Alright, I went by this exhaust shop today, and they told me they could build me a 2.5" catback for $250 using the magnaflow muffler I already have. I told the guy that I want it to be fairly quiet, and he suggested I go with 2 resonators. He showed me a resonator they have, and it had little waves inside (they call that louvered?). From what I understand, it does a better job a quieting things down, but it flows about 5% less that perforated resonators... is that true? Should I ask for perforated resonators instead? Since we're using 2, then the perforated resonators should still be fairly quiet right?

Also, should I get a 3"? The dude was saying that a 3" exhaust would hurt low-end torque, but I know Cattman is making one that had showed gains. I can't find that dyno sheet right now though.

A stainless steel exhaust would be double that price. The one they have is aluminum... that's fine though, right?

 

I had a custom done to my old max (99 SE-L) with a magnaflow muffler and 2 1/2 inch aluminum and never had a problem, with the money saved, if anything were to happen it would be an easy cheap fix...

I'm also going with a custom with magnaflow...

 

Get Stainless!..... and if its gonna cost $500 from them, than Get it from Cattman.

 

how loud was it? i'm very particular about noise in my car, and dont want any bees, rasp or drone.. im thinking the 2 resonators should be good for noise right? i dont know how long they are.. the magnaflow muffler i have is 14"

 

Dyno sheets - http://forums.maxima.org/dyno-discus...44-ft-lbs.html

The VQ35 responds quite well to a large exhaust, even in NA form (see Z33/G35). If you're going with a crush-bent 3", don't expect the same power gains as the Cattman (actually unless you get the Cattman, don't expect the same gains). The way the exhaust is designed also affects power output, as well as the components used (muffler, resonator, etc).

You sure it was aluminum pipe, and not steel?

 

i BELIEVE he said aluminum.. i know it wasnt stainless.. and they said they do mandrel bends.. thanx 4 the dyno sheets

 

He probably said "aluminized", a type of "rust proof" coating. DynoMax uses aluminized steel pipe for their cat-backs and they don't last very long in the rust-belt.

Go Cattman.

 

It was a nice deep sound with no rattles or anything like that, vvrrrrrooooommmmmm and you only heard it when RPM hit 3 or above and it was resonated, i'm sure just one would be fine and the one i had was the perforated...Cost me 340 install from mineke but this is a really nice mineke in a little town called ephrata in PA, I would be doubfull to go to one of those in NY lol...

 

vq30s respond well to 3" exhaust as well...

 

I had a custom exhaust built for my old Accord using a Magnaflow muffler. First one was without any resonators and it was insanely loud. I was at the shop in two days having them put in a resonator. Definitely took the edge off it but there was still a nasty drone at freeway speeds. Ended up swapping the Magnaflow for a Vortec turbo style muffler. Didn't notice any loss in performance (turbo mufflers still outflow stock) but the exhaust was dead silent from inside the car at steady speeds. Still had a nice deep tone at idle and a mild roar when you got on it...but the AEM cold air intake was still louder.

If a quiet exhaust is important to you, a Magnaflow might not be the best choice. Something like a Walker Quiet Flow is going to be a lot quieter but still flow well.

Suprising to hear that a 3" exhaust will show gains even on a stock VQ35, but then again, the computer does richen the mixture past 5000 rpm to kill the power a bit (wouldn't want the Maxima to have the same power as a G35 now, right?) but I'd still be a little concerned about low end torque dropping off a bit. Probably affect us automatic transmission guys more than you 6 speed guys though.

I am considering doing the same thing, having a nice custom exhaust built. There is a great shop nearby that does amazing custom exhausts. I like a quiet car, but with the stock exhaust, our cars are almost too quiet. I figure a 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust with an 18" resonator and a Walker Quiet Flow would give it a bit more tone without being ricer loud.

 

^ I am trying to replace my loud muffler for a quiet one, and heard the stock muffler is better than the oem knockoffs in terms of "flow-wise" according to an article and backed by Dallas at Warpspeed, but idk if that is worth spending extra $ on an oem rather than an oem knockoff...but here's part of an article I read:

"The standard 222-hp V6 continues with the enhancements made to the 2000 model, which included new intake and exhaust manifolds, Nissan Variable Induction System (NVIS) air intake control with a resin intake collector, new equal length exhaust pipes and the addition of a new variable capacity muffler derived from the one on the high performance Nissan Skyline GT-R. A special muffler flap valve, using high temperature aerospace spring technology and materials, opens at 2,000 rpm and above - reducing exhaust system backpressure. These changes helped increase the engine's horsepower from 190 to 222 and torque from 205 to 217 ft-lbs, versus the 1999 Maxima."

