In a few months, I'm gonna be in the market for an exhaust. My question is are the gains from a cat back like the Evo 2 enough to outweigh how ricey/ugly it looks and sounds on a Maxima? If not, I'd prefer getting a Vibrant 1148 muffler to go along with my resonator-less exhaust. I think it sounds way better than the Evo 2. If it helps, I don't think I'll get headers anytime soon, but I may get a Y-pipe in a year or two. Opinions?

 

The gains you'll see from just a catback with your precats and main cat still in place will be minimal. Therefore you're just spending $400.00 for sound. If you want a good tone just buy a muffler. If you plan on slowly modding your car. Get a knock-off catback and put a dual tip on (if you see the single tip as ricey as I do). I personally wouldn't spend that money for an evo 2 if I wasn't 100% satisfied by the sounds/looks/gains. Better off getting megan for that price.

 

I heard the evo2 exhaust on a 5.5 gen and it sounds beautiful. We drove down the street with his evo2 and my se and the sound is great. Totally worth it!! I was going to get a megan catback til I saw the se and was like **** it... just get it, you won't regret it.

 

Get a affordable catback and save up for headers.

 

No matter the performance gains, if you know it looks and sounds ricey, you will always have that opinion. Every time you look at that tail, and every time you go WOT, you're going to have that discontent in the back of your mind.

 

Whats your budget like?

 

Like you I still have my stock Y pipe and all the pre cats, although many suggested to me that a full catback was the way to go it just never seem to be something within my budget. I opted to go with swapping out the stock B pipe (to remove the squashed section) and deleted my resonator for a straight flow through pipe and purchased the very same Vibrant #1148 stealth black twin 3" tips. Replacing the stock B pipe does add some performance but it is minimal and I do like the tone from the Vibrant muffler. If I ever decide to change the Y pipe or even add headers then I would consider a full catback system, but for now this setup works for me, here's a like to my video sound clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nzlrcpzDog

 

Buy an eBay 2.5" mandrel SS cat-back for $130 shipped. Buy the Vibrant muffler and have it welded on the the catback. For less than $250, you'll have a nice sounding, nice looking mandrel bent cat back exhaust. And you'll even gain some HP from it.

I am running the 4.5" tipped eBay cat-back with a silncer and it sounds great. As for the look, well it's growing on me. eventually, I might have the muffler cut-off and replaed with a nice dual tip.

 

do you have pics?
undercarriage as well on a lift would be great.
ty

 

cough cough cattman...cough...3inch...cough...

 

i purchased the ebay exhaust last week and installed it yesterday.. the one i bought was a PITA to install, piping was a little different from what my brother bought a couple weeks back (his was from ebay too).. i also bought a dual tipped muffler from ebay ($37 shipped) i need to get that welded on when i have time.. e-subliminal-2 posted the dual tipped muffler and it looks much better than the 4" single tip

consider that route if you don't want to spend too much money for an EVO 2

 

No lift pictures. I installed in my garage with jack, jackstands and some wood blocks. But...

...I'll see what I can come up with.

I also have some in car vids of it on highway cruising 68-72 mph and from the rear at idle.

 

Honestly, mine was a simple install. Only issue was grinding and drilling out the damn cat bolts/nuts. the rest was easy.

What everyone needs to realize is that not all eBay cat-backs are the same. They are in fact made differently. I was lucky with mine. ILOVETACOTACO is the eBay seller I purchased from.

Option Group N1 Style Cat-Back Specs:
- 2.5" O.D. Full Stainless Steel Piping w/ 2.25" OEM connector
- 4.5" N1 Exhaust Tip
- NO Silencer is included. (I purchased seperately, also from eBay for $9.99)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

 

Sorry for the huge delay. School...
Your video is actually what convinced me to go the deleted resonator and Vibrant muffler route. I was having second thoughts because I can get an eBay or custom maxima cat back for just a little more.
To the person who asked, my budget is around $200, so the Megan and Cattman are out... I meant Evo 2 replica by the way.

 

I got this eBay catback.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

And I just ordered this muffler to replace the rice can.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT

I am running the catback with no muffler as of now, just a resonated test pipe and all of the piping from the catback, with the exception of the muffler, and it sounds pretty nice, just a bit loud.

I have OBX equal length y headers also, so that might change how it sounds.

 

↑ ↑ ↑ What he said.


If you want to avoid a ricey look, don't run anything bigger than a single 2.5" out the back of the muffler. I'd even avoid the dual tips, as they look kind of "Euro-wannabe".


Norm

 

^ I agree with you guys. I think the best option is to buy the eBay exhaust and switch out the muffler. On a side note, I think running tips that are too small can also look ricey or awkward. My neighbor has a straight-piped Civic hatch, and he has like a 1 inch tip. It looks ridiculous. ("The backpressure gives me torque!" ) IMO, the best guide to not having a ricey exhaust is to stick with the same number and general size of exhaust tips that the car originally had.

