light weight exhaust material?

[bryant]

what is the lightest weight material that an exhaust system be made out of?
i figure the thinner gauge mild steel then having it ceramic coated to help handle the heat and last.

[SD455]

Titanium, but its expensive. The serious guys running in F.A.S.T have used it.

[dontlifttoshift]

Aluminum is a affordable, but durability is a factor. Maybe 20ga 321 stainless would be the right compromise......but not cheap, again.

If this is for a 71 Comet, I am sure there are better places to save some weight. The exhaust is in a good place to be heavy.

[pro67coupe]

I have wondered about this also. How heavy are those flexible exhaust connectors? Could you make an entire exhaust system from the same material?

[hifi875]

my z06 has titanium exhaust. lightest that ive seen.

[HarleyR]

It's one of the lowest things in the car...I wouldn't worry about weight

[bryant]

i guess what im what im wondering specifically is if i can use thinner gauge mild steel for weight savings and cost at the same time then have it ceramic coated (their goes the cost savings) to help rust prevention and heat management?

[bergers59]

what about thin wall stainless?

[Motorcitydak]

Inconel is what most race cars use (Nascar, F1, etc...) but it is not a friendly material to work with. If you are looking to make it yourself, you are limited to what you can work with. I made mine from 18ga 1 5/8 and had it ceramic coated, they all together do not weigh very much and way less than CI manifolds

[HarleyR]

NASCAR teams use to run a lot on inconel headers and some still do but at 8000 bucks a set they are rare.... Also it's becoming fairly common to build the exhaust system as heavy as possible like in the 70-80 pound range simply because they are the lowest thing on the car and you can take weight out of the right frame rail and get it even lower