We continue to get requests for a Cattman 3" catback for the 00-03 Maxima and 00-04 I30/I35 (we get requests for the 4th gens too, but one thing at a time). When they trickle in randomly, its difficult to know what the overall demand for the part is.

At this time, with restrictions on credit and other issues coming from the downturn in the economy, we're being cautious about our producton levels before the end of the year. We're basically not taking any new parts into production unless we have an order log (or at least a long waiting list) to support them, and the 3" catback for 5th gen Maximas would be a new part.

The smallest exhaust part production run we do is about 12 units. Our most popular parts aren't an issue, we can predict how fast they'll sell, but when it comes to most new parts, we need to have enough orders in hand to cover roughly 3/4 of the production, which typically means 8-10 order commitments to justify taking the part into production. We can't afford to put parts on the shelf that won't sell fairly quickly - we just can't tie up our capital that way.

So, with all that said, I'd encourage anyone looking for 5.5 gen y-pipes to give us a call and place a backorder. We won't take a penny until the parts are made, and if there isn't enough demand right now, backorders will be shredded.

We're still taking all orders by phone, and can be reached at 800.759.9920 (continental US except AZ), 888.296.5153 (Canada and AZ) or 520.575.6195, open 9-5 MST, M-F.

Brian

 

Hi interested are there any pics up on your site is the muffler the same design just bigger piping?

 

There's only one of these "out there", we made it a few years ago, and to my knowledge there aren't any pictures of the muffler. That said, the 3" muffler should look pretty much like our 2.5" muffler. There's no bottleneck at the tips (each tip is about 3"), so there's no reason to change anything about the muffler except the diameter of the tubing going into and through it.

Brian

 

Brian I'm going turbo and may be interested in grabbing one of these with that full exhaust discount added on (since I bought the headers/Ypipe/fastcat) in december. Can you PM me a ballpark price?

 

Dang Brian, are people still boosting?

I only remember Honda Eater with a 3" turbo catback.

 

Well grant if you weren't MIA for this forum you'd know that the 3" catback has dynoed gains on a NA 3.5

 

possibility for b-pipe only?

 

Oh, but there are...







Yep, Merlyn got the 3" from him, now JP has it.

11whp/15wtq peak gain, far more overall. http://forums.maxima.org/dyno-discus...44-ft-lbs.html

 

Here's the 3" Cattman catback (with Cattman gen 2 headers, a custom 3" high flow cat, and a resonator in the B-pipe): http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VcSRivmN1i8
Also, dyno vid before the high flow cat and resonator (audio clicks because of the camera): http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=48f9NVofy_8

Pic comparison:

The 2.5" muffler pics are from SEmy2k2go, for some reason I don't have any pics of the 2.5" on Merlyn's car.

Cattman 2.5" vs stock vs Cattman 3":


Cattman 2.5" vs Cattman 3":

 

And ran 12's with it

 

Thanks for dredging up those pictures, I've got a few pictures taken during the original installation, but none show the muffler.

Brian

 

Interested as soon as I get some $$ this summer.

 

Brian, what are we looking to spend on this 3" cat-back?

 

What about a 3.0? I'd assume it would be similar





Hopefully lol

 

???? How's that 3" exhaust on a Daily driven N/a 3.5 VQ? No bottom end? Exhaust is cold or slightly cool exiting the rear muffler?

 

Unknown since it was never tested on a 3.0. Also why would it be similar? Since headers were dynoed at a big gain for a 3.5 but not for a 3.0

 

The myth that never dies: headers don't make good power on a VQ30DE. No offense, but that is fundamentally untrue, and can be disproved easily.

A 5MT VQ30DE with with an intake, catback and a few other odds and ends will put down around 170-175whp. Adding a Cattman header/y-pipe system picks up about 20whp; a gain of about 11-12%.

OTOH, a 6MT VQ35DE with an intake, catback,etc. (but stock y-pipe and manifolds) makes about 213-218whp. Adding a Cattman header/y-pipe system picks up about 25whp - which is great, but the performance boost is nearly identical to the VQ30DE, 11-12%.

