I actually originally posted this over in the Gen 5 forum, but one of the guys there suggested I post over here too. Apparently a number of you have put the Gen 5 exhaust on your gen 4. I just wanted to see who was happy with it and who has done better with some other after market exhaust.

My original thread can be seen here:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=166043

-Dan

 

Most people on here will tell you that a muffler, no matter what it is, will not give any noticeable gain. I was one of those people until I watched four back to back (to back to back) dyno's of a 4th gen Max with regular bolt ons, before and after with a 5th gen muffler installed. The owner's name on here is Bejay1 and he consistently gained 8hp and 9lb tq with just the muffler swap. He did 4 dynos: stock ecu and stock muffler, stock ecu and 5th gen muffler, aftermarket ECU and stock muffler, and aftermarket ECU with 5th gen muffler. The dyno plots speak for themselves, they are available in the dyno section I believe.

 

I like my 5th gen muffler. I like the fact that it does look stock on there but has some performance gains to it in some ways, but is still nice and quiete.

SuDZ

 

Thanks Neal,
I did some hunding for the user you mentioned and tracked down his homepage which has the dyno plots.

http://maxima.cardomain.com/member_p...=131342&page=4

The picture is a bit fuzzy, but it looks like you're right, there was a respectable power gain from just adding the variable capacity muffler.

By the way, did the stock Maximas have dual exhaust or single exhaust on the gen 4?

-Dan

 

If they are stock they have a single exhaust pipe from the catalytic converter to the muffler.

 

I went from a dynomax muffler to a 5th gen muffler..

very quiet..

BUT I lost 4 lbs TQ and 1 HP

I had an I/Y/E at the time.. BUT it was worth it to me

I like it and I knwo several people switching to it from hearing my car

they are $$$$ and hard to find

 

I have a 2K1 muffler I bought from Jime. When I got it, it had already been modified with a 2.5" inlet pipe which replaced a 2.25" one. I haven't dynoed yet so I have no numbers to share with you. Hopefully in a couple months.

 

It's clear that you lose some peak power going back to an oem muffler. But, I'm pretty sure you gain low end. I'd like to see a dyno from say a Stillen muffler compared to the 5th gen muffler. I've had my 5th gen muffler on my 97 for a little over a year now...wouldn't change a thing. Performance and noise is at a perfect equilibrium.

 

there was a loss from start to finish... one line is slightly lower than the other

 

2.5" inlet? Damn, why didn't I do that.

 

are they the same mufflers used on the other 2k+ nissans? I know that sentra has variable flow too. I imagine that max 3.0 would require much more flow than sentra engine.

 

is everyone using 2k or 2k1 mufflers? does anyone know if they did anything different for the 3.5?

 

are you compare it to the dynomax or stock 4th gen,have anyone compare the 2k with the 4th gen?how much different is it thanx!

 

As listed above:
http://maxima.cardomain.com/member_p...=131342&page=4

This shows Stock Gen 4 + a chip V.S. Gen 5 VCM on a Gen 4 w/ no chip and Gen 5 muffler w/ chip. I don't see stock gen 4, no chip listed though.

According to that printout though, the Gen 5 muffler on a Gen 4 with no chip has higher high-end and low-end power and torque then the Gen 4 with stock muffler and chip. At redline it looks like they are about the same. Then Gen 5 muffler + chip of course owned them both.

-Dan

 

dynomax VS 2k1 muffler

I had the dynomax replace the 4th gen muffler.. then the 2k1 replaced the dynomax

 

It's too bad every time I see a 5th gen parting out in the F/S forum or some 5th gen parts for sale, they're usually selling catback aftermarket systems and not the stock muffler :/

My stock muffler is about to go. To me, quiet is good, and the 5th gen ones seem to hold up pretty well, from the ones I've seen here on 2Ks (not that old yet, I know, but...).

 

So... did the entire powerline benefit from the replacement of the dynomax, or did you just gain low-end torque again? In other words, do you feel that replacing the dynomax with the 2001 muffler was really and upgrade?

-Dan

 

Isent the 5th gen muffler basically the same thing as a high flow muffler...It just is quit for cruzen, because it closes up when it isent floored, but opens up when it is floored, or something like that....

 

I have heard all this talk of the advantages of the 5th generation muffler over the 4th. How much is being spent for this change?I think it would be more beneificial to install a borla muffler. Borla mufflers have proven time and again to outflow all others and will last forever. So why doesn't anyone use borla?

 

I think technology is from the Skyline, I believe it opens up after 3000 rpms,for max power under 3000 rpms saves on gas mileage. I could be a little off but I think this is correct. ( read somewhere)

 

Here's the problem, Adam.
The most common problem with exhaust systems is to try and balance low-end off-the-line power with high-end crap-your-pants power. Historically, you tune your exhaust for one of the other. If you are going for 60 ft times, you want to make sure most of your power is in your low end power curve, which means you want a bot more restrictive exhaust that will provide the right back-pressure required at those speeds. If you are looking at racing at higher speeds, you want to have power closer to redline and such so you pick a very unrestricting free-flowing exhaust.

