I have read many threads on y-pipes and none of them seem to be very conclusive...i understand in the world of car mods it's pretty much to each his own however if you listen to certain people the "best" company for this mod is Cattmann which is also the most expensive of course. All my mods are quality names such as Stillen, Place Racing etc so it's not like i'm trying to get everything cheap ..i just wanna save money where I'm able to without sacrificing performance. I have seen a y pipe offered by www.budgetexhaust.com which is pretty damn cheap (i think $180 after converting money from Canadian to US) and it's also mandrel bent and stainless steel etc just like cattman..If it's the same materials etc and http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/519 says it really does give ABOUT 20hp as people brag about Cattman, Warpspeed, the new one by CustomMaxima etc... opinions...???

 

Well I consulted with Brian Catts on numerous occassions prior to purchasing the Cattman Y-pipe for my 2k2 Max. He sent me dyno scans (stock vs Y pipe) and corresponding spreadsheets.

While the avg gain (between 3800 - 6200rpm) was 8hp/8lb-ft, the gain between 4k-5k was 10hp (15.8hp peak gain @ 4400rpm) and 11 hp bet 4.1k-5k (18.9lb-ft peak gain @ 4400rpm). Those figures and the general characteristics indicated by the entire dyno chart, compelled me to install the Cattman Y-pipe.

My "Butt dyno" (a very critical measuring tool) seems to verify that I DO have greater pull @ midrange now versus stock.

$.02

 

You should not expect to see a 20hp gain on a 5th Gen VQ30 with a Y-pipe. 5th gens dont gain as much power from an upgraded Y-Pipe as do the 4th gens. I would plan on ~5hp. MAYBE as much as 10.

 

I can't speak for other brands, but I can speak for Cattman as I just got the Y-Pipe and the B-Pipe with resonator installed. The quality is first rate and customer service with SWA and Cattman are also first rate. Everything bolted up. The only problem was between the B-Pipe and the rear section (muffler) where the holes had to be enlarged slightly. I stayed with the stock muffler for the time being. The Budget pipe looks pretty good, but I can't speak for fitment. Others say they have had no problems. Just my .02. I will find out about gains in a couple weeks at the track.

 

For the 2k-2k1, my only decision would come from price. All the pipes fit well and will provide about the same numbers.

Cattman is really the only choice for the 2k2-2k3 due to the fitment issues with the Warpspeed pipe.

 

I'm getting my Cattman Y-pipe installed Sunday. I'm going to try and do a "how to" with pics and all.

 

obviously you havent done much research .. i think you're mistaking the 2k-2k1 max with the 02-03

warpspeed and cattman will give significant increase to 2k-2k1 maxes...
with an intake you can expect anywhere from 10-20 hp depending on tranny

however the only y pipe that will give good gains to a 02-03 is the cattman..


therefore if you are gonna get a ypipe i would recommend warpspeed (price / quality and gain )

y pipe is definatly the best investment you'll make

 

just get the budget.
a: you want to
b: it's the same thing

 

Cattman has a pretty good write up, but no pictures. A good write up with pictures would be great IMO.

 

After bad experiences with my WSP Y-pipe AND B-pipe, I'd say go with Budget for if you're on a...budget and go with Cattman if you got $$$.

 

Hey Patrick, there you go again. Your bad experience is that we would not pay return shipping on the B pipe and you had to adjust your Y pipe hanger. As you said you did not try the B pipe all you did is look at it. You didn't flow test it just took the opinion of others that did not either. So either keep it or return it.

regards

Dallas

 

Cattman is where it's at - I cannot speak for any other companies, but my Cattman is sick.

 

Woww, the war's carrying over from the other thread into this thread!

In all seriousness, i would save up the $$$ and just get header's instead of the y-pipe (00-03). At least you know you'll get some bang for the buck!

 

headers from hotshot and y pipe from cattman youll be HAPPY ! PROMISH !

 

Is cattman the only company that carries headers for the 2000-2001

 

HS headers include the Y-pipe...

 

well lol all i know is after reading this, i wont be going with warpspeed, not only have i heard bad things elsewhere and also reading it here, and then
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Triple8Sol
After bad experiences with my WSP Y-pipe AND B-pipe, I'd say go with Budget for if you're on a...budget and go with Cattman if you got $$$.
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Hey Patrick, there you go again. Your bad experience is that we would not pay return shipping on the B pipe and you had to adjust your Y pipe hanger. As you said you did not try the B pipe all you did is look at it. You didn't flow test it just took the opinion of others that did not either. So either keep it or return it.

regards

Dallasn

Dallas pay some fu cking attention it wasnt only the crush that u first said wasnt there, it was also that it really does look like ****, i can go outside and dig up a fcukin fence post and bend that cr ap and make it look better then that pipe geezz,

 

I think I'm going to save up for headers.

