Building a Free Exhaust System: A Cost-Effective Solution for a Daily Driver

When it comes to modifying a vehicle, many car enthusiasts think that expensive aftermarket exhaust systems are necessary to enhance performance and appearance. However, with some creativity and resourcefulness, it's possible to create a high-quality exhaust system on a shoestring budget. In this article, we'll explore the process of building a free exhaust system for a daily driver.

The term "straight pipe" is often thrown around in YouTube communities, referring to an exhaust system that has no muffler, no catalytic converter (CAT), and minimal or no resonance chambers. This type of setup can produce a deep, rumbling sound that's both pleasing to the ear and effective for performance gains. However, it's essential to note that straight pipes are not entirely free from regulations. In Pennsylvania, for example, a straight pipe requires an exhaust elbow to be attached to the body of the vehicle to direct the exhaust gases away from the fuel tank.

To start building our free exhaust system, we began by scavenging parts from a donor vehicle. We managed to salvage two exhaust headers, which would become the foundation of our setup. The original idea was to install these headers straight into the engine bay, with no muffler or CAT in sight. However, this presented some challenges. To avoid having restrictive components and maintain maximum airflow, we had to get creative.

We decided to use a combination of the existing exhaust system and some DIY modifications to create our unique setup. By removing the original mufflers and replacing them with just two exhaust headers, we managed to reduce the overall weight of the system. This not only improves fuel efficiency but also enhances the vehicle's performance.

The next step was to modify the exhaust pipes themselves. We needed to add an elbow piece to direct the exhaust gases away from the engine bay and towards the rear of the vehicle. To achieve this, we used a pry tool to carefully remove the original muffler mounts, allowing us to attach our homemade elbows. This modification may seem trivial, but it ensures that our straight pipe setup remains within legal boundaries.

Now that our exhaust system was complete, it was time to put it to the test. We started the engine and listened as the deep, rumbling sound filled the air. The pops and crackles of the combustion process were music to our ears, and we couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction at having created something truly unique.

The final result was nothing short of impressive. Our free exhaust system produced a deep, resonant sound that was both pleasing to the ear and effective for performance gains. We noticed an increase in fuel efficiency, as well as improved acceleration and responsiveness. The best part? It all came at zero cost.

To put our exhaust system to the test, we took it for a spin through the neighborhood. As expected, the rumble of the engine was audible but not obnoxious, making it suitable for daily driving. We were pleased to find that the sound produced by our straight pipe setup was far more pleasing than anything we could have purchased.

If you're looking to build a free exhaust system like ours, there are a few things to keep in mind. First and foremost, ensure that your setup complies with local regulations and emissions standards. Next, be prepared to get creative with DIY modifications and scavenging parts from donor vehicles. Finally, don't be afraid to experiment and try new things – after all, it's just a free exhaust system!

