Pinto Car Club of America

I'm looking for a good shop in the Omaha area to bend 2.5" or even 3" exhaust for my turbo Pinto. Does anybody have any recommendations?

BTW, how much is the crappy 1-7/8" exhaust on there now holding me back?

how do you drive the car?  what is its' primary purpose?  how much noise/resonance are you willing to put up with?  is the car lowered? dropped to the ground? standard, or near standard ride height?  how much has the motor been modified? do you want to experience the extreme pleasure of lots of BOOST?

these all factor into the decision that you will make.

in most cases a 2 1/2" system either machine bent or preferrably hand fabricated, will be more than enough for a street driven car.  especially a daily driver.  for occassional racing (drag strip?) this will work real good too.

i my opinion a 2 1/4" to 2 1/2" system is more than adequate for a street car.  if the turbo and the motor are healthy and in good shape internally you should be able to pump anywhere from 12 to 20 lbs with no trouble but remember that the more you use that greater amounts of caution need to be used in how the motor is setup to handle the high cylinder pressures and temperatures. for example: timing and spark issues, fuel quality, a water or alcohol injection and so on.

3" pipe will work but on a street car (driver?) it's probably overkill.  the Pinto has a very 'shallow' floor pan compared to other cars and the room for the large diameter pipe can lead to clearance isues as well as rattles, clunks and bangs from close clearances especially up and over the rear axle.  whichever route that you choose take a close look at examples of systems on other cars that you come across.  especially those that you may see at rod runs or car shows.  the systems that these guys have on their cars are usually as well detailed as the cars themselves are and talking to those guys may lead to a reputable builder who has experience in layin pipe under a car. make sure that the system  is mounted with rubber isolated type hangers.  do not go with any solid mounting anywhere.  do not use the common steel straps that are fastened to the body by a large sheet metal screw and two large rubber grommets. they are not reliable and you may very well regret it.

if you can find someone and if you can afford it, get a system hand fabricated from mandrel bends and designed and fabricated by a guy with a good eye for lines, angles and planes and examine the quality of his welding.  the beads should be real uniform and clean.  a lot of guys use wire feed these days.  some use heli arc and a few 'old farts' (like me prefer to use oxy-acetylene.  i prefer the old fuel/gas setup because it is fast, and with the right tip size and rod size the beads can be darn near perfect. this is what makes it all good.

oh yeah,  if you go with a large diameter system with the muffler at the rear in the original location you might consider adding a small diameter resonator (think glasspack with a large diameter, perforated (not louvered) core of some type ahead of the rear axle to cut down on the booming sounds that may occur inside the car.

by the way;  the 1 7/8" stuff is KILLING the thing.  let it breathe!

Finally got some new exhaust installed today. 2-1/4" machine bent with glass pack at Mad Hatter in Council Bluffs. "Nobody got a mandrel machine in this here area!" And that 2-1/4" is the biggest that they would conscientiously bend over that axle. Definitely added a good bit of low end torque and some acceleration. Also cruised down I-480 home a little bit easier. Set me back $192.