so Im looking at doing some exhaust on my 06 350z. I bought the car with what appears to be a knock off HKS true dual exhaust. no branding I could find on it. looks and sounds good enough but very quiet.
Ive decided I want to open it up a little with some headers to replace the crusty factory ones and after some searching Im considering ISR long tube headers. they seem to have good reviews and sound clips sound pretty good. Ive also been looking at Tomei short headers with test pipes.
I havnt been able to find much info going long tube VS short + test pipes. would one be louder than the other? I would assume they would be similar sound and performance
Im also curious if anyone has an idea what kind of decibel range to expect. I dont mind it loud, just not unreasonably loud.

 

Replace the cats with art pipes.

 

I didnt want unreasonably loud but I should have said unreasonably expensive lol. could buy a whole system for just those test pipes

 

And it will sound worse / less desirable than what you have now

 

Even if you went lth, or art pipes you will need a tune....so fugure about another 800 on top of what you. are going to spend, then figure in install time/difficulty

 

They will have the same volume, the ISR LTH are cheaper than Tomei, that should give you an idea on the quality.
Tomei are the best headers I've seen for this car.

Only LTH I'd consider are PPE which are probably more than you want to spend.

 

thanks for the input. I know Tomei makes great products, might be worth the little extra going that route then.

 

I Have the Tomei headers and the z1 test pipes then i have a exhaust system made by injen exhaust technology part# SES1987TT i also have pic on my profile

 

any removal of the cats on this car will be intollerably loud and the sound suffers greatly.
Run art pipes if need be, but you have no real benefit from shorty headers unless youre boosting etc.
leave that part alone, just stick w ark or motordyne art pipes.. lth hang way down under the car, still again, very loud, very little benefit on this car.

 

One REAL benefit from headers is sound, just switching to HR manifolds is good for about 8whp. Whether or not it's worth the effort is up to the individual.