I heard that the b-pipe and the rear muffler for our cars are not that restrictive at all. If someone has a true answer on each I would really appreciate it since I am getting a y-pipe and my rear muffler just broke and I don't want to buy a full catback. Any elaboration?

 

The rear section doesnt really add anything. I have a full cat back and you really get great gains from the y pipe. You may get a little from a bigger b pipe and a straight through muffler, but the stock mufflers are not that restrictive at all. If you are short on cash just get the y pipe. Do everything else down the road if you want the car to be louder.

 

The catback is not the bottle neck until you've done ypipe/headers first.

 

yeah definitely get the Y-pipe first, then if you have extra money get a B-pipe too.

 

I really don't want to get a b pipe, but I have to get a new muffler since they won't pass me for emissions and inspection because they said the end connecting the muffler to the b pipe broke. I thought maybe I should just upgrade both while I was at it, but now I see I don't need to since it's not restrictive. What kind of mufflers will sound pretty much like stock that are the least restrictive and best price? Websites would help too... thanks!

 

Magnaflow's universal straight-through mufflers are reasonably priced, and they come in a variety of sizes and shapes (pick whichever one fits best for your car). They don't have any baffles or anything. Just a straight inner pipe with perforations in it to reduce noise.

www.magnaflow.com

Of course, if you switch from your stock muffler to a straight-through perforated muffler, the noise will be much greater than it was when you were stock. You might like the sound, but I have a feeling that you will want to add a second small muffler to the exhaust setup (before the main/rear muffler). This little "pre-muffler" is called a resonator, and it's basically the same design as a regular straight-through muffler.

Stolen from an article by Mike Kojima:

"A disadvantage to the straight through muffler is that it is louder than a reverse flow type of muffler. Usually a straight though muffler needs a small sub muffler or a resonator to keep the exhaust quiet. A resonator is usually a small, perforated core glass pack placed somewhere in-between the catalytic converter and the main muffler. Like the main muffler, the longer the resonator, the better a sub muffler will be for noise reduction. A Walker Magnum Glass-Pack is a good muffler to use as a resonator. Almost all of the pre-made performance exhausts feature resonators. A resonator will get rid of the tinny Honda Civic riceboy noise. It will leave a deeper more powerful sound from your exhaust."

The "glasspack" mufflers that Mike Kojima is referring to have fiberglass sound damping material surrounding the perforated core. Magnaflow doesn't call their mufflers/resonators "glasspacks," but they perform the same function. Magnaflow uses steel mesh and a dense layer of fiber to absorb sound. The end result is a good, non-raspy tone.

 

i dunno about sounding stock but I think dynomax mufflers are pretty quiet to be more free flowing than stock.

 

In this thread: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....01#post3615301

I was asking a question about what resonators people are using. One guy mentioned the Cherry Bomb, which is a straight-through perforated glasspack available for under $30 from Autozone. Whatever main muffler you choose, the Cherry Bomb sounds like it would make a good resonator for it. I'll probably be keeping my stock muffler, but if I replace it with a straight-through, I'll most likely add a Magnaflow or Cherry Bomb resonator to it, depending on cost and availability in my area.

I'm leaning toward the Magnaflow, since I actually know that they are a reputable company. I haven't heard anything about the Cherry Bombs before today. I'll have to do more research before I make a decision.

 

The only problem with getting a free flow muffler like a magnaflow with an aftermarket y pipe is that you better make sure that you have 18 - 22in resonator. Take it from me. I have a basani straight through muffler with 2 1/2in pipes, a 18in magnaflow resonator, and a cattman y pipe and my car is loud as ****. So if you are looking for stock sound you might just wanna stick with a stock muffler set up.

 

Go OEM. I did that when my muffler inlet pipe broke. It's worth the $$. Especially if you ever add the Y-pipe, the OEM muffler supposedly keeps things quiet ("supposedly" saying because I haven't installed my Y-pipe yet.)
I do have a Warpspeed 2.5" B-pipe w/ resonator though. With OEM muffler and stock Y-pipe, it didn't really add any noise, maybe a little extra "bass note" though. Only complaint is that I hear a lot of noise after the engine's shut off from the metal cooling... might have to do with the fact that the WSP B-pipe is a two-piece pipe.

I bought my OEM muffler from DAVEB (find his name in the stickies), and had him ship it to the place here. Had a muffler shop bolt it up. If the B-pipe itself is also bad, you'll have to replace that too (unless your shop can rig something up...)

 

if the pipe is bad, weld on a new piece so it'll look like original. Why replace a whole muffler when what it sounds like is the pipe is broken?

 

I thought of that, but was not sure if it could be done. I think I am going to take it to midas or meinakee for a free inspection. I think one of them offer to look at it for free. If it can be fixed would it hinder performance in any way?

 

Flowmaster 60-series....best compromise of sound and performance plus it's cheap, like $80-$90.

 

I had a cherry bomb in place of a resonator, it was about 18" long... biggest waste of money I ever had. It barely made a dent in the sound of my exhaust, if anything it sounded just as raspy as it did before I had no resonator at all. I have a flowmaster 80 series... I went back to the muffler shop and told them to put a normal resonator on.. it was a big shorter than the cherry bomb and my car sounds a whole lot better. Its still loud but the raspiness is completely gone.

 

after my headers, i had a pretty raspy exhaust with a stock cat, custom 2.25 b pipe with no resonator and stock muffler. i used an 18" glasspack/cherrybomb as a resonator and it cut the raspiness down significantly. i just recently put a test pipe on and i can hear some tone of raspiness but nothing like before.

 

It can always be done with some welding... unless its completely rusted out...

 

My Cattman bpipe is less restrictive than the OE b pipe. The OE bpipe has a crimped section in it that restricts exhaust flow a little. Cattman pipe has no crimped section, therefore better flow of exhaust gases.

 

update... I had the max on the lift yesterday to see what happen. The pipe going from my muffler to the bpipe is literally cut off so it cannot be fixed. My car isn't even using my muffler right now. I guess I just need a new muffler, and if the bpipe somehow goes bad I can replace that later on it's own. Anyone have any comments on which type of muffler to get? What will work best with the ypipe?

 

Just go to a junk yard and get an oem rear section or look in the for sale section to see if some one has one for cheap.

 

Read what people posted in your other thread...

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=374242