Yes it true I have never actually been under my car, or any car for that matter. But I recently came across some money and want to use it to get more power from my car. I saw that flex pipe is rotting away so wanna swap it out. Basically I need to know what to tell the proformance muffler shops what I need. or what to look for on ebay.
I really dont want a loud system just something that sounds powerful.
So whats it called for a system that starts from the Flex section back?

 

The flex section would be part of the y-pipe, behind that is the catalytic converter, then b-pipe, then muffler. For the money a new y-pipe is the best performance mod i can think of. In your situation i would change out the y-pipe, maybe a high flow catalytic converter, and a new muffler if you want a more aggressive sound.

How loud is an opinion, what you consider loud i would consider a nice purr, so my recomendation is to goto http://www.vqpower.com/v2/viewpage.php?page_id=2, get a feel for different setups and make your decision. We also have an exhaust sticky here.
As for dishing out the work, i wont bash the fact that you've never been under a car, but the exhaust isn't hard. YOU WILL EASILY spend as mush on the install as the system itself if you dish it ALL out. With the exception of the muffler, all the other parts are bolt on, and shouldn't take more than a day for a newb, to do all components.
Good Luck

 

(What you are about to read is what I have learned while reading on this forum. If you feel this is incorrect, please correct me. I am bored and decided to help this guy out.)
Here is the search help page link: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=378748
And here is another helpful site, http://maxmods.dyndns.org/index.php?MaximaPerformance at least for the parts that haven't been tampered with.

Start with looking up Y-pipe. That has the flex section you speak of.
There are many brands people go with (Budget/LSSExhaust, Cattman, Warpspeed, Stillen,others I don't know of?). This pipe goes from the end of the exhaust manifold to the cat. converter. It eliminates the pre-cats but you should still pass emissions with a fully warmed up car.

Changing the cat. converter isn't really necessary unless it is rusted or you are forced induction.

After the cat. is the b-pipe that goes to the muffler. Again there are many brands of b-pipes.

Then you come to the muffler section. I think I've heard this referred to as the axle back section. There are some good companies that make these (greddy, apexi?, don't remember them all).

Some people here (including myself) use the stock muffler with an aftermarket Y and B pipe, since those bring the most gain in hp and keep it fairly quiet with a good tone.

I hope this helps you out.

 

That is exactly the info I was looking for thanks Guys!

 

No problem. Glad to help you out.