I'm gonna start buying all the parts I need for the whole system. Been looking at cat converters but it seems like few out there are CA legal without being way more expensive than the other ones. Anyone know a good place to get one for cheap? Are they even that important to go and buy the best one for performance? Could I get away with just buying the warpspeed y pipe and skimping out on the cat and the muffler?

 

1) what's your budget?
2) what's wrong with your current exhaust?
3) how much HP do you HONESTLY expect to gain?

 

Warpspeed still makes y-pipes, they sell cats that match... and if you pressed them, I imagine they could whip out a b-pipe. They used to carry them.

 

Expect to spend 500 for a dyno tune if you want to make real gains with your bolt-ons!!

 

I'm buying one thing at a time for now, I have about 250 I could drop right now but I wanna know what should I change out first? I heard the y pipe gives you the most gains but that's from reading off of forums.

 

it will give you 10 or 15 ASSUMING your car runs perfectly. And assuming your car is a 5spd you might actually shave a tenth off your 0-60 but it's still going to be slower than a 4th gen. No other single bolt-on will give you that much... aluminum underdrive pulley might give as much but can make your accessories seem to underperform (if they were already at the limit ie you live in a hot area or have weak arms or a big sound system).

 

Here's a inexpensive system or tubing kit that was designed for our 3rd Gens:
http://www.mandrelexhaustsystems.com...ima/Categories

 

It is a 5 spd, I don't have a sound system in it, that won't help me go any faster , I just wanna know if it is worth the investment, I don't really plan on going turbo on it I just wanted to squeeze a little bit of extra power out of it however I can but not if it's gonna cost me a lot of money, I would rather just save that money to buy myself a faster car later, I just want to get this one to a good state and just a fun daily driver that sounds like a beast

 

actually, just doing a WSP ypipe with a bigger B-pipe and a stock muffler will make the car sound WORSE... not better. Been there, done that.

 

id go with the one Cmax said, i had the MES exhaust from the group buy years ago with a 20" OBX resonator and GSX-71 can muffler. did that and the Warpspeed Ypipe at the same time, sounded good and made a bit of a power gain

 

So definitely the y pipe first, then I'm thinking the cat converter if its really that necessary, then the muffler, although I would like to go dual tailpipes but not if its too expensive. Is a resonator necessary for the sound?

 

I believe all would agree that a NEW catalytic convertor is necessary once the 60-100K range in mileage is achieved. They simply become clogged and need replacing.

On my Maxima, I had a test-pipe and a high flow cat available for swapping out from time to time. I can say I preferred the test-pipe over the cat (less back pressure), faster rev and better passing power on the highway. My set up was:
- WSP Y-pipe
- local muffler shop made 2.5” test pipe
- WSB 2.5” B-pipe
- Dynomax 16" resonator (I believe it was 4" round - did nothing)
- NEW SE Muffler

The issues with the MAXIMA muffler is it’s offset inlet/outlet design. At the time I could not find a performance replacement to match the offset configuration. So I decided to go back to a stock muffler, and even though I had all the performance piping ahead of it. This set up was much quieter, slightly louder than stock piping.; but the perkiness of the car went away.



I remember many 3rd Gen’s getting a muffler from a 4th or 5th gen to solve this issue.

 

Nice find!

 

Ha I love that word to describe these 3rd gens, they do have a quick throttle sometimes, so you're saying the stock muffler is better than any aftermarket one you can find?

 

I love the quietness of the stock muff. An idling VG is barely audible, unless it's got broken studs or leaks. Unfortunately this love for my quiet exhaust has caused me to neglect it. In all honesty the car could have used a cat back long ago. Although I'm only at around 135k.

 

this is WSP + bpipe w/o resonator, stock GXE muffler

 

yeah a resonator gets rid of the million bees ricer sound. i just ditched my cat converter like all my vehicles and put the resonator in its place

 

Well unfortunately I live in the horrible state of California where fun is illegal, I wish I could just chuck the cat and go with straight pipe but that's just a pipe dream until I move out of state haha, so would it be necessary to change out my cat to gain power or is it just for good measure

 

Message fom WARPSPEED

My question:
"My inquiry is for a series of parts previously available for the 3rd Generation MAXIMA, 1989 – 1994. I see Y-pipes still available:
- Could you upon request process a selection of the following?
-- Cats
-- Test Pipes
-- B-pipes
-- Rear mufflers
-- Chassis braces
-- Other?"

