Does anyone make a cheap lightweight muffler for the 986?

[j.fro]

I've been thinking for a while about building some cheap, lightweight mufflers...so here goes:
Would you pay $300 for a straight-through design muffler that's half the weight of the stock muffler? The catch is that it wouldn't be stainless steel, but rather mild steel with high temp flat black paint .

By the way, I priced out building cat bypass pipes from stainless, and the cost for the materials plus the labor to build was over $350...At $495 the Fabspeed pipes really don't have such an obscene mark-up after all.

[2K3_Boxster_S]

Originally Posted by j.fro

By the way, I priced out building cat bypass pipes from stainless, and the cost for the materials plus the labor to build was over $350...At $495 the Fabspeed pipes really don't have such an obscene mark-up after all.

Thankyou Exactly. T304 is not that cheap and quality welding stainless? I know I don't stand a chance. also I personally wouldn't put anything less than t304 if you plan on keeping your car more than a couple years. Mild steel will be rusted by then and high temp paint will not stay on either. A coating process may stand a chance.

[sd_boxster]

Good info... makes one wonder how the eBay headers get here for $100. Materials, manufacturing, packaging, and freight, plus (conceivably) some markup for a couple of middlemen along the way. Even with China's scorched-earth manufacturing practices and impossibly low labor costs, it's hard to understand how the product can be manufactured and shipped halfway around the world to sell at that price.

Originally Posted by j.fro

By the way, I priced out building cat bypass pipes from stainless, and the cost for the materials plus the labor to build was over $350...At $495 the Fabspeed pipes really don't have such an obscene mark-up after all.