Bleepin' exhaust system should have been done last night, but I think I got my dimensions wrong "just enough" to keep me from being able to line up the collector hookups w/ the tapered transitions to the x-pipe entries. Had the whole system on & off twice before giving up for the day.

i've been thinking about using those stainless flat band clamps.
i'm not sure a mig [which is all i have] could do a good weld on a v-band clamp ?

I have ball collectors that work great and don't require gaskets but I've been thinking about v-bands for ease of removal/assembly.

Flange flatness and clamp load (clean the threadings and slightly lube them... ant-seize preferred) is all that matters mostly... for any exhaust gasket to work. I use the Fel-Pro Performance collector gaskets... they are steel cored with compressible fiber facings, along with anti-stick coatings... easy release/removal... and re-use if needed.

I'm a former gasket applications engineer from Fel-Pro.

Yeah. One bolt rather than 3! We will see how it goes when mockups of the Hemi start, but if the low budget super comps I bought for mine
require significant rework I'm definitely not above chopping the collector ring off and starting over with V band.

Exhaust comment(s)
- here are the Brad-Fab collector 45-degree elbow hookups next to the NOT 45-degree elbow TTI parts
- had to assemble the system w/ the stock pieces and will check w/ TTI about getting replacement pipes on which to perform the same mod
- installed the "dead soft" aluminum gaskets... noticed there's a slight non-flat surface on one of the collector hookups and I could see light between the gasket and the mating surfaces; I "shaved" that corner of the gasket to enable the surfaces to mate, but...

The ones on my Barracuda that I have to make my midpipe removable were done by a muffler shop mig, I have one on my conquest exhaust that a friend of mine did with my mig welder. I use my welder occasionally but I really have it so my friends can weld my stuff at my house lol.

thanks for the reply. i haven't had a V-band in my hand to examine, so i'm open to suggestions.
as i have all the necessary parts here, i was going to use up what i already have. however, the parts i have are mild steel, so i was going to have the system coated after i got it together.
if i was starting from scratch, i would buy stainless for all the more it is in cost over mild steel, plus the cost of having it coated makes the stainless choice a no-brainer.

Slip on and V band. If you're running big bore ex system on a lowered car and need to keep it tight to the floorpan, there are some places under the car which can be a bit tight so a slip on in that area. V band clamps are used where I have the room. I can go from a 4 silencer x pipe system, to open headers and any other mix 'n match combo. But I generally race with X pipe, bullet mufflers and pre axle turn downs since we have a 120db limit at the track.

Talked to TTI yesterday. They don't normally sell the "slip connectors" separately from the x-pipe kits. However, "Mike" was helpful enough to go check in the shop for spares. He found there were some getting ready for the bender and opted to pull a finished set from a kit and will replace them w/ the parts in the process of being made.

He also confirmed the left and right parts are different, so my attempt to use two identical 45-degree elbow wasn't gonna work, since I wasn't prepared to do additional and