The exhaust on my 4runner has seen better days, and leaks everywhere. It has also gotten in my way during the buildup, and has since ceased to exist. So I need to build a new exhaust. I had thought I would just take it to a muffler shop or something, but might try building it myself since I think I could do it with some prebent pieces.
Now here comes my questions. I will have to keep the cat to pass inspection, correct? I know this is a dumb question, but does the location of the cat matter (I may need to push it forward or back to clear a crossmember)? As long as it has a heat shield above it, I can't see it making a difference, but thought I would check. The only O2 sensor is in the manifold
Another thing is I always assumed an exhaust system had to be welded together, and that exhaust clamps were just used to provide places to mount hangers. But a friend tried to tell me that you can build a exhuast system without welding, you just use the clamps to clamp the pieces together. Personally, it seems like that would leak like crazy.
Also, how long will flex pipe like this last? http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku Is it only a short term solution? I like it because it would make the transition from my manifold to the rest of the exhaust easier, as well as letting me hard mount the rest of the exhaust and therefore tuck it up higher into the frame