It got caught up under the bumper. Today I was able to take a better look and it buckled the left side of my y pipe It also knocked my bumper out of alignment. Im hopping that all thats messed up is the y pipe cause and that I can hopefully realign the bumper. Anyways just wondering if any shop is capable of bending exaust back to shape. The bumper I guess im ganna have to get a body shops opinion on. But replacing an 1100 dollar exaust ( Hks ) is not of interest to me. So am I at loss for whatever I damaged or do you think somebody get knock out the bend and straighten it up. Im losing sleep over I love my car so much and so worried about it. P.S does any body know if that k2 exaust is available in america cause if worst comes to worst and I have to get new then thats what im getting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 Being a rework technician who bangs out dents all day long, I can tell you thatit can be repaired, but it won't be an easy task with the pipe on the car. The only problem with tubing is it will never be round again. The pipe has crimped in one or more places, reducing the diameter of the pipe and making it elliptical in some spots. This will reduce flow somewhat, depending on how bad the damage is. It won't really affect performance, but you'll always know that it's not right (Which is the most important thing). Also, the metal has been bent and probably crimped, which means that if you straighten it the metal will probably become more brittle in the area of the repair. You also have to make sure that the welds weren't compromised. All this, however, is null and void. Good luck getting a shop to straighten it. They wouldn't want to waste their time. It would be easier for them to cut out the damaged section and weld in a new section. Depending on how bad the damage is they might have to unbolt that entire section of pipe and replace it entirely. Your best bet would be to take the car to a custom exhaust shop with plenty of tubing and tubing benders, so they can cut the damage out, bend up some matching pipe, and weld it all back together. Nobody would tell you it's a good idea to straighten bent exhaust pipe. Getting it to line up right with the bumper would be such a hassle, nevermind they don't really make any tools or fixtures to straighten exhaust pipes, plus hitting tubing with a hammer would most likely just reduce the diameter of the pipe even furthur, rather than push the metal back into place. Long story short, possible, most likely. Anything is possible. Fesible, not in the least. Cut the damage out and have an exhaust shop bend and weld in new tubing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted November 1, 2009 Author Share Posted November 1, 2009 Thanks for the quick and informative response. So In your experience is this a pretty effective method making. My goal is to odviosly make it look like it never happend or maybe make it a little straighter than it was before because it was just naturally a little crooked before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted November 1, 2009 Author Share Posted November 1, 2009 Does any body know if any other company y pipes will bolt up to an hks mid pip, and mufflers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 In my opinion bending the tubing back would bring undesired consequences. If you hit the tubing with a hammer you're not going to alter the angle of the bend, you're just going to dent the tubing. If you put bent tubing on a tubing bender you're just gonna crimp it even more. Your best bet would be to heat it up with a torch and try to use leverage to pull it back into place, but this would need to be done with the pipes off of the car. The problem with this is the material would become more brittle afterwards. your best bet would be to either replace the damaged section altogether, in your case the entire Y pipe, or to cut the damaged section of the Y pipe out and have a custom exhaust shop bend you up a section of the same diameter, same material tubing as the damaged section then weld it on. Without pics it's kinda hard to get an idea of the damage. For the body, if the paint isn't messed up or the bumper isn't cracked, I'd say just remove it and see if any little plastic mounting hardware broke. Replace the hardware, align the bumper, and put it all back together. Generally if we get a part at the shop that's shaped like a ring, tubing, or any other round object, we have to put the part back on the expander once we bang out a dent. This will make the part round again. This is impossible with exhaust tubing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bace Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 just sell ur hks and buy the k2 exhaust. and steal me a cv joint boot from the parts depo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Nobody wants to sell me just a y pipe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEE-OTTO Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Well for the price of a HKS mid pipe an exhaust shop should able to fab you a Y pipe that will mate right up no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Do you think that they could make it align the way it was before? Is there any science behind this or do they just make somthing and hope it aligns like before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meier motor sports Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 an experienced person will do it and it will be right or better then before. just go to an exhaust shop!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Great thanks for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Racing Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Exhaust shop workers get paid to fabricate custom exhausts for vehicles all day long. There really isn't a book that tells you how to make exactly what every customer is going to want, for every application. That's why they call it custom. They will take the necessary measurements, cut some pipe, bend it to fit, weld it up, and make it look right. If all they did was crappy work that didn't fit, they probably wouldn't be in business very long, especially since there are so many full exhausts that people could buy in a catalog these days, they have to offer services that stand out from the rest. Luckily their services aren't all that expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Thanks guys for the advice, Im having some guys in the shop at my work see what they can do, if that doesnt work i will try to find a good custom exaust place. My only problem is the ones around here are either meineke or some random places but I guess I have no choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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