 

I'll post a pic up of the way it looks. Mines filthy. I would post a video clip too but my camera completely sucks on picking up sound. + it's got an extra res in it so it won't really count..

 

Dirty as hell, but you get it.. Also I had 1" silencers put on to reduce highway drone.





No Fitment issues. Will try to get better pics tomorrow

 

Pictures of 4.5" version of the N1 eBay cat-back. Silencer was added (yes I had to drill for the screw). Did not come with exhaust. Car's a lil dirty...





Here you can see the longer rubber hangers I used on the two rear brackets to allow for the tip to not rub rear fascia...

 

Nismo, does your rear flange (the one that is sandwiched in between the gas tank and spare tire well), vibrate on that heat sheild. I just installed this catback and I noticed that it is a pretty tight fit in there.

 

Not at all. So far, it's been a perfect fit for me. Did you use the longer rubber hangers? That might be why mine doesn't...

 

I don't have the muffler installed right now. I couldn't get it through the damn hole.

You have to like fish it through the rear suspension, and I don't think the car was high enough for me to wiggle it through (on jackstands).

And I am putting a new muffler on, so I will have the hangers welded on at the right spot so I can still use my stock hangers. I did get a smaller hanger from pepboys for the b-pipe to prevent the part right after the cat from hitting that bar underneath it.

Did you use a lift to install yours?

 

200.00 is about what I paid to swap out the B pipe and install the new muffler, give or take a couple of bucks

 

Nope!

Wedged front tires, lifted the rear by the center of the rear beam with some thick wood blocks, then quickly set-up two jackstands at almost full extension. Probably not the safest way to jack up the car, but once the jackstands were in place, it was super solid.

This has been the 4th time I've messed with my exhaust in last 3+ years. Two different eBay aftermarket rear sections, intalling OEM in between those, and installing this cat-back, which is staying on for good.

 

Yeah, A simple jack won't do it. And being down there is a tight TIGHT fit for the hole with-out a lift so I just also used some 2x4's. jacked it up with that, and it slid right through. DO NOT** try to force it through since it's NOT a safe thing to do. Take full caution when doing this. If the cars lifted enough it shouldn't be hard to get it all to fit. If it's not just find something else strong enough to support the weight of the car and wedge the jack on that as well as jackstands!

Good luck to all.

 

yeah i had to learn the hard way, i bought one thats slightly different from my brothers.. mine came with a silencer and was cheaper for some reason..

on a side note, i installed that ebay dual tipped muffler and i think it sounds good, but is a little too loud.. too much drone so will be looking into a resonator.. but the dual tips looks so much better!

 

I wish I can buy just the bpipe from these ebay sellers since I already have a Bosal OEM.

 

performance always, a bite is worse than a bark.

 

Dur both. Power and performance. Hks....... Look it up

 

^ I did... it's a little on the pricey side for me. I think I'll go with an eBay cat back and then buy a Vibrant 1148 muffler to replace the fart can.

 

I'd rather be fast than simply sound fast.

My main concern with an aftermarket exhaust is whether or not it drones at freeway speeds. You make a 2400 mile road trip, a droning exhaust is going to suck by the 50 mile point.

 

I agree, but would you be fast if it meant sounding like crap? I know we don't gain much on a 5.5 gen from a cat back, so that's why I couldn't decide between getting a good sounding muffler or a 2.5 inch eBay cat back for a little more. From what I've gleaned from this thread, the best route to take is: eBay cat back ---> chop off fart can ---> weld on Vibrant 1148 muffler. The best of both worlds.

 

Wow, your exhaust sounds excellent....I wonder how it would sound with an aftermarket y-pipe....

 

Not sounding like crap is a given I assumed.

Exhausts that don't drone tend not to sound ricey.

We've got a really good exhaust shop in the DFW area so I might go there to see what they can do for me. I'd also have a choice of mufflers that you don't get with aftermarket. I had them build a 2.25" exhaust for my old Accord back in 1999 and believe it or not, I saw my old Accord last week (sold it in 2004) and it still has the DC Sport header and the exhaust I had done at Kinney's Mufflers. Only change was the tip was different. Not bad for an 11 year old exhaust!

 

Agree. Not particularly loud and no harsh shrillness I've heard from other exhausts.

 

If it's a subdued low-pitched slightly "choppy" V8-ish rumble you're looking for, ain't gonna happen with a six. Wrong number of cylinders, wrong firing order.


Norm

 

I dont have headers and I did feel some nice Hp on the Butt Dyno by mid Oct. should do the dyno to see what the numbers really are!!

 

I'm also looking at getting an aftermarket cat back exhaust from ebay. My budget is like $200-$300 bucks. I was considering this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OBX-C...Q5fAccessories

It seems as though you guys don't really like the exhaust tip that it comes with but, I don't like buying parts with the expectation of changing it before I even see/hear it on my car.

 

Boy, you've been zombie hunting all night.

Cattman's 3" catback has that low rumble you want. It has a tone that is quite noticeably deeper than his 2.5".