 

No one answered my question b4, but in chicago, if I put one of these on my 01 maxi will I pass emissions? Does anyone who live in Chicago know the answer? They hook up the ECU to their's and it pin points any ses or any other errors straight from the car. They don't hook up the pipe to anything over here. Let me know!

 

Excerpt from my post in the other thread:

WSP Y-pipe fit and still fits poorly. The design is flawed in 2 ways. 1.) It hangs too low which caused severe rattling/vibration. I “fixed” this by lowering the crossmember with washers. It still hangs too low. 2.) The hanger on it was completely off, both vertically and horizontally. I bent it as best I could (not much, it’s steel), and used a long bolt. It doesn’t fit like it should, but at least it works.

But the "fantastic" WSP customer service is the kicker...

 

Could someone very nice tell us witch one is better for performance and $$.I got the money ready just need to know witch one is the best.

Like make a compair betwen all these y-pipe.

 

I have no experience with exhaust mods from other companies. All I can say is that Brian Catts replied promptly to my emails answering all my questions and providing dyno numbers. The products are tight and my own dyno and track results speak for themselves.

No regrets.

 

I have the cattman and it fit great. Good mod for the $$.

 

I have the Cattman Y and Wsp B...B pipe needed a little adjustment, but nothing major. I think they're both good components, you're just not going to see a "huge" improvement. But you will notice an improvement. Even better with an aftermarket intake.

 

There aren't alot of before and after Y-pipe dyno graphs for 00-01 maxs. The few I have seen (maybe 2) didn't show a significant gain (less than 10). Can you provide a dyno graph for a before and after on the same car that shows that much of a gain? That would be awesome if your right about that, but thus far I haven't seen any proof of that...

 

I emailed Brian and he said there's a 7-9 hp gain on a car that's stock and about a 12-15 hp gain on a car fitted with an intake. This is refering to 00-01 maxies

 

Just about all y pipes will be the same performance wise give or take a 1-3 hp differance so just fittment will be your only concern i have seen alot of ppl saying cattman fits good and i havent heard many bad things about budget or stillen either. so if u worried about price go with budget if not i say cattmabn

 

Can anyone answer if you'll fail a state inspection? Throw an SES light? Will a shop do the install considering you're removing the pre-cat?

 

I got my Warpspeed Y-Pipe from the Group Deal. I got it installed last week from Maximum Tuning on Long Island. I had NO fitment issues or any issues at all on my 2k Maxima. Maybe it was because I got it professionally installed?

 

I don't feel like reading all the rest of the bull with other y-pipes other than the cattman..... Cattman is by far the best. If the search was working you would know this by now. Brian is the bomb. Couldn't be happier with the quality. By far the best mob quality I've recieved yet.

 

On the contrary, my budget b-pipe had a minor fitment issue, along with some really bad rattling when I 1st got it installed. But Jeff always manages to find a work-around fix, and now, no more rattling! He's that Damn Good!

 

Looking to the end of this thread, it seems your question remains unanswered. First, be clear that none of the performance y-pipes that eliminate one or both pre-cats are approved for use on public roads or highways (all the 95-01 y-pipe brands made eliminate one or both). Obviously most performance y-pipe owners choose to do so anyway.

In the case of the 01 Maximas (all CA/NLEV emissions) there is only one precat that is integrated with the stock y-pipe, and so only one is removed (the front one is a separate component and stays on the car). The result is assymetric, but pre-cats don't stop things up like you'd imagine and there is no indication that this causes a problem because a few Maxima owners experimented with eliminating the front one (by substituting a Federal front manifold so they could use a 99-00 Federal-type y-pipe) and the difference in power was barely measurable.

Based on the emissions testing you describe, all they're looking for in your region is a check engine light (your computer doesn't store subtle issues that don't result in CELs, there either is one - and you see it - or there isn't). I know that in Arizona, if you show up with a CEL on, they won't even check your car. In fact, if you temporarily clear the light (but the issue still exists), they'll hook up the the computer and find that it hasn't had enough start-ups to give an accurate reading and send you home again!

What we do know from experience is that when the sniffer is actually used at the tailpipe, a properly functioning primary cat will typically bring the emissions within limits whether one or both precats are present (as long as the engine and main cat are at normal operating temperatures).

Hope this answers your question.

Brian C Catts
Cattman Performance

 

I think you'd also be happy with the Cattman headers - our customers sure seem to be.

They also come complete with with their own y-pipe version and all gaskets and attachment hardware.

Brian C Catts
Cattman Performance

 

I just got my CM y-pipe installed and the car is loud as all hell now. I can't really tell a difference in performance because my "butt dyno" isn't finely tuned. I did notice more torque steer under hard acceleration though, so that may be the tale of the tape.

