OK so here's a good side by side comparo of the SPF stock pipes compared to the specialty stainless bad boys
The stock mufflers were not only very small on the ID they had also been crushed across to restrict them even further. The cross section of the ID at the most restrictive parts measured about 3/4" x 1 3/4".
Having cut, trimmed and squared off the pipes cuts it was simply a matter of reinstalling the components in the jig. As I said tack them in a few places and I try and skip around with my welding. That does a couple of things, most importantly dispersing the heat so you don't finish up with banana pipes and also for ease of weld positioning and a nicer resultant bead. Then it's off to my pal Zac
http://www.directcoating.com for the ceramic coating process. He tells me sidepipes are not easy to do. The reason for that is they are long (obviously) and when they have been ceramic coated, which is brittle by nature. They have to be finished with a polishing/burnishing media by tumbling. That can cause chips and dings in all the nice work we've done. The good thing about it is that these guys do top notch work and can rework if necessary always with super results. He has redone "other" peoples work for me as well as some superb systems we have built for Hot Rods. Doug had a good solution to avoiding shipping damage which is also a serious consideration with these things. He took his to the UPS store and said "package and send em". They did a great job for fairly short money compared to the pipes value and wrapped them up really well in a guitar box.