Response:
"We still make the Y pipes, cats, test pipes and I have several sets of the stage 1 x bracing in stock for the 1989-1994 Maxima.

regards
Dallas"

 

I couldn't see the video on your link (only shows the image) so just in case anyone else I having trouble

http://s164.beta.photobucket.com/use..._3231.mp4.html

And yea, I think that's worse than the time I was driving mine with a gutted cat

 

Well from all this info I've gathered from all your inputs seems like the y pipe is a good place to start, then I'll do the muffler next and worry about the cat last, when I smogged it this last October it passed the test no problem so I'm sure I got enough life left in it

 

yeah Warpspeed Ypipe is a good start, dont know how hard they are to find now. wish i could have pulled mine before it went to the junker

 

Yeah WSP Ypipe would be my first start......then a high flow Cat......then a catback

 

Well I gotta go find cats that are good ol CA legal haha

 

There's ONE!!! Fun.

 

Just a question,
Anyone actually use a Y-pipe upgrade from WSP and bolt it to a stock cat, and then to a stock B-pipe?

I ask, because I replaced ALL mine at the same time... thus all the flange and ID/OD diameters of piping matched.

Could it be that "if" just a y-pipe is swapped in that we'd have a miss-match pipe ID/OD and thus leak?

 

Pace Setter - MONZA exhaust:

http://pacesetterexhaust.com/monza-e...-2.aspx#nissan

Maxima89-943.0LC2-1/4"DA/2-1/2"88-1494


Headers:
http://www.nopi.com/dsp_part_detail....=270&vpcid=251

 

Some people have had fitment problems with the pacesetter headers ie they bind on the steering rack iirc.

 

a) again with the custom font colors that I can't read
b) the inside of the cat is bigger than the pipes attaching to it, i believe, so you're already experiencing that pipe-size-mismatch no matter what you do (short of a test pipe). I think the inside of my z31 cat was 3" but the pipes on either side were 2-1/8"

 

Does anyone that has a 3rd gen in California have any advice on what to get so I can assure that I pass the emissions test next year?

 

Thanks to the STAR program, it's much harder to mod the exhaust and intake. If you plan to get headers or intake, make sure it comes with a CARB Executive Order # or it will fail the visual test. A few 4th gens on the West Coast smog thread mentioned they failed the visual test because of the intake.

I was able to pass smog with stock intake, Warpspeed Y, aftermarket cat, stock resonator/b-pipe and 5.5 gen muffler this January. I may go 2.25" mandrel bent pipe and resonator later.

 

I see, so all those cars I see on the road with big tailpipes I assume are driving around illegally? Seems like I see too many of those and it makes me wonder how they get away with it?

 

if your car is "stock" *when inspected*, it will pass

since we are OBD-I, there is no standard "miles-driven-to-pass-a-cycle" test they can put the car through because OBD-I is different on a car-by-car basis.

 

This is somewhat timely as I just received my MES 3" kit today.

Just wondering, in what universe does this qualify as a "mandrel bend"? Any ideas? Me either. Hopefully MES can tell me because I'm not too amused right now.

 

a mandrel bend should maintain the circular section and diameter of the tube through a bend.....

that pipe you're holding..... does not.

 

That's not good. What kind of bend is that? Doesn't look like crush bending either.

You should contact them immediately if you haven't done so.

 

I did that (but then gutted the cat cause the material collapsed) and I think the stock cat had different sized in/out size as the WSP Y flange bolts perfectly to the stock cat flange but the stock pipe is 2". I didn't have issues with regards to leaks other thank the crappy noise from the gutted cat. When I get a chance, I will compare the size of the flanges as I still have a front portion of the stock cat and the flange that would connect to the rear stock cat (my exhaust is a Frankenstein setup right now).

Most people who drive modded cars would know a smog guy that would not bother with some of the visual parts of the tests. But again with the STAR program, we'll see how that comes out for pre-2000 cars.

 

james...that's a press bend w/o using the correct die so the material just folded over.

DEFINITELY not mandrel bend.

 

found this on ebay, reminds me of some of the exhausts I see here a lot around the valley. Its not supposed to pass the visual test in CA but how is it that I see these all the time around here?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DUAL-N1-RAINBOW-TITANIUM-BURNT-BLACK-EXHAUST-MUFFLER-240SX-350Z-300ZX-S13-S14-/170958854662?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1991%7CModel%3AMaxima&hash=item27cdf11a06&vxp=mtr

 

Yeah I emailed them and sent pictures. We shall see what they say