My buddy has a 98 I30 and when I drive his car I feel it pull considerably harder in the low to mid RPM range then my car does. His car is totally stock, Fed spec emissions, and not even maintained well.

My 99 SE-L Automagic has California Emissions and I think thats one of my problems. Everything else on my car is pretty much stock. My stock intake is opened up slightly, sort of a CAI setup. I have opend up the intake resonator box which sits under my battery tray. The rest of the intake is stock with a K&N panel filter.

I'm seriously looking into a Warpspeed Y pipe to help me gain some power in this beast. I don't race my car so top end performance isn't what I'm after here. I just want a bit more pull (torque) down in the 2K - 3K RPM range. Will a Y pipe give me what I'm looking for or am I wasting my $$

I don't want an intake system, don't want the noise so lets keep that idea out of this thread.

I also tried searching for dyno graphs with before and after Y pipe installs and came up empty. If anybody has dyno's of before and after Y pipe installs, please provide me with a link so I can take a look at the torque curve and see where it picks up power. Remember I'm looking at the 2K - 3K RPM range, not top end power which I'm aware will benefit greatly from a Y pipe.


A quick note:

I totally love my Stillen X-Drilled rotors and Metal Axis pads. It's been about 4 weeks since I installed them and the cars brakes are about 20% stronger and smooth as glass! I highly recommend this setup!

Tom

 

I dont know man.. Ypipe is really for the post 3000..
I don't understand why you're not happy with your 2k - 3k pull. Even when I was stock, I was satisfied with my 2k - 3k. Maybe your wheels are too heavy.

 

Good point!

 

Doesn't the Y-Pipe make more noise than a intake? I dont have a y-pipe but I'm only assuming.

 

This is only my experience:

With my Warpspeed Y I noticed no difference in sound with a stock Catback Exhaust system.

When I put on my PRCAI, loud in the engine.

When I put on my Stillen Catback, VERY LOUD from the bottom and rear of the car, in the car, three blocks from the car etc.............


So to summarize....... the Y pipe will not affect the noise level coming from your car.

Does this help?

DL

 

Unorthodox Racing Crank Pulley.
Warpspeed Test Pipe.
Tire pressure 35 front, 32 rear cold.

 

Dont you want lower tire pressure infront?

 

why would you want to get more power in that range? as if we dont wheel spin enough.. you DO know maximas have oodles of torque at launch... i wish we had lower hp at 2k so wecan get off the line with normal drop clutch launches...

where we need the power most is 5+k



if you want power down low. get the PR CAI.... and then you can kiss your 5K+ hp good bye.

 

I think the y-pipe was nice through the whole range. It growls a little more than stock, but most people don't even notice it. I do and I like it. What are the differences between ca emmission and fed emmision maximas? Is it just in the exhaust or are there other differences?

 

yea in my understanding from driving my buddys car with a pop and driving my car with a cold air, mine is soo much better low end...I can be in 4th at about 40 and pull really good compared to him...he sits in my car and is like, your car pulls soo much better low end...its really not even that loud unless you tap into it, and you say you dont...get a PRCAI and you will be really happy

-matt

 

Thanks for the input guys. So looks like I'm pretty much stuck with what I've got. My 17" wheels probably don't help. I think my buddies I30 has 15's which could very well make a huge difference. I never really thought about that.

Chebosto - Keep in mind I'm Auto. I don't have the same torque you guys have. There's more power loss through my tranny then yours.

Sounds like I'm going to give Warpspeed a call and order the damn pipe. My brother fixed the dent in my car and didn't charge me for anything. The kid that hit me 3 weeks ago just sent me a check to cover the cost. You gotta love family owned business. That pipe is now a gift for me and can only help free up some power.

 

Do you have your swirl valves locked open?

 

Beat me to it, but here is a link that might help him if they are not http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=138400

The swirl valves add turbulance to the intake charge so it mixes better and burns cleaner. I belive it is only on CA spec 99s.

 

That's what the VI is for.

 

I looked into the swirl valves a short time ago. They only activate when the car is warming up. After that there open all the time. Thats how that system works. I have already verified that they indeed are locked open when my car is at operating temp.

When the car is cold, you can see them open and close as you raise the RPM's. I think somewhere around 2K - 3K is when they open to let the intake breath no matter what temp the engine is at.

Funny thing is, I think the car pulls harder just as it's warming up!

 

Well now its time to put up or go home. If you want more lowend torque 2 things must be done.

1. buy some 205/50-15 tires, or run 205/45-17s those give you a 4.0 gear drive vs 3.62 stock. Its been proven too.

