well i am looking at both found that some people were having problems with the APS exhaust and i saw that NISMO made an exhaust so i just wanted to ask you guys about these exhausts. Which should i go with? i do not have a turbo or anything so i decided to rule a 3" exhaust out for now....let me know thanks all.

 

I have both (NISMO SOLD) (APS is for sale now), I you are going to stay NA go with the NISMO but if you have plan to go FI in the future APS is the way to go. My APS is only 2800 miles since new I am selling it for $900 shipped.

Cesar

 

Speaking of NISMO. How restricted is it compared to say a true duel like APS or HKS, thx.

 

The Nismo exhaust is 3" after the y pipe

 

dont get the APS 2.5
it sounds so ricey.
nismo exhuast keeps the stock Z sound but just louder.

 

The APS definately doesnt' sound ricey. With HFC or stock cats, its the most reserved dual 2.5'' exhaust out there. With test pipes on a N/A car, itll rasp a lot. No exhaust on a Z sounds ricey.
I had the APS with stock cats, and it has a very nice mellow deep tone to it, one i prefer over the nismo. BUT with test pipes, it rasps a lot even though it still sounds ****ing badass.

 

what about the HKS hi-power exhaust? heard good things about it

 

Overpriced, but it does the job. If you're sensitive about your car and like things as OEM as possible, Nismo is ur best bet.

 

well speaking of exhaust and performance, what do you all think are the best NA horsepower upgrades?

 

Choosing an exhaust is really more about the sound honestly. The difference in gains between each exhaust is extremely minimal, we're talking like 1-3 horsepower. Are you really going to feel that?

 

very!! i had the nismo on my car because the car came with it on it. At 12 psi i could only make 434 on the dyno. we put a 3" aps dual and it was up to around 470 at the same psi. just fyi.

 

awesome guys.....i know the exhaust wasnt for the horespower upgrade but i want to give my car some extra kick so any suggestion on NA horsepower upgrades would be appreciated.

 

APS is low quality and has terrible customer service.

Nismo all the way!

 

I just switched from the Nismo to the APS. The Nismo has been great, but it was just time to go to a dual, and it clears all my aftermarket bracing with no problems. The APS fit perfectly with no issues at all. My installer has installed just about every exhaust for the Z and thinks the APS has some of the highest quality welding he's ever seen and that they always fit perfect. He's seen some exhausts that don't really quite fit right, or use lower quality welds, or take some messing with to get to line up right etc.

As far as sound, the APS seems more rumbly and more muscle car sounding than the Nismo. The volume actually seems about the same if not slightly louder than the nismo under WOT. I'll miss the nismo's sound, but the APS sounds pretty good. I'm thinking about putting an X-pipe on mine which might make it a little more sporty sounding

I don't think the APS sounds ricy at least on my car. I've heard sound clips of it on cars with test pipes, or turbo setups and didn't like it at all...I was actually kinda hesitant to even try the APS, but my installer said if I didn't like the sound, they'd switch it back free of charge. Well actually it did sound slightly ricy when it was brand new, but after getting some miles and dyno runs on it, it went away. An X-pipe will help with that sorta thing too

 

Hopefully you don't get fiberglass all over your car due to the glass coming apart in the muffler.

 

who's car did that? Sounds like someone was running really really rich or something with test pipes

 

The exhaust started it right from the beginning. This was the second APS exhaust on the car. First one had pieces break off inside the muffler and rattle around. Trust me when I tell you that it had nothing to do with the tune.

 

well, i'll keep an eye on it for anything. Were they running test pipes?

If the tune was great, then I dunno what'd cause it other than test pipes. There seems to be a lot of FI cars using the APS exhaust and I'd think if the muffler wasn't up to the task on a normal FI setup/tune, a lot of people would have problems with it.

Running test pipes means there's no cat to burn up the unburnt fuel so you can possibly shoot flames out the back of the car with rich levels of high volume fuel like with FI

that's just weird that it happened twice on the same car, but I haven't heard of it happening with anyone else

 

The same thing didn't happen twice. They were two totally different issues. There was at least one other board member who had the exact same thing happen, so it's not an isolated incident.

 

I'd love to find the threads about it happening, but can't seem to find anything without reading all day long. I'm really wondering if they were running test pipes or if they bought an early model exhaust or something. Were they turboed?

I'd guess running a turbo would have higher EGT's and test pipes means unburnt gas anb flames will travel down the exhaust and could burn up just about any muffler if it happened enough