1994 Exhaust questions.

[Red Merle]

I am going to replace my entire exhaust this spring except for the exhaust manifolds themselves.

I took it to my exhaust guy a few weeks ago to get an opinion and I am getting ready to start acquiring parts. He told me that he could weld a new or used y-pipe that comes off the cats and then install a Bosal stainless muffler and tail pipe.

I am not sure I want to do that though. I would rather have new stuff, but I just can't afford to use all Toyota parts. My current idea is that I am going to buy new down pipes that come off the manifold and a new y-pipe from Toyota here in town. I buy enough stuff from them that they said they would sell these pipes for wholesale. I am then looking at getting new aftermarket cats and maybe some new shrouds from Cruiser Yard and then going with the Bosal stainless muffler and tailpipe. I was planning on buying all of the gaskets from Toyota and I am planning on using my O2 sensors(is there any way to clean them before reinstalling?).

My questions are 1) what are the best aftermarket cats to fit the stock pipes and will last the longest? I don't live in California and I doubt I ever will. 2) Is Bosal the only option for a stainless muffler and tailpipe that will bolt right on and are those any good?

This is going to be an expensive job as it is, so if there is something better than what I have mentioned here, let me know. I can't afford Toyota parts for the ones I have written up as as aftermarket, but I am not an expert on exhaust parts by any means. My exhaust guy said Walker and Borla didn't make direct fit stainless for these cars, but there may be other options that he is not aware of. I aso don't really want to have to modify a bunch of stuff or anything if I can help it.

Thoughts?

 

[greentruck]

Being your from snow country, things may be in bad enough shape for total replacement. In our case, it turned out only the muffler was leaking. The local exhaust shop had a stainless muffler they cut and fit to go in place of the old, cutting off its connecting ends and welding to the new one. It's somewhat louder (if I was younger, I would enjoy that more) but not really annoying.

Cats still working, so left them alone. Lots of options there if CA certification isn't an issue, though.

The rest of the system I left alone after replacing one of the little rubber hanger thingees -- the only really cheap part of a 80 exhaust.

 

[thatcabledude]

Im not even sure aftermarket cats for a 94 exist. They are odd.

Since you are already going to see an exhaust guy for work skip the new OEM and get the Magnaflow y-pipe and maybe one of their cats them have your exhaust guy take it from there.

 

[Landseer]

I replaced the entire exhaust on my 94 a year ago, ended up using Toyota downpipes, y-pipe, and the protective covers. I got the cats from AB catalytic, I'm not expert on cats but they seem pretty beefy and were relatively cheap. For everything behind the y-pipe I used cheap aftermarket parts (probably Bosal).

If I were to do it again I would probably get a set of Pacemaker headers from Australia, they're apparently good for some extra horsepower, and either Toyota muffler and tail pipe or after market depending on budget. Probably have to have a small section of custom exhaust welded in after the Pacemakers. You'd have to weld cats in if you wanted them, I'd probably go with some Magnaflows.

PACEMAKER HEADER EXTRACTOR SUITS LANDCRUISER 80 SERIES 93-98 4.5L 1FZ-FE PETROL | eBay

 

[Red Merle]

Thanks for the replies. What are people saying about going with stainless vs. standard steel for some of the parts? My exhaust guy told me that the Toyota parts will be stainless, which seems to jive with the fact that the original stuff lasted 23 years( I think the tailpipe is newer, but everything else looks original). I live in the super rust belt and buying cheap parts probably won't save me any money if I have to do this sagin in a few years.

The reason that I don't want to just get a new y-pipe and muffler and tailpipe is beacuse they would have to weld them to my old cats which honestly don't look that great to me. Someone already welded the original downpipes to the cats because the flanges were shot. If I end up needing new cats and downpipes I will be stuck buying another y-pipe unless I can re-weld that to the new cats. Honestly, I am not sure I like all this welding. It seems like if I go that route, I may end up cutting brand new flanges off that I will be kicking myself later for doing and I like the idea of a modular system if I do run into a problem with one of the components.

It's not to say money is no object, because it is, I just would rather make this purchase once and do the labor once.

Has anyone else gone the header route? What did it take money wise to get them to the US and how long did that take? I would want cats. I am not excited about polluting any more than I already am with this truck. I don't mind spending the money to get something on there, I just can't afford two Toyota cats at $600 a pop.

I am looking at something like these for the cats.

http://www.discountcatalyticconvert...nverter/1994/Base/6_Cyl_4-dot-5L/BEN3207.html

 

[Marine7]

Without a doubt use stainless between engine and muffler. You can use a high performance universal cat, I would drop it to 1 cat, just place the bungs in the new pipe. After the muffler you could use something a little more "economical" seeing as how easy it is to replace. And if you wheel, you'll probably smack your exhaust tip a time or two! As far as stuff fitting..... if he's an exhaust man he has a pipe stretcher and welding capabilities to modify (correctly) whatever you need.

 

[Red Merle]

Alright, so I have everything ready to install this weekend. I ended up going with Toyota down pipes from the manifold, Toyota y-pipe, Toyota tail pipe and a Walker Quiet Flow aluminized steel muffler with stainless guts (I painted it with high temp paint last night in hopes of keeping the salt demons at bay) and Bosal stainless cats. I am going to bolt it all together with the Toyota nuts and bolts and use the Toyota gaskets that I bought for the whole job and try to get the new hangers on there too. As a side note, the whole thing only ran me about $1600, which I thought was pretty good since I was originally thinking it would be north of $2K when I did my initial searches online. My local dealer gave me their wholesale price on the OEM stuff, which came in under what I had priced some of the aftermarket parts at.

My question has to do with the cats. They look identical on each end but there is a secondary heat shield on one side. Is there a direction of flow that I need to worry about and does the heat shield go up to protect the floor from getting hot? There are no flow arrows that I can see on them and there are no instructions in the box.

 

[Hornd]

Considering Land Cruisers are $85K+ New, why do they not use 304 Stainless which would last for life instead of 409 Stainless which lasts for 20 yrs? The Material Difference in cost can not be that significant.
There must be something I do not know?

 

[Red Merle]

Considering Land Cruisers are $85K+ New, why do they not use 304 Stainless which would last for life instead of 409 Stainless which lasts for 20 yrs? The Material Difference in cost can not be that significant.
There must be something I do not know?

Yeah, I am not sure either, but really 23 years is a pretty good run, especially where I live. I am not upset about having to replace it.