Hello, I am going to need some help pricing and choosing a full exhaust system. Here's the situation:

Flex on stock Y-Pipe is torn,
Main cat is smelling a bit,
Muffler has rust holes in it,
Basically all the metal parts are rusted,
Want more power.

I will need to get a Y-Pipe and thinking of going with a WarpSpeed for $160. And then getting a Warpspeed Cat to go along with the Y-Pipe. I do not know what B-Pipe to get. There seem to be a lot of choices. I could possibly keep my stock resonator and pipeing and just get a Magnaflow muffler. But, sooner or later it will have to be replaced, so why not now. All the flanges (where each pipe bolts to each other) are totally rusted.

A link to that long exhaust thread with the videos and pictures would help me a lot. I do not know what to get. Shed some light underneath my car. Thanks for all your help! Hope you read down this far...

Aaron

 

Hey man, my car is actually having it's new exhaust put on at this very moment and I will have it back possibly tomorrow night, if not then prob def by Tuesday. I didn't do the y-pipe yet, but I went with a budget b-pipe with a Borla pro xs muffler. High flow cats don't add really any power at all, maybe 1-2 horses if you're lucky, so my cat will stay just as it is unless it stops functioning properly. According to you you think your cat is gone though. If I was in your shoes I'd go all budget...the y-pipe (they also make cat converters), and the b-pipe (you'll prob want to go resonated if you're getting an aftermarket muffler). I've heard many good things about the Borla pro xs mufflers which is why I went with one for my car, plus they're not really "the norm" in the import scene where it seems everyone goes with either Apexi, Greddy, Cattman, Magnaflow, Stillen etc... I wanted to be a little different. I will give you my review and soundclips of my Max with the Borla on it once I get it back in a day or two if you'd like. But aside from the muffler I'd def go with Budget since they seem to get better reviews than Warpspeed (on average). Their customer service is also great...they gave me an extra $10 off just because my b-pipe shipped out a day late! Goodluck and I'll give you an update on how things go with my exhaust

 

for the price/build quality/ and sound I would go with the well known Greddy SP2. I have heard stillen's and had a borla on the SR20 240sx. Borla's are way to loud for my taste. Stillen is a bit tinny* sounding. Greddy has the best sound all around. Pretty quiet for a nice groan at idle, and sounds perfect at WOT.

JMO

 

Cool, thanks for the replies!

Yes bhmax16, I would appreciate a follow up on your exhaust. I'm considering Budget over WarpSpeed. There are just so many choices.

SRJesse, the Greddy SP2 seems to be quite popular. I'll check that one out. I don't really want loud like Borla.

Thanks again, Aaron

 

for a custom setup, you're looking towards 350 at a reputable muffler shop.

 

Borlas shouldnt be very loud unless you get one of their canister style mufflers like a boomer or something. Most Borlas are known for having a mellower tone than most other aftermarket mufflers with a deep throaty sound that we all love. I'm expecting my car to be louder than stock with the exhaust completed, no question about that, but I'm definitely not expecting it to be loud with any kind of ricey fart-can sound whatsoever. I have a feeling it's going to end up sounding like a maxima with a corvette engine in it, haha. I'll def be sure to give you a follow-up report, and you can use the soundclips I'll supply (and my judgement if you trust it) as to whether the car is very loud or not

 

I have a borla pro xs, its loud, but not ridiculus. I think its deep. ONe thing I will suggest is to get a resonator on your b-pipe, whatever it is.

 

I'll second that...the b-pipe I got from budget is resonated (they use magnaflow resonators)...so that should help keep things a bit more quiet (and provide a slightly deeper tone). I'm hoping the car will be finished tonight, but if not I should have it back by tomorrow, so I'll let you know

 

Yea right now I'm leaning towards Budget for just about everything. I dont know...

Aaron

 

budget ypipe here and highflow cat, next its custom muffler shop b-pipe and stock muffler stays there to keep things quiet.

 

Like I said in my first reply to you, I'd go with budget for everything except the muffler (only because I don't know how a muffler from them would sound on our cars, although they do have a clip of a custom muffler they made on a WRX on their site. However the boxer engine sounds very different from our VQ so it wouldnt be a good comparison). I'd def go Budget y-pipe, Cat, and B-pipe, then pick a muffler of your choice. I would find the exhaust video/soundclip thread on here to check out what different setups sound like to get an idea of what kind of muffler will give you the sound you're looking for. Geez all this talk about exhaust is REALLY making me hope my car is finished tonight! arghhhhhh

 

i got my greddy sp2 last year when it first came out from Southwest Autoworks for $489 shipped. the tone of the entire exhaust got deeper overtime, the fitment is perfect, and the performance gain is there varified by my g-tech (not the best dyno, but good reference).

btw steve is a great guy to deal with from SWA

 

Does Budget have an e-mail address? How's the fitment on their B-Pipe? I don't want any rattling/banging.

For $480 I can get a Greddy SP2 B-Pipe. That comes with a muffler already. Is the muffler any good (compared to a Flowmaster, Borla, etc.)? And will all the necessary hangers be included in the exhaust set-up? I would rather not pay anyone to install my exhaust.

 

I got my car back this morning with the budget b-pipe and Borla pro xs muffler, and I must say it's pretty sweet! It is NOT overly loud at all and definitely not ricey. I feel it provides just enough grunt to let everyone know you're not stock, but quiet enough that if you drive it like your grandma it sounds almost like stock but just a bit louder and deeper (dynomax comes to mind). By the way Black Maxima, the fitment on the budget b-pipe is awesome. It doesn't hang low like many other aftermarket b-pipes out there, and would be your best way to go if you want to install the exhaust yourself since it's bolt-on, stainless steel, and mandrel bent. However if you're doing the complete install yourself you will have to get a bolt-on muffler like a Stillen or something unless you have the knowledge and tools to do your own welding, otherwise you won't be able to use a universal muffler like a Borla pro xs, Magnaflow, Dynomax, Flowmaster, etc...