Nissan, and a perhaps a few other car manufacturers, are now experimenting with this concept of a "variable capacity exhaust". The general theory is that it is more restrictive at low RPM because there is less exhaust gas flowing and provides more backpressure. It then opens up at high RPM to provide a more free-flowing exhaust when the engine is really reving and pumping out some real exhaust. I guess what we are really all wondering is if the Nissan Variable Capacity Muffler is doing this well enough. I think it is undoubtedly providing plenty of back pressure at low RPMs, but the question we really want to find out is if it is opening up enough to count as a "free-flowing" exhaust at higher RPMs.

I think people running 1/4 mile times would be most benifited from this. They are the ones who want to maximize the entire power curve.

Now, question for those who have looked for OEM parts before... Where could one find these 2001 mufflers the cheapest? I tried looking for them on e-bay and just found a bunch of After Market systems, nothing stock. I've only gotten one quote so far and it was just over $300. Do they get cheaper?

-Dan

 

Is the car still fairly quiet with a Y-pipe and a 5th gen muffler?

Is there any point to having a 2.5" catback if you are going to terminate into a 2.25" muffler?

Thanks.

 

My muffler is off a 2k2. I think it is basicly the same.

SuDZ

 

Mine is very quiete, I have actually been told by .org members that it is almost too quiete and sounds Like I dont even have my Y-pipe.

SuDZ

 

5th gen muffler here .
You can tell from my face ,(the smile)how happy I am with this . I used to have the same muffler on my 3rd gen max , which was auto.
Ok, with regards to performance:
I swaped the 5th gen muffler onto my 3rd gen , and have seen much smoother acceleration. I have hit 125mph many times on that car!
I bought a 4th gen, removed the muffler (which was on the 3rd gen), and replace the 3rd gen with the 4th gen's muffler. I know this sounds confusing , but I have a point.
Ok, now when i drive the 3rd gen , it feels like a "donkey cart"(very slow)!
With regards to the performance with my 4th gen 5speed, nothing beats my variable 5th gen muffler. The sound is sweet , especially when you are gearing down(woooooooommmmmmmm!). Most people who do not know anything about maximas, and owns one , usually ask me , "Where did you buy that dual chrome tiped muffler from? How come it does not sound like a head ache? Oh ,did I mention I paid $100 from a fellow org memb? I threw in an extra, $20 for his willingness to meet me for a local pick up.
Good luck , and sorry for the extended post. I have not written anything for a long while , so I am a little excited!http://images.cardomain.com/installs...277_2_full.jpg
http://images.cardomain.com/installs...277_7_full.jpg

 

From Acura R Russ's site

http://www.5thgenmaximas.com/exhaustchart.html

Also go here and click "view"
http://www.nissanusa.com/vehicles/Mo...s/0,9443,20410|31005|,00.html#midpageAnchor

 

I do have a scan of the first and second pulls. I didn't display it on Cardomain because the max figures are wacky at the top. The dyno sw grabed the leftmost section. Run002 tq should read like 193ish not 207. If I had known everybody's interest I would've done pulls 1 vs 3 and 2 vs 4 on different pages.

Dyno from stock ECU and stock 4th gen muffler

 

Another question...

I did some looking for these things. earlier the cheapest I had found was over $300. I now have a quote from another place, but he listed four part numbers with four different prices. Anyone know the difference?

-Dan

 

Ouch. I got mine for $50.00

SuDZ

 

Oh yeah, another thing, if it matters...

I had actually planed to run like 2.5" (maybe even 3") pipe from the resinator to the muffer which I was going to mount close to the rear axle. Then I was going to run 2.5 or 2.25" pipe from the two outlets on the Nissan muffler to either side of the rear of the car. At the end of each was going to go a "for looks only" dual chrome tip.

Basically, the Nissan muffler would work as a Y-pipe of sorts that way and regulate back pressure accordingly.

-Dan

 

More interesting info. Some folks over at TCCA found this one:
http://www.5thgenmaximas.com/exhaust..._exh_chart.jpg

At first I thought this told me everything I already knew. Then I re-read it and found something interesting. Apparently the Infiniti I30 shares the same V6 engine as the Maxima and has the same muffler design, but uses a larger muffler that, according to this, adds an additional 5 HP over the Maxima.

-Dan

 

That's been discussed before here. Infinity marketing bested Nissan's team.

 

So, I'm confused. Are you saying it's all hype, or does the I30 really have a freer flowing muffler and +5 HP over the Maxima? It would also be interesting to find out if the price difference is like $10 between the two or like $100 because it's "infinity" and not "nissan"

-Dan

 

Ahem... *bump*

 

I never heard of the Infiniti variable exhaust being any different from the Nissan version. I thought when announced the 222hp vs 227hp was just a marketing spin and/or diffent dyno.

Anybody want to confirm that?

 

"infiniti" not "infinity"

 

I just went over to www.cars.com and checked it out for you guys, hope this helps people out. All 2000-2001 I30s and Maximas have 217 torque. Only the 2000-2001 I30s and the 2001 Maxima 25th anniversary edition has 227hp. Any 2000-2001 regular Maximas (gxe,se,sle) have 222hp. So the I30s and anniversary editions have better exhaust or nissan just decided to add five to the number? When my I30t needs servicing, hope the ppl there wouldn't notice I swapped mufflers off of their I30 loaner.