 

In terms of y-pipe "truth", I think these are the primary design and fabrication features you need to evaluate, because they make real differences in power output and durability. Different y-pipes may appear to be similar on the outside, and may fit on the car equally well, but there are a lot of details that have to be considered if you're looking to obtain the most effective product. These are the things that we (Cattman Performance) feel are most important:

Materials: No question that 304 stainless is best, not just for corrosion resistance, but for its superior thermal containment (sustains exhaust velocity because its not cooling off, which means more power, and limits heat transfer into the engine compartment), tensile strength (resistance to cracking) and suitability for TIG welding (much stronger than MIG welding - the difference between melting the parts together and "gluing" them).

Welding: For strength and long term durability, TIG welding is vastly superior to MIG welding and is the only appropriate way to weld stainless steel. It also avoid the intrusion of welding materials into the interior of the pipe (can cause a lot of power-robbing turbulance), which is difficult to avoid with MIG welding.

Flex Sections: The weakest link in any y-pipe, its important that the flex section be lined to avoid hissing noises, and durably made to avoid leakage or interior collapse (some will remember that this happened to us with a HUGE batch of bad flexes almost 4 years ago - what a nightmare). Also very important that the flex section be long enough for adequate flexibility, and that the inside diameter is the same as the tubing sections it connects. I've seen other brands where that inner flex diameter is smaller than the tubing and that bottleneck is unnecessary. The flexes we use cost 2-3x as much as the cheaper components used on some y-pipes.

2-1 Collector design: This has a direct effect on power. Cattman 2-1 collectors are different from all others I'm aware of - they are true merge collectors, where the two merging primary tubes are cut up the sides and gradually come together at about 15 degree angle, welded on the inside and out. This design minimizes turbulance and reduces back pressure. Other brands use a "swaged" merge, where the ends two primaries are cut off square and welded directly to a receiving pipe that has been stretched (swaged) into an oval. Instead of the two exhaust streams coming together smoothly, its basically a train wreck that results in excess turbulance, back pressure and loss of exhaust velocity.

Proper tubing diameter: Bigger is not always better, and we have always found over the years that a 2.25" diameter tube at the end of the y-pipe (particularly if its feeding into a 2.5" catback exhaust) is more effective on normally-aspirated cars than larger diameters. You have to keep that exhaust flowing, especially that close to the engine, to maintain power-enhancing exhaust velocity down the rest of the exhaust.

All of these features make a positive difference in the power output and durability of Cattman y-pipes, but every feature I've mentioned adds to our production costs and that's why ours are more expensive. You're not just buying a name or feeding us outrageous profits (I wish) - you're clearly getting a better product in return.

Obviously we could make a cheaper y-pipe - there's certainly a market for one - but that's not our operating philosophy. Its not all about making the most money or building little exhaust "empires" to brag about - I get far more satisfaction from creating and selling the best products available rather than selling the most.

Note also that tomorrow is the last day of our current y-pipe sale - marked down from our regular price of $350 to $285, a rare and outstanding value. Just call 800.759.9920 between 8-5pm MST.

Sorry if it seems redundant, but I think this information is useful enough to be posted as a free-standing thread as well.

Brian C Catts
Cattman Performance

 

Wow.....now I'm really confused which y-pipe is better lol.

 

I got the WSP Y-Pipe in a group deal and truthfully speaking, for $160 shipped, you can't go wrong. The pipe sounds great, fits okay, and everything went well. Only issue was I couldn't figure out how the hanger worked so I didn't install it. Therefore, I had to remove the crossmember because of banging. It wasn't really big deal. Simply put, you're basically getting the same peice of metal that does the same thing as every other pipe, so I'd say get whichever pipe (Budget/WSP/Cattman) you can get for cheapest, unless of course you've got money to blow.

 

Perhaps this pipe was the best value for you - its understandable that not everyone wants to spend $285 or $350 on one of ours - but you are not "basically getting the same piece of metal that does the same thing as every other pipe" for $160.

I understand that it may be re-assuring to think it is true, but that does not make it an accurate statement. The explanation I provided above is not BS.

Brian C Catts
Cattman Performance

 

I'm not doubting that your pipes are great looking and well built, but the small differences are not worth another $190...at least not for me. I'm on a budget and unless my WSP y-pipe just cracks open in half and falls apart, I'm sticking to my guns. Thanks.

 

-The Y-pipes are not emissions legal, so they shouldn't pass. But most every technician will fail to notice the cats absense, so more than likely you will pass. But if in the remote chance you are caught by the authorities, it can mean BIG BIG fines. $10,000 here in NC from what I have heard.

-More than likely, no lights should be tripped

-Depends on the shop. Many would refuse to remove the cats though.