In the end, our free exhaust system proved to be both cost-effective and highly effective. By using existing parts and getting creative with modifications, we were able to create a high-quality exhaust system that enhances performance and appearance without breaking the bank. Whether you're looking for a daily driver or a show car, this article has shown that sometimes the best things in life are free – as long as you're willing to put in the effort to build them yourself.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: engood morning guys and welcome to the channel it is a gorgeous day here in PA a little cold yet but really sunny and nice the perfect day to do some blazer mods that's right boys the first mod ever for the blazer and I got some news for you haters out there I don't know if you can see this but for anybody who says oh who's in the truck well right there is a booklet that comes with the truck from chevrolet chevrolet light duty truck exhibit a it's a truck now a lot of people say well if it doesn't have a bed it's not a truck so I guess by that logic then an 18-wheeler the tractor part isn't a truck either neither is a tow truck and neither is any type of utility truck I rest my case it's a truck of course this is all in good fun but it really is a truck and it's a truck and it happens to be a truck that being said the truck is filthy from the video I made I'm not sure when it's going to go live but there's dirt everywhere the video I made recently dirt everywhere all up in everything actually it's not that bad but there is a lot of dirt it is pretty dirty and we are going to take it to the car wash to get her cleaned up now a lot of people are gonna say you know Mike why do you care about the truck being clean well I don't really that's why I bought an old 1500 dollar truck but I want it to be clean because I want to park it in the garage so I can work on it because it's a little chilly outside it's also really wet out there as you can see and I don't want to be laying on the ground so let's get her cleaned up and bring her inside you guys might have thought I was joking about using my co-speaker here but I wasn't it's really nice for when you don't have a head unit which I don't have one yet but we are going to get one installed in this truck at some point soon my boy so we got the blazer back at home and as you can see she's looking pretty clean I tried to drive around for a while to let all the water dry and whatnot we're dripping a little bit but nothing too nothing too bad the important part is not it's not all you know muddy and dirty and disgusting so of course you know the first thing we want to do when we get a new truck is we want to we want to be able to hear it right we want to make it loud and most trucks are pretty quiet most any vehicle is pretty quiet from the factory this truck especially I really can't hear it at all when it's running and I'm sitting inside of it in fact I can't hear it at all I can only kind of feel the engine moving a little bit but it's extremely quiet and traditionally you know with my Duramax or one of my corvette so the McLaren or whatever you want to be louder you have to buy an exhaust system and the problem with that is that exhaust systems although with the right company it sounds grey horse it is my go-to as you guys know and they sound awesome but exhaust systems are expensive and this is a budget build we don't want to spend any unnecessary money and if you're you know somebody in high school whatever or in college and you don't have a lot of money to spend an exhaust system for fifteen hundred bucks two thousand dollars that's a lot of money good news is you can make this truck sound really really good or any old truck even if it is a v6 or whatever you can make it sound really good without spending anything we're gonna spend a little bit of money just to keep it legal but basically all you got to do is cut your stock exhaust off and I know it sounds kind of like janky and ghetto right like I'll just chop off your exhaust but really for these trucks especially again the Chevy 350 v8 any v8 it's gonna sound really good now a lot of people what they do is they'll cut a pipe and then they go to Pep Boys and they get like a glass packed cherry bomb or whatever they're called and they put it in there but you don't want to do that actually what you want to do is just cut it off past the catalytic converter now again if this was a crazy project I would just cut it off right up there and like dump it out the side but we're going for a good sound without being too insane because it is a daily driver and again we do want to keep it legal problem with those big resonator and muffler things is that they don't really make the truck sound any better they just give it more volume and make the truck drone really bad you're gonna see with what we do the truck isn't gonna drone on the highway we're just cruising around at all it's not gonna drone but it is gonna sound really good when you step on it it's also gonna give it a nice little Rumble at idle and again it's totally free as we look at our exhaust system you can see it's a little bit more complicated than a lot of old trucks most old trucks it is why pipes off the header so it comes down on either side into a Wye shape and then it's one pipe all the way out the back this is two pipes all the way out the back we're pretty close until you get to the muffler and then on the other side of this muck this big muffler here is when it goes into one pipe again as you can see I think anyway I think that's where it's one yeah that's one out of this muffler now we also have this is a little bit of a newer truck so we have if you can see up there we have an o2 sensor so we don't want to cut before that so we're gonna leave our catalytic converters for two reasons number one well really it all boils down to inspections here in PA in PA you have to have a catalytic converter so it would fail twice number one it would fail because you wouldn't have one and number two even if you like cut this out and hollowed it out and then put it back in you would have a check engine light from your o2 sensor and if your truck your vehicle has a check engine light it will not pass so we're not gonna cut anywhere up here we're gonna leave the cats but that's gonna be fine anyway because with the cats on its gonna not be again too crazy crazy loud but it's still gonna sound really good so we're gonna cut right here about right after this little hanger so it's supported you can see we have an exhaust hanger here and we're gonna cut these two pipes leading into this big muffler so we're gonna get rid of this whole thing right here and this is why the truck is so quiet it's a huge huge muffler and we definitely don't need that so we're gonna cut these two pipes and again assuming you have a sawzall or you can borrow one from somebody who has one this is not going to cost you any money technically not a straight pipe the word straight pipe gets thrown around on YouTube a lot Parker I'm talking to you just joke and I and a lot of other people do the same thing but straight pipe is as its like literally your headers all the way back no muffler no cats anything not even a little resonator so we're pretty close it's straight all the way up top there there's nothing like restrictive at all and then we just have our two little cats so it's pretty close but it's it's his extreme as we can get and still be legal and I think that's important because again this is a daily driver build it's something that you can do and be legal and everything's going to be okay for you driving it every day the only thing we have to do to keep it a hundred percent legal is we have to if we're gonna have our pipes end right there we have to have an elbow and have it out to the body because it can't be dumped underneath now again a lot of states are different your state might not require that but PA does but we are going to do that as well I will have to spend a little bit of money at like autozone or pet boys to get little exhaust elbows but they're literally only about five to ten bucks I think it's pretty affordable so let me start her up and this is what it sounds like bones stop and see what I'm talking about you can barely hear this truck so it doesn't sound bad it's not anything offensive but it definitely needs a little bit more volume and that 350 is really gonna sound great once we do this well so it's really important of course to mention to wear eye protection when you're doing this when we get one set of eyes and you don't want a piece of rust flying in your eyeball there's one smooth as butter go to the back if two hangers holding on the muffler and the exit exhaust piece here I'm gonna try to not cut them so I can salvage the hangers because it's just kind of nice to not have to do that easiest way to do this is to get a little pry tool and just try it against the pipe and you'll find that you can get it out pretty easy now again why am i salvaging this I'm not really sure for my purposes whatever it's just good to have it's always good to have it alright that's that boys got this exhaust right the hell off there it is now the other advantage boys is that this is like probably 40 or 50 pounds so we've got weight reduction now yeah we have weight reduction on our 97 blazer let's see how she sounds now that she's free so it's got a really nice low Rumble to it but you notice it's not like crazy loud you can drive this in a neighborhood you're not gonna bother anybody it's literally freaking perfect a nice deep Rumble but not obnoxious at all sounds better than any exhaust system you could buy and again totally free this is just all stock just the regular engine and the stock headers and all that sounds freaking epic I love those pops and again really quiet when you don't want the noise but sounds amazing when you do when you get on it that is freaking but we got to do I got to do it again we got it's friggin awesome for the low low cost of $0.00 we now have a great sounding truck even if you had the money for an expensive exhaust why would you want one sounds perfect sounds so good or we'll go behind this building get a little echo action are Oh my gas mileage is going to be so much worse totally brings back the memories - just an old true v8 you know that's all you need that's really all you need my neighborhood this table saw out again I am going to go out and buy a little elbow piece and the clamps from advanced auto that should cost about 25 to 30 bucks but it is fine right now you know the truck runs and drives fine sounds really really freaking good it might not pass inspection like that depending on how strict your place is but you know it's not going to hurt anything exhaust is far away from the gas tank it's not near any components that it would make too hot or anything so you can run and drive it like that just fine in fact if you want to leave it like that you could buy a little elbow piece and rather than go elbow out you could go elbow down which would direct the exhaust you know under the truck more so than just backwards which would be really good as well you could do that too yep that's it the free exhaust mod sounds a freaking awesome let me know what you guys think in the comments below if you enjoyed this upload give it a thumbs up take care have a great day\n"