Although header/y-pipe systems give the same proportional performance increase in both motors, its not the case with performance y-pipes that replace stock y-pipes and do not include headers. A good y-pipe will make 11-12whp on a lightly modded VQ30DE motor (sorry, that old 20whp y-pipe dyno is bogus), but a y-pipe on a 02/03 VQ35DE Maxima only makes 7-9whp.

There's no mystery about it - the later model stock y-pipe generally flows better than the earlier one, and when removing a 95-98+ y-pipe, two precats come off, but when a 02/03 stock y-pipe is removed, both pre-cats remain on the car.

All of that said, I do not believe the performance gains from a 3" catback on a VQ30DE (normally aspirated, w/ typical bolt-on mods) will be equal or even that close to the gains that result from putting a 3" catback on a VQ35DE. Let's look at our 2.5" system to illustrate.

The same Cattman catback system fits all 00-03 Maximas (and 00-04 I30/I35), but it makes almost twice the power on the VQ35DE (9-11whp) as on the VQ30DE (5-6whp). Why? The engine got bigger in 02, but the stock catback did not. The stock catback is mildly restrictive on a VQ30DE, so the performance catback does OK, but nothing dramatic. That same stock catback becomes significantly restrictive on the VQ35DE motor, so when that greater restriction is relieved with the same performance catback, there's a greater performance result.

This doesn't necessarily promise that a 3" system will make a lot more power on the VQ35DE, but it strongly infers that making the exhaust larger on a VQ30DE will have little or no effect. In all cases, I'm talking about normally aspirated motors with typical bolt-ons, if we're talking turbo, s/c or a big squeeze, all bets are off.

Brian

 

^ Thank you brian. I never knew that but now I do. HAHA!

 

Yeah, that 3" er will be the ticket for those boosted VQ's cause their exhaust volume is greater due to the boosted/positive displacement augmentation upstream...Plus turbos build boost fast as you can release the exhaust, the less backpressure the less lag/time for boost to build!
My 2.5" CM is great for my VQ35 and all it's bolt-ons as is.....

 

Nice to see that this may happen. i m very pleased with my 3" exhaust. No drone from having two mufflers and lighter weight too.

 

this may be from left field but eventually plan to run the CB. Is there a resonator for the 3" ? I'm sure I'll love the sound but as far as DD I like stock sound.

 

if not.. they are cheap enough where you could prob pick up a big one and have it welded in the b pipe all for under 100

 

This is why I like Brian and trust and support Cattman products.

 

I just posted this in another related thread on a 3" catback for 5th gen Maxima (HERE), and thought it might be useful here too.

Without boring everyone to tears, I'll simply note that this has been a very busy Spring season for me (part Cattman, part some other things that are required for survival) and unfortunately I haven't been able to herd a group of "soon" projects very effectively (primarily this 3" 5th gen catback and resurrecting three y-pipes for the 95-03 Max). OTOH, we've gotten a few new parts into production too.

Anyway, I've scanned the thread and will touch on a few topics that have been raised. A few guys have done a great job of answering questions that have come up, which I really appreciate.

First, the fundamental availability of this 3" system...

There's always been some interest in this system, but it has been very difficult to translate into the number of backorders we need to initiate production. To the extent that this is anyone's "fault", I accept blame because I should have been more active in organizing interest.

After sending out an email last week to everyone on a waiting list or had placed backorders, I only have two confirmed backorders, so let me be clear - enthusiasm and/or contributing to one of the 3" catback threads isn't enough, all that really counts is the number of backorders we're holding.

I'll repeat that do not require full payment in advance for backorders, but I am thinking about beginning to require a 10% deposit at the time we give the production order (typically 3-4 weeks before the parts are complete) because we've seen a sharp increase in the # of people who are not serious about backorders and cancel once the production is ready and we need to charge the CCs. I will emphasize that we would not collect any deposits until the minimum number of orders were already received and we trigger the production order.