I'm just picking a few things up around the house quickly then I'm going out to wash the Max. Once I'm done I'll try to take some detailed pics for you and attempt to record some soundclips and host them all on my server which I will give you the link to. Give me a few hours

By the way budget's email address is mufflers@netcom.ca. Jeff Lyell (owner) will likely write you himself. He's totally awesome and answered all kinds of questions I've had for him in the past

Bill

 

Hey bhmax16, I've thought about the Borla as well for my Budget Y + resonated B pipe. Post some pics when you get the chance!

 

Ok, I decided to just replace the Y-Pipe and main cat. I will get a B-Pipe/Muffler later down the road. This will save me some money. I fell my stock B-Pipe is in good enough shape for now. I think I should get a Budget Y-Pipe and Cat for now. Do you guys have anything to say? Keeping in mind I will be adding a B-Pipe and would like to pair it up with the Budget. Either Budget, Greddy, or APexi.

Thanks for Budget's e-mail address! And thanks for all the other information guys!

 

bhmax16, Do you have a Y pipe on your set-up yet? If you do than you and i have the same exhaust assuming your cat is stock. I would be interested in seeing pics of how you had your borla hooked up to the b pipe. Mine is with 2.5 inch stianless piping. THe shop had a mandrel bender and built a flang to attack it to the b pipe flang and then used a u clamp to attach it to the borla. I am **** and didnt want any weld connections... Also, sometimes my exhaust bangs over bumps on the road. Do you get any of this? I think I might have it re-fit and get another hanger put on the muffler. I've had this set up for almost 2 years. I personally think it is kind of loud, but not bad for me.

 

Hey Dstyle, no y-pipe for me yet, but that's coming in 1-2 months hopefully! So we'll have the same setup soon (yes my cat is stock). I had my Borla hooked up to the b-pipe exactly the same way you did with 2.5 inch piping with a flange welded on the end so they could bolt together, however I had the other side of piping welded to the Borla muffler (this way everything pieces together as if it was a catback system that you'd buy as a kit, such as Greddy or Cattman). And no my exhaust hasn't been banging while going over any bumps at all (and I have some VERY bumpy back-roads that I use often). Sounds like you should look into having it re-fit, and I'd suggest having the muffler welded to the piece of piping instead of using the U clamp...it would still be your only weld connection and should be more sturdy than the clamp IMO. I have pics and soundclips that I took today (soundclips are rather crappy though)...that I will be putting up in a few minutes

 

looking forward to pics. THe U-clamp is pretty darn sturdy and I dont want any welds on the muffler because it can compromise the integrety of the steel, or so they say. Plus if you weld directly on the muffler it voids the 1000000 mile warrenty.... whatever, i just didnt want welds!

your car will get louder with the y pipe, but on a positive note, I noticed less drone with the y on, than without it. I did the cat back first, just like you.

What tip did you get? I got the 2.5 intercooled. Looks like stock only nicer. I didnt want a big one. And yes, it was attached with a U clamp : )

 

pics not showing up for me

 

Apparently the pictures are now "FORBIDDEN"

 

Sorry about that, these ones should finally work. I'm going to go and delete my other posts to clean up some space. Let me know what you think!

http://public.fotki.com/kennstdumich...borla_tip.html

http://public.fotki.com/kennstdumich...rear_side.html

http://public.fotki.com/kennstdumich...rla_rear2.html

http://public.fotki.com/kennstdumich...rla_rear1.html

http://public.fotki.com/kennstdumich...ma_d_side.html

 

Hello, I was just going through my thread subscriptions and realized you wanted a followup on my Borla exhaust setup. I finally got some soundclips put together which you can get here http://plus.xdrive.com/u/144493298/3...3KhLrddRu5eoMr. You will have to register for an xdrive account if you don't already have one, but you can register for the free 50MB one. After that you will be able to access my folder with the clips in it and download them. I already posted links to pics but if you want an easier way to view the pics I now have a cardomain page, http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/837045. Let me know what you think, thanks!

 

bhmax. Looks very clean. I see you went with one of the proxs tips. I have an intercooled tip on mine. I wish you had some pics of the muffler and how you attached it to the b pipe. That is what I was most interested. eitherway, it looks nice and you car looks sharp too. How does it all sound now that you have had it on a while? are you happy with it?

 

Hey thanks for the comment on my car, you're right it is pretty sharp considering it's a '97 with just over 100k on it. Yes I went with one of the proxs tips, I was able to get a pretty good deal buying both the tip and muffler together from an exhaust shop on ebay. I'll try to get pics of the muffler and how I attached it to the b-pipe later today if you'd like, but basically I had a piece of piping fabricated to fit between the muffler and the b-pipe, one side of the piping welded to the inlet on the muffler and the other side bolted to the b-pipe (I had a flange welded on the end). So the Borla muffler is now essentially a bolt-on like a Stillen, etc... I'm having a fellow orger host up my soundclips for me today because I've gotten flamed for the server I used, but I'll post the new link in here once he gets them up for me

 

sounds good., I have a question for you since you are from Mass. Do you guys have to have front licens plates out there? I ask this since I'm moving to boston in July. I am in Kansas right now and we dont have front plates here, although missouri does, and that is where my car is regestered, so I drive around in kansas with one missouri plate in the back....

 

Yes, unfortunetely front plates are required in Mass