Modified X-pipe

I don’t like how the X-pipe is making the exhaust dip down. It does nothing to benefit me. The dip must be eradicated.

As I showed in the previous post, the inlet pipes of the X-pipe are angled down so the obvious place to start is at cutting these parts off.

I cut the pieces off in such a way so that the angle of the pipe stays with the inlet pipes.

The next step is to cut away any of the angled parts of the pipe so I get the flat inlet that my compulsive nature is crying for..

I’m rushing and try to weld the pipes right back into place but it turns out that the cut down pipe is of a slightly larger diameter than the opening in the X inlet. I try to weld the pieces together anyway and make a mess of the seam. Blowing holes because of bad fitment and lack of skill.

I’m making things ugly so I decide to stop for the night.

I get back to the shop a couple of days later and instead of trying to clean up the bad welds, I cut through them and separate the pieces again.

The cuts are uneven and leave big gaps when the pipes are butted up to each other so a few passes across the disc sander cleans the

edges up nicely

After the initial prep of the pipes, I had removed a little over 3/4 inch of material. I’m concerned that this will have an affect on the geometry I have already established between the X-pipe and the header. I can kill two birds with one stone by adding material back and flaring one end of the new spacer so it fits the inlet pipe better.

I grab a couple of pieces of scrap stainless exhaust pipe and expand one end of each pipe. I don’t widen them much, just enough so they match the slightly enlarged inlet pipes. Once I’m happy with the fit, I tack the respective pieces together.

Since I’ll be butt welding these pieces together, I jerry rig a way to fill the pipe with argon to back purge the weld and then proceed to fusion weld the pipes together.

With the pipes length extended, I use a template that I drew on a piece of cardboard. It’s an outline of the X-pipe before I cut it up. I use this outline to determine the necessary length of the inlet pipes. I mark the pipes and cut them to length on the bandsaw.

Now that the prep is done, the rest is just routine. First one side gets tacked and then welded into place and then the second side. Still making ugly welds, they’re just not as heinous as before.

Below are the before and after pictures. Are the results worth the effort? I’ll let you know.