One longtime max.org member very generously offered to "sponsor" a few of these a few months ago - which could add several units to the total, so I've been trying to contact him and see if he's still interested. No word yet. Because he'd be getting a price break for ordering several, I'll need a couple more individual sales to make this work, but let's look at it this way. If he's still behind this, I'll need 5 individual orders plus the units he'd buy to initiate production. If he isn't, I'll need a total of 7-8 individual sales to make it work. Please go ahead with the list in this thread, because its a good way to stimulate interest, but everyone on the list needs to also place a backorder. [Since I don't take down screen names when an order is placed, I'm not sure which screen names on the list correspond with the real names on the backorders.]

Now, I'll answer these questions/topics that have come up since March in this thread, in no particularl order:

1. As long as we have the minimum orders in hand, sure, we'd be glad to sell just a b-pipe, or just a muffler. Why not?

2. On the topic of custom exhausts... I'll simply say that we hear about and see horrific "custom" exhaust solutions every day. About 98% of all local exhaust shops lack the skills and/or equipment to do this properly or competantly. Sorry if I bruise any egos here, but sloppy one-piece (welded continuously, without flanges, from where they hacked off the y-pipe or cat flange and everything is welded together back to the muffler), aluminized steel tubing exhaust parts are for chumps. That kind of butchery isn't a good deal at any price.

Stainless steel catbacks can only be created by using a mandrel bender or custom-fabricating by welding together cut s/s bends. True mandrel benders are almost unheard of in local exhaust shops because the equipment is very expensive (simple benders start at about $100,000), they take up a large amount of floor space, and they can't utilize the equipment often enough to justify the purchase (that's why mandrel benders are typically found in exhaust production facilities, not shops that actually work on cars).

And yes, a good quality exhaust part must be made from stainless steel tubing (or ceramic-coated mild steel tubing, but it won't last as long and you'll end up paying about the same as s/s) to get optimal performance results. Stainless is not just about preventing corrosion, it adds horsepower due to it superior thermal containment properties. Skillful welding is critical too, and not just for strength and avoiding leaks - poor welding leaves a lot of material you can't see on the interior of the tubing, which can really muck up the exhaust flow, and cost power.

You'll occasionally run across small, primitive (old) mandrel benders in exhaust shops, but they typically lack the brass dies for stainless steel (very expensive and a different one is required for every tubing size), and they're not automated enough for most employees to use them to create an accurate part. Plus, most the old machines were not designed to mandrel bend stainless at all. With the right dies, an effective mandrel bender, and the talent to operate it, nothing could be easier - you just won't find this combination of assets in most cities, much less local exhaust shops.

Custom fitting and TIG-welding cut s/s bends is a true art form, and since the talent is so rare, the process so timestaking, and the cut bends so incredibly expensive, then YES, a $1000 price tag would be about right for a catback custom made from cut s/s bends. If its much less than that, someone is cutting some corners that shouldn't be (if creating the system from cut bends). Or telling you that it will be mandrel bent, but ends up being crush bent because they like the talent, dies, or whatever to actually use the machine. I'll also note that stainless steel doesn't like being crush bent on crush benders, which I suppose is the most fundamental reason that typical local shop don't do stainless steel work.

3. As some have noted, a 3" system will be louder than a smaller tube system, all other things (like resonator and muffler) being equal. The other sound component is that the pitch will be significantly lower due to the larger tubing size. You can load it up with a 30" truck resonator and larger muffler, but at some point this works against performance, particularly if the inside tube of the resonator has holes that are too large or, worst of all, little louvers at each hole that intrude into the exhaust stream (a real performance killer). Forget any muffler that isn't a straight-through design.

4. Some have asked why we (Cattman) haven't done some thorough dyno testing of this part, and the reason for that goes back to its genesis. There is only one 3" Cattman catback out there for the 00-03 Maxima, and that was originally made for a turbo-equipped car (we didn't make more because all of the apparent interest at that time evaporated - sound familiar?). We had no reason to test it, and even if we had, the results would be irrelevant for n/a engines. All the current interest behind this part comes from the second owner of the 3" prototype, and the dyno results he got (also posted in this thread) on a n/a VQ35DE.

5. Since the rear valance is notched for a dual tip muffler, the muffler on this system will also be dual tip.

I guess that's about it. Now that I've posted to this thread, I'll keep a better eye on it, and try to answer questions as they arise. Bottom line is that if you want this part, place an order for it.

Brian

 

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