From engineering.com; Metal Additive Manufacturing Keeps Legend Flying
This is great news for warbirds and the racing applications are unlimited. 
...The build progressed beyond a simple aviation MRO solution into true research: how well did the original exhaust stack flow? Could the laser sintered part perform better? What about the effect of surface finish on flow? Would the elimination of 34 inches of weld seam affect performance?.......
.....According to Chu, “We reverse engineered the existing product, so that's the exact same geometry that it had for the past 70 years. The next step is to do analysis on the existing component’s geometry, stresses, thermal gradients, and also the gas flow dynamics and work from there. Is there a way for improvement or optimization for the current manufacturing techniques? We can definitely cut a lot of weight out of this, and we can increase performance and reduce thermal stress by changing some of the geometry. That’s the next project we can work on.”.....
.....According to Chu, “We reverse engineered the existing product, so that's the exact same geometry that it had for the past 70 years. The next step is to do analysis on the existing component’s geometry, stresses, thermal gradients, and also the gas flow dynamics and work from there. Is there a way for improvement or optimization for the current manufacturing techniques? We can definitely cut a lot of weight out of this, and we can increase performance and reduce thermal stress by changing some of the geometry. That’s the next project we can work on.”.....
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