2. Buy a higher stall torque convertor, this will have the car leaving the line at 1400-1600rpm instead of 1000-1200rpm. Thus you have more torque on tap for the same amount of throttle angle (after stall speed is reached). Get the convertor from www.protorque.com

3. Combine 1+2 and you have an auto that can leave the line harder than a 5spd.

4. Have custom adjustable camshaft sprockets made and shift the powerband to a lower rpm by advancing both intake and exhaust cams. However you will lose toppend power to gain lowend power.

 

did I tell you or what. Port&polish, headers, cams. And for autos, tq. converter.

 

I know, I'm sorry, I should have listened to you in the first place.














Please forgive me?

 

I still have the stock 15" wheels on my max, if i get 17x7's are they going to weigh a lot more than what I have now? and what are some ways I can lighten up my car a little (i'm not going to take out the seats) besides taking out the spare tire??














Please forgive me? [/B][/QUOTE]

 

get the y pipe, you wont regret it

 

I just got off the phone with Warpspeed. Lynne is super nice. The Y pipe has been ordered! Lynne says Dallas will be working on the 99 cali spec pipes starting next week. I should see the pipe in 2 weeks.

Warpspeed charges 15 bucks to ship the pipe, I laughed when they told me that. How many guys on here have paid double that for a set of light bulbs!

The mod bug bites again.

 

Tom,

You ever consider a hybrid intake combined with the Y-pipe? supposedly the the hybrid intake will give you back the the low-end power that is robbed by normal cone intakes. Combine it with the Y-pipe you should get a decent amount of horses.

Kevin

 

Next comes an intake, then B-pipe, then Cat or Test pipe, and then you're just out of control and looking into Boost.

It happens to all of us.

 

Self control, self control, self control. I hope it works.

Kevin - No intake for me, I want the car quiet! Thats why I baught a Maxima in the first place. For the combination of luxury and performance.

I enjoy the ride!

 

i have the same wheels on my 99 fed spec and they havent affected my 2-3k range from what i can tell

 

So tell me guys, what's the bottom line on the y-pipes? I've always read here that they contribute quite a bit of noise when you're running an aftermarket cat back system. I'm running a Greddy catback and would always love to have more horses but I hear about as much from the exhaust as I want to hear right now.

 

With aftermarket catback, especially greddy, the Y-pipe will make it much louder. With a stock exhaust, there is very minimal change in noise.

 

Tom-

The wheels are killing you. The affects of unsprung rotating weight are felt most from 0-40. I'd bet that wheel combo you've got is a good 7lbs heavier than the stock 16s and nearly 10lbs more than the 15s. That's significant. Plus, you've got stickier and wider tires which have a little more rolling resistance. When I had 17s, I saw a difference of .2 second and 1.5mph vs running with the 15s ON BALD tires. I got worse 60 foots, but I was still quicker with the 15s. That's why I switched to the light 16s. Throttle response improved dramatically with stock and lighter rims. This might be felt as "more torquey" off the line.

There is still work you can to the your intake. You should buy WSP's midpipe. They sell it for $35 or so and it comes with all connections and clamps. You can probably get it cheaper if it's unpainted (I painted mine myself). This won't make your intake much louder, but it will help out. Cut a 2" hole in the far driver's side lower airbox and run a 2" shop vac hose from the hole in the airbox to behind the headlight and pushed down towards the bumper. This will make the intake slightly more throaty, but nothing like a CAI/POP.

Make sure your swirl valves are open all the time.

The y-pipe will help things, even in the low end. The B-pipe will help things too. I felt more lowend with my B-pipe and I dropped over .1 and gained over 1mph with it, on average.


Dave

 

Dave - Great stuff here, thank you. I think your right about the wheels. I do remember feeling a difference when I switch back to the stock 16" rims in the winter.

Now regarding the mid pipe, you recommend getting the pipe even with the stock air box? That thought crossed my mind several times and your the first one to actually mention it. I'll definately look into that. As far as opening the air box up, I've already opened it up a bit. My own secret mod! It's not directly into the box where it's opened up, it's just before the scoup that I've opened it up. That resonator box that goes under my battery doesn't have a back to it anymore! There's cool air down there to grap. The factory intake system is actually pretty good until you hit the scoup. Thats where I believe the restrictions come in, especially when your not moving and ramming air into it.

I'm hopeing the Y pipe is going to put a smile on my face, and I will seriously look into the intake mid pipe as well. I think with all the above installed, I should see some good gains in power across the range.

Thanks again for your input!

Tom