 

thats interesting, cause thats exactly what im looking for.. 2 questions:

did you have headers?

what size resonator did you use?

 

what size muffler and resonator did you use?

 

Don't know the size of the res but the whole thing was 2 1/2 inch with magnaflow exhaust & No i didn't have headers, I was stock with minor add-ons HID's and intake and such...

I always recommend if your going to do headers and exhaust that you should do he headers first cause no matter what exhuast you get, The tone and note will sound different once you put the header on...

I like the stock headers, they flow great imo and i think i'm going with a 2 1/2" on my Max cause i can't deal with the low-end torque loss and i feel an exhuast system should kinda "spit" the exhaust out not just let it flow out freely, That's what the BMW's and MB's and such do...

 

you def do not need 2 resonators, I had a cat back with a magnaflow rear section and it was not loud at all. ANd no I do not have a sound Clip! lol

 

Both were 2.25". That is what the shop recommended and considering the engine was a 4 cylinder with a header, that seemed about right. Definitely would have to use at least 2.5" on our cars.

 

oh ok.. i was talking about the length of the mulffler/resonator... cause the longer each one is, the quieter it will be

 

but see the thing is, i have headers too.. so it will be louder than a normal catback with stock headers

 

I have somewhat the setup you are looking at only mine is 2.25" from the cat and I am not running a resonator. Mine is by no means quiet but I am sure that with a nice long single resonator it would tame it down quite a bit. Mine isn't obnoxious but I could see where people would not be a huge fan of some of the drone at certain highway speeds.

 

point taken. Resonator it is.

 

18" I believe.

 

yeah, i'm gonna consider the louvered resonators... does anybody know how much they actually hinder exhaust flow? i saw a statistic somewhere that said 5%, but i don't know what that translates to in terms of the butt dyno/actual horsepower numbers... is there a noticeable difference in power between louvered and perforated resonators?

 

Ok. Another question.. lol.. I wanna get a 2.5" or possibly 3" catback as you know.. but i saw the the muffler i have is a 2.25" inlet, which is the size of the standard exhaust system.. wouldn't i need a 2.5" or 3" inlet on the muffler i'm using to match the diameter of the rest of my exhaust system?

 

If you're having it crush bent, i seriously reccomend doing 3" piping to help reduce overall restriction. You won't be worse off than stock with a 2.5" crush bent, but possibly not much better (or even).

You'd want a 3" or 2.5" I/O muffler depending on your piping size so as not to create another restriction in the system.

Generally, a nice big resonator (the cattman res with steel wool instead of fiberclass for longevity comes to mind) with a non-fart can muffler will net you a pretty reasonable exhaust note, especially with 2.5". I'm using a cherry bomb and a dynomax and mine isn't very loud, with some minor resonance in the 2200 range.

Optimally I'd find a shop (even if you have to drive a bit) that can mandrel bend an exhaust, or I'd buy a cattman. It's just not worth spending the money on something that you will probably end up upgrading later since it's not as good as it could be.

edit: another option is to go ahead with a 2.5" crush bent for the street, and have him throw in a manual cutout right after the Ypipe. That way you get max power at the track, and can have comfortable sound on the street, even if you're not getting as much power as you could out of it.

edit2: and i'll tell ya now, if I do another custom exhaust on my maxima, you better believe i'll be taking the cattman Ypipe off the headers, and setting up a 2 or 2.25" true dual with a H-pipe (i like the sound better than X, minimal power diff) and run a couple of good low profile resonators like sweet thunders then dump before the rear axle, or to be more quiet, run over the axle and have dual mufflers or a single magnaflow 2in/2out to save space. I know that way it'll be 1000% good for upwards of 400+ whp without restriction, and surely sound much better than our Ypipe setup... ever wonder why true dual 350z sound so good? U get the picture!

 

Hey If you wanna go with crimped bends just have your muffler man use larger dies and it will crimp the pipe less (2.5" pipe bent with 3-3.25" dies. Just make sure you can get a 22" or larger resonator with perforations instead of louvers, constructed with stainless steel wool and regarding the muffler 19" or longer.

 

The shop I went to for the quote does mandrel bending. He showed me the resonators he used. They were louvered, and he recommended me using 2 of them (I didn't ask him how long each of them were) to cut down on the sound. Right now I have a magnaflow 14" muffler with a 2.25" inlet... so I'm guessing that won't do the trick with a 3" exhaust.. lol. I've been reading up on the glasspack cherrybombs, and they seem to be good quality (I believe they're perforated stainless steel right?)

