How I fixed my Doug Thorley Exhaust from cracking!!!!!!

[pitstopautoinc]

Hello everyone. Well for those of you who have put an aftermarket exhaust on your smart, you'll notice like I did that it cracks because if you remember on your factory exhaust that on the left hand there is flex tube. The steel braided stuff. That is there to absorbe all of the vibration that your engine makes because your exhaust is mounted to the car pretty rigidly. So then thinking back to the aftermarket exhaust you'll notice that on a lot of the cheaper brands that this tube is now solid. Some of the high end exhaust from smartmaddness have flex, but I personally don't wanna pay 600-800 bones for one =) My exhaust completely and I mean completely fell apart. So did another one of our club members in IE SMARTIES!! So I got to thinking, and did a little research, and found a small flex tube from a company back east. Every exhaust shop that I called around our area in so. cal wanted about 50-60 for this damn thing, and I thought that was nuts. From this company INCLUDING SHIPPING I pad a little over $13.00 from a company called Exhaust Depot. Now they don't answer their phone at all but they do answer emails really fast. They drop shipped it for me from whoever they get it from in Florida and I had it in about a week. Just so you know, you need to order a 4" long flex that has either a 1 5/8" ID or 1 3/4" ID. Exhaust depot only had 1 3/4" so that is what I bought and swaged the tube to make it larger. Here is the info of the place to buy the flex tube, and here is the info of a freaking GREAT! exhaust shop that tig welded all the stainless for me. I owe a lot to these guys, they are just freaking cool!!!!

Welcome to Exhaust Depot Mandrel Bending and custom metal fabrication!
Flex Sections / Flex Pipe
Exhaust Depot
5502 Force Four Pkwy #D
Orlando, FL 32839
Shop phone 407-601-4950
sales@exhaustdepot.com

Welcome to Bills Pipes - Motocross, Supercross, Arenacross, and Off-road Engine Development
BILL'S PIPES
226 North Maple St.
Corona, CA 92880
(951) 371-1329

[jwight]

Thanks for the info; what did the whole thing (including the cutting/welding) run you if you don't mind telling us?

[pitstopautoinc]

Well it was $13.00 for the flex tube and for bills to weld it, it was $60.00 however when I paid bills, I had him weld some other things for our store so I would imagine that he would probably charge around $40-$50.00 just for the exhaust. So in a nut shell I have about $60.00 wrapped into the whole mod.

[Turbo42]

maybe DTH will see this thread and fix there exhausts in this manner

[pitstopautoinc]

I emailed a copy of this link to Nick - one of the main sales reps at DTH

[ciscocali]

Good Idea but Doug Thorley should have done that work for you.

[Padawan]

Originally Posted by ciscocali

Good Idea but Doug Thorley should have done that work for you.

I agree. You shouldn't have to spend any additional money to "fix" a poorly designed exhaust that costs $400+ in the first place.

[pitstopautoinc]

i know it sounds crappy, having to fix a part, but honestly being in the auto industry for almost 13 years now, its a simple fact of life. sometimes when a part is designed it has flaws, after all it was designed by a humanbeing. the only reason im sticking up for dth is because a.) they're cool people if you meet them in person. b.) i'm a parts manufacturer myself, and i know that honestly - sh** happens.

[Dunerunner]

Nice Fix pitstop!! This goes in the Members Library!!

[Hlf Pnt]

I have to jump in on this post because yesterday my DTH second generation exhaust broke. Like everyone else the first generation broke at the bracket-to-pipe weld and at the weld on the outlet pipe on the muffler. Well, now the replacement second generation has broke. My second generation has the two SS springs on the inlet pipe side. The break was at the bracket weld just before those SS springs. One minute it everything is fine, take a curve, and whoa what is that extra loud sound!?!

It appears that the welded bracket on the pipe that is bolted to the Cat can't take the stress. The actual break left a hole in the pipe. To be more specific, the weld held, the pipe didn't. The bracket needs to be down line from the SS springs or down line from the flex pipe. Maybe it is me and my driving habits, but I think between the engine, the body, and the rubber mount for the pipe bracket there is more moving around back there than the rubber mount can take.

Anyway, I already decided that was my last DTH.

I placed an order for a Solo. It appears they figured it out. Their bracket is welded after their springs.

Hope you don't get mad at me for being lazy but I plan to cut and paste this post on another post about the DTH. Sorry for being so.


Hlf Pnt