Titanium vs stainless exhaust

[dcrider69]

Pros and cons of titanium exhaust vs stainless on a street car. Plan to go over axle. 468 big block true street car. Yes I know titanium is higher in cost. I heard a vette with titanium that was wicked. Also, what mufflers do y'all like? I don't want that cruising speed drone, where I can't hear myself think.

[GregWeld]

There's no reason to build exhaust with Titanium unless you're trying to build the lightest race car possible.... or you have a rear engined car and are trying to shave weight off the ass end.

Tubing dimension is a function of what horse power you're trying to shove through.... and mufflers are a personal choice. One guy loves MagnaFlow and another guy loves Flowmasters. Personally -- I think Flowmaster is the one to stay away from if you don't like "drone".

Most of the big muffler manufacturers have websites with sound videos of various motors / cars you can listen to.

[GregWeld]

Just FYI --- a 3 foot straight section of 3 inch TITANIUM exhaust tubing is $189 vs 304 Stainless steel $60 from Burns Stainless.

A Titanium 3" 90* elbo was priced out at --- wait for it --- $90.... PER INCH

[Sieg]

Tubing diameter, crossovers, mufflers, resonators, and bends will affect the sound characteristics more than the type of metal used.....IMO.

I built new tailpipes for my car and they made a very noticeable change in the sound.

The amount of engineering and science that goes into new car systems to achieve 'the sound' is amazingly complex in this day and age.

[dcrider69]

Greg, I figured you would have heard a titanium system from corsa on a vette. The sound is very different and distinct.

[Che70velle]

Greg, I figured you would have heard a titanium system from corsa on a vette. The sound is very different and distinct.

The C5 Z's have a titanium exhaust from the factory. Perhaps you could find one as a pull out, and fab it to your liking?

[Twoblackmarks...]

You should make a complete system in inconel, that would be something else... HeHe..

[omiotek]

As stated ss is the way to go. I mean if your budget is unlimited then sure do titanium. I run a 6061 aluminum exhaust on my Dd though. Weighs nothing sounds good for a 4 cylinder but I have a ss downpipe and cast o2 housing to take all the turbo heat before the aluminum catback.

[Solid LT1]

I think the person asking the question probably has no idea of the difficulty in welding Titanium........SSteel is difficult enough........even if I won a 200 million lottery.....I wouldn't consider going with a TI exhaust....but I did buy a TI Akrapovic for my C6 Z06 at SEMA joking with the guy that he didn't want to deal with lifting that heavy system off the display....winning $1500 at Poker helped make the decision:badidea:

[DavidBoren]

The titanium exhaust will offer you no advantages over a stainless steel exhaust, other than being able to say you have a titanium exhaust.

The sound will be the exact same out of two identical systems, regardless of whether one is titanium and the other is stainless. So that fancy titanium exhaust you heard could be made in stainless steel for a third of the cost, and give you the same sound.

If you do choose to go titanium, for whatever reason, it would behoove you to buy it from a manufacturer, as I wouldn't trust your average exhaust shop to weld titanium properly.

As for mufflers, I like Borla.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

The titanium exhaust will offer you no advantages over a stainless steel exhaust, other than being able to say you have a titanium exhaust.

The sound will be the exact same out of two identical systems, regardless of whether one is titanium and the other is stainless. So that fancy titanium exhaust you heard could be made in stainless steel for a third of the cost, and give you the same sound.

If you do choose to go titanium, for whatever reason, it would behoove you to buy it from a manufacturer, as I wouldn't trust your average exhaust shop to weld titanium properly.

As for mufflers, I like Borla.

Ti is a lot lighter. But dollar per lbs, you can do it else where.


As far as welding, Ti isn't much off, you just have to have the right gear. Cutting it, well that's another cluster. Stainless welds up a lot easier than Aluminum. I actually enjoy it.

[omiotek]

Ti needs lots of gas flow and shielding

[OBeer-WAN-Kenobi]

Sure Ti will have a different sound. The material properties are different so will have a different resonance. Is it worth it? Probably not. It sucks to bend and machine but not so much to weld IMO. It's most useful in aerospace and chemical applications that take advantage of it's strength to weight ratio and high chemical/corrosion resistance.

Ti does throw off really cool white sparks when you grind it though, gotta love that!

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Sure Ti will have a different sound. The material properties are different so will have a different resonance. Is it worth it? Probably not. It sucks to bend and machine but not so much to weld IMO. It's most useful in aerospace and chemical applications that take advantage of it's strength to weight ratio and high chemical/corrosion resistance.

Ti does throw off really cool white sparks when you grind it though, gotta love that!

yep, they use titanium dust in fireworks. Bright white flash.

What did you use to grind it?