Mine is a mess of rust. The shields and hangers are falling off. I need another exhaust that will last 140k miles like the original parts. Problem is, OEM Nissan is crazy expensive ($700 for a cat, $220 for a b-pipe, $180 for a muffler, etc).

Does anyone have experience with non-Nissan parts that bolt in with good fit and look/sound like stock? I tried the classifieds but it's been slim pickings for stuff that isn't already a rusty mess, and the junkyards throw them away as a matter of practice.

Dave

 

Theres plenty of good parts that will bolt up just fine, but you wont really keep the stock sound. My advice to keep it quiet would be to get aftermarker Y, cat, and resonated b-pipe, but get a new stock muffler.

http://maxmods.dyndns.org/index.php?MaximaPerformance

Everyone will chime in with their opinions, but I have custommax ypipe and cat, with a cattman b-pipe and stock muffler and Id say its only a bit louder than stock. You can really tell when you get on the gas though

 

your best bet would be a budget y-pipe, aftermarket cat and budget b-pipe, and 5th gen OEM muffler.

 

He wants quiet, and 5th gen muffler is louder than 4th gen.

I forgot the nissan bpipe was the around 250, so if you want quiet and dont want the performance(which isnt really noticable anyways) go with OEM. Warpseeds and budgets arent that much cheaper, and a cattman is much more expensive

 

1) No aftermarket y-pipe - there is a low-mileage stock one that *should* be on its way, but the seller has been strangelly silent since I sent the money.

2) You're right - I see no need for a 5th gen muffler if I can find a 4th gen muffler in good shape. Especially if the 5th gen requires any effort to fit.

3) I guess the b-pipe and cat converter are my main concern. I see some cats listed on that site for $150 or less, which is much more favorable than $700 from Nissan. Also, an OEM B-pipe and resonator isn't exactly ridiculous in price if I can't find a stocker anywhere. It just needs to bolt in and last as long as stock parts.

I would pay some good money for a low-mileage, low-rust exhaust, if someone further south or west would pay attention

Dave

 

Bump - anyone tried the Autozone/Napa/Advance Auto direct fit exhausts? I may go that way for the muffler and b-pipe.

Dave

 

My friend did. He payed $350 for an entire OEM catback last year. Excelent fit.

 

Hi guys - I'm a member of the maxima.org.nz site in New Zealand and thought I'd come see our big brother.

Got a 1996 4th Gen SMX Maxima: with an RPS 2.25" stainless cat-back (B-Pipe), COBY high flow resonator, Woolf Mufflers stainless 2.25" front system (Y-pipe) and Woolf Mufflers (similar to Cattman) chromed stainelss extractors (headers) on. Much louder and can drone sometimes around town - have lost some low end power in favour of ridiculous mid-middle top end boost.

My advice would be (from mates who have lived in the US) frankencar or budget b and y pipes and cattman shorty headers if you can afford it.

 

He never said he was concerned with gains, so why would he spend the money on headers and a y-pipe?

 

Right, I don't want gains. Just getting my tranny rebuilt should give me an extra 50 ft-lb of torque.

My only concern with the Autozone stuff is that it's cheap and it might rust out a lot sooner, but WTF I guess. I can go through two of those for the price of one OEM.

Dave

 

i just spent 570 on a full warpspeed setup, it was good, but it took them 8 weeks after my order to get it to me. Any way I live in florida so my old exhust isent in bad shape at all (it still shines :-)), Id let it go cheep if You would get it out of my garage! jsut offering, the warpspeed setup is not a bad way to go as well.

 

I'm looking at getting the full WS setup too. My stock exhaust has survived 9 Chicago winters and over 202,000mi but it appears to be almost completely rusted through. I need to replace everything after the headers and I need to do it sooner rather than later. I'm looking at WS because of the one-stop shopping and their claims of it being fully integrated.

Did you encounter any issues during installation? Do you like the way it sounds?

 

50ft-lbs? Wow. (Automatic? 5-Speed?)

Apologies for earlier post - how about just going to a wreckers and seeing if you piece together another stock system that's in good shape?

 

Wreckers in my part of the country throw the whole exhaust away. Our stuff rusts too damn much due to the salt they put on the roads in winter. Too much labor to break it down without damaging it. Maybe I should call some wreckers in the warmer and more arid part of the country.

I dunno if it's 50 ft-lb exactly, but it won't rotate freely, and it's gotten worse since I did my clutch job this spring. Feels like driving with the e-brake applying a little pressure. Gas mileage is down 5mpg all around. I'm driving it as little as possible till I get it fixed.

Dave

 

PA - that's Pennsylvania right? I guess it gets cold as there.

Wreckers in NZ are the best place to get cheap spares and even aftermarket parts - though quality can be an issue if you don't know what you're looking for (like me most of the time).

Speaking of transmissions - I've got my heart set on getting a high stall torque converter, transmission cooling system and Nissan's (5th gen up) 00VI system installed but won't be able to afford it for my upcoming first quarter mile on January 2nd next year...it's at our 'Summer Nationals 2006' - expected crowd of at least 15,000...s.h.i.t.

Semisi

 

get greddy SP2 quiet as stock on cruise, quietest cat-back ever installed on my car. i had an custom 2.5" catback on my car i changed like three diff. types of resonator and three diff. types of muffler. nothing is better than greddy. so quiet

 

Hey I don't see that that make one for a 99 does the 95-96 fit your 99? I am in the market for a muffler myself.