So if I want a fairly quiet free flowing 3" exhaust, I should go with a glasspack cherrybomb 22", maybe even a 27" resonator, a magnaflow 18" muffler with a 3" inlet and outlet, and mandrel bent 3" piping... does that sound about right?

EDIT: looking at cherrybomb's website, they only seem to have 22" and 30" resonators that have 3" inlet/outlets



would 30" be too big?

 

Ok, I got under the car yesterday and measured everything. The pipe after the resonator LITERALLY looks like it's been crushed.. lol.. no wonder why they call it crush bending. Anyway, the length of the resonator is 23" and the length of the muffler is 19". With that, I'm thinking that if I get a glasspack 22" resonator and magnaflow 18" muffler with mandrel bent 3" piping all the way through, it shouldn't be too loud. How loud do you guys think it would be with my headers?

 

personally i'd go w/o any at 1st. you can always add them in for cheap. 1 at 1st then a 2nd. and yes that sounds fine. be sure to post up vids...

 

you mean you would go without any resonators coupled with the headers i already have on there? out of the question.. lol.. my boy has an un-resonated 3" exhaust with stock headers, and his is too loud.. i think i'll go with the 22" first, and if that's too loud, then i'll throw in a 30", and that should do the trick.. hopefully the 30" will fit if i need it to

i wish somebody had this freakin setup already.. lol.. i'm nervous about exhaust experimentation

 

Magnaflow offers 4", 5" and 6" round resonators/mufflers on their website, in various lenghts from about 14"-30" all SS construction, perforated tubing and a little more expensive than the Cherry Bomb. Just remember louvers disrupt your air velocity and create turbulence....GL.
Oh yeah that section that was crushed after the resonator isn't crushed style bends it's just crushed to create some clearance if that brace and probably lost 5 hp right there @ the crush!

 

Here's something that may interest you....http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/s...e=main&id=7820 stainless Steel mufflers p/n 12641, 6"round.

 

yeah i decided i'm not going with louvers cause i want the most power.. thanx for the magnaflow suggestion.. i'm still leaning towards the cherrybomb cause it's about $150 cheaper... lol.. but i see now that the glasspack resonator's body size is 4" and the magnaflow is 6"... does the body shape size (4",5", or 6") make a difference in sound?

 

I'm sure the bigger diameter provides more quietness. The Oem is a 5"x 24" unit so it's a little bigger than the Oem....I thought the Oem was a 6" unit but just measured my Oem in the attic storage

 

oh ok... i think i'm gonna go with the 30" glasspack and the 18" magnaflow muffler, with the 3" piping all the way through.. i think the 30" length should provide the amount of quietness and tone that i'm looking for.. i couldn't find the combination on a maxima, but i listened to magnaflow/glasspack combinations on other cars and it sounds really deep and smooth.. since i have headers and am going with the larger diameter piping, i think i'm gonna need to go with the extra long resonator to try to keep the noise at a reasonable level while still providing a slightly elevated sound with a nice tone

 

Of course with the glasspacks you can install the louvers facing upstream (more restriction/quieter) or facing downstream (less restriction/louder), post some pics when you're thru. I'm cleaning up my Cattman Headers to increase my airfow velocity. There was a little weld thru in the interior of the headers and y-pipe near all the flanges that were welded on. I'll more than likely drill the ypipe at the 3 0'clock or 9 0'clock position just before the flexjoint to fit my wideband O2 sensor bung. I'll send them off to be ceramic coated, this week...It's that time......

 

did you say louvers?? gotdamnit, i thought the glasspacks were perforated!
so now i gotta choose between performance and quietness.. or just spend $170 on a magnaflow 30" perforated resonator.. curses...

 

Yeah Cherrybombs are louvered but Walker Thrush Glasspacks are perforated and the longest 3" inlet/outlet in my Summit is 25" overall lenght, 4" dia body and 20" case (Summit p/n wlk-24241). Check their website for more sizes. Good luck dude!

 

I'd reccomend just going with a 22inch magnaflow res... you don't HAVE to get SS for the whole exhaust. You'd be amazed how long some cheap alumalized steel will last in comparison.

 

Did you contact a Cherry Bomb tech rep? To verify, I'm going by their cutaway pictures, one I found in Orielly Auto parts and an old Jeg's catalog but I'm very sure their's consist of louvers, Magnaflow Satin finished SS muffler have many sizes, so does Thrush glasspack. the thrush are very similar to the Cherry bomb except, the Thrush brand have a perforated inner core!

 

I have a thrush brand in mine right now, its definately perforated... the only issue is life with those. Every single time i spray nitrous through it (lots of heat, eats up the glasspack), it gets louder... haha.