Van

I was entertaining the idea of replacing just my stock muffler on my 96 Maxima (Auto) with either a HKS DUAL 3"CANNON S. PERFORMANCE MUFFLER or a HKS DRAGGER TIP PERFORMANCE MUFFLER or an Apexi Dual Round DTM Style Muffler. Has anyone done this and have opinions or any pros/cons to offer? The seller claims these mufflers will fit any car with the rear muffler located at the rear bumper. The stock muffler is of course quite a bit wider than the aftermarket ones so the current mounts and brackets may require modification, but 6 - 10 peak HP gains are claimed from the installation of any of these aftermarket mufflers alone. I mostly hear about the B pipes or Y pipes or a catback systems being installed on Max's for performance increases, but it's not to common (at least from what I've read) for Max owners to go with just a muffler upgrade. Would this be wise and really boost peak HP?

Van

SuperBlackSE

[QUOTE][i]Originally p

It depends on how far you want to go....I personally would never really dip into exhaust work on a car unless I'm gonna go from the block all the way back: headers, y-pipe, perf. cat, b-pipe, muffler (straight pipe). But that's just me. A lot of people like to hear a louder car- me too, but I want some power to go with the sound. I've noticed alot of Apex'i owners happy with their quiet exhausts on here....and I like them in general, especially their N1 pipes. My personal opinion is, it's more important to look at the dynamics than the manufacturer, as long as the quality is good for you. Look at the pipe size, bends (you want mandrel), and see if you can find a flow chart.

96sleeper

iTrader: (4)

I replaced my muffler with a universal arospeed muffler before I did any other exhaust work. It wasn't much louder at all compared to stock. It felt like it might have freed up 2-3 hp, It wasn't quite 8-10, so I don' know about that claim. It is fairly loud now after I added a y-pipe and a high flow cat. My mom drove my car and couldn't stand the noise, but I like it. If I were to get a b-pipe I am sure it would be too loud and I would hate it. Most shops can weld on a muffler and support for $15-$30 so that is not a problem if you are worried about that.

KiD NaSTy

I think the N1 dual would look good on the max but a muffler alone is not going to give u any substantial gains in HP u might as well go for a cat back. And if ur a lil short on funds u might wanna consider gettin a universal muffler like ur gettin now and then get custom piping with a larger diameter done from ur catalytic converter back to the muffler. Mandrel bent is gonna cost u extra but I would just go with regular stainless steel. Its gonna be a lil loud but makes a huge difference and is cheaper than gettin an exhaust system. I kno I did that on my 240SX.
I'm gonna do the same for my max but I'm thinkin a 5Zigen Fireball univ. muffler mounted at an angle (like an apexi N1 exhaust is pointing a lil upwards) only I want mine pointing upwards and a lil sideways too (like an HKS Hiper exhuast) I saw that on an accord sedan looked nice as hell. Has anyone done that kinda setup on their max if so got some pics??

Van

96sleeper,

Thanks for the advice. BTW, how happy are you with your ECU from G Force? I don't know if they dyno'd it, but do you think it gave you 30HP or more by itself?

Van

96sleeper

iTrader: (4)

If you were looking at maximadriver.com, then that dyno plot of 30 more hp is on a clayton dyno, not a standard one so the numbers are a little different. The ecu probably gave me about 10 hp and 10 lb-ft of torque, because it felt really similar to the y-pipe.

JDM4LIFE

iTrader: (2)

in my opinion, performance gains from a muffler are minimal. even a full catback system won't gain you a lot. if you want performance, get the Y-pipe first. if you think u're gonna want the replace the whole exhaust eventually, i'd go with either the stillen muffler or an Infinity I-30 muffler. the I-30 definitely has a better appeal to it than stock, but keeps the rest of the exhaust quieter than what the stillen would. the stillen one is my aftermarket of choice simply becuz it's high quality (not that the others aren't) and it doesn't have the low-pitched drone that my greddy has at low rpms when cruising. whatever you do, please don't gut your cat or just put on a straight pipe! straight pipes descrease power despite popular opinion, and you want you cat to be workin for smog tests, and the fact that it doesn't do much, and is actually vital to your backpressure. also, as far as which Y-pipe to get, the cattman is nice, but i'd go stillen because it has the equal length runners from the manifold. a design i prefer becuz of slightly better exhaust flow. anyways, that's enough. good luck!!

Adam

Black VQ

If you get a 5th gen muffler, that's probably the only muffler that could give you a gain for sure. It would work on any car really, except for an R34 GT-R, because it already has it But the gains wouldn't be super-substantial. Expect 5hp at most. What really frees up the power is the y-pipe and the b-pipe.

Van

BlackVQ,

When looking at some vendors for Maxima Y-pipes, a description states that these are strictly for off-road use. However, some have "Federal Emissions" indicated. Can I assume when it says Federal Emissions that it's street legal and will pass all emissions tests and does this indicate that there are different kinds of y-pipes?

Thanks,
Van

tiedyemaxima

IS the Apexi World Sport muffler very loud? I have heard that it was the next loudest up from stock. I knwo this is not what this post was about but, you guys sound like yall know something about mufflers. Just some feedback if you can on this.