I have been doing some research and I am new to the Z but not tuning. I just wanted to compile some of my ideas and see if you agree with me.

What I think will make the most power for the money is retaining the stock catback, and installing a Y-pipe and a set of resonated test pipes. I do not have dyno proof but from reading where people are picking up most of the power it doesn't seem like it was from the Catback, and the catbacks that I see making more WHP is implimenting straight pipes the entire way....no sure if the HKS deletes the cats or not.

I love the stock sound as does most everyone here, and I was thinking with resonated test pipes anda y-pipe I should be pretty close, and I can always install an inline additional resonator after the exhaust converges into 1 if I feel there is too much raspyness.

What is everyones opinion on this?

I have yet to find a youtube video on a Z with stock exhaust and y-pipes with Resonated TP's

 

ill have a y pipe for my car soon with resonated tp ill let you know how it sounds but you have to remember the muffler is really restrictive no matter how you upgrade the piping if you keep the stock muffler it will never be as good as if you went with a "straigh through" muffler.

 

https://my350z.com/forum/intake-exhaust/261870-intake-exhaust-rules-faq-you-must-read-before-posting-updated-5-21-07-a.html

 

thanks for that link *** ^^^

In no way did my post pertain to that. I searched and came up with nothing on a Y-pipe and resontated TP on Stock exhaust combo.

So this thread is relivant. I swear no matter what car I own BMW/AUDI/RX7 there are always this douche's that think its cool to post this link to a search/FAQ link cause you have more posts. So save your time and dont respond.

 

okay well..

I have Strup Racing headers, and Titek Titanium TP's, Tanabe Y pipe, and stock muffler

Big difference in hp over stock, although i havent dyno'd. Sound is like stock, just louder and more aggressive. its a LOT louder. and as for raspiness, i get it right between 2900-3100 rpm. other than that, totally clean. the raspiness isnt bad.

 

nice! So that would leave me to believe the resonated TP's will eliminate that. If the raspyness is still there I can always add 1 more 10" resonator to the single pipe leading to the rear exhaust.

 

That's your answer.

I have a Y-Pipe for sale for reaally cheap if you just want to test it out.

-James

 

Your post is going in a different direction than most noobs tend to go and your ideas intrigue me. However your title might be very misleading and noobish, so anyone reading your title might say "this has been covered a billing times" and not even read your post.

 

not really relevant, but the sound of the nismo catback is my favorite.

ive heard, in person, many setups..plus all the test drives at meets...im happy i chose nismo. performance is definitely felt over stock.

 

used Nismo is the way to go. best bang for your buck hands down.

 

^I would have to disagree. Nismo exhausts are overrated IMO... if you want cheap + power, get Borla. I guess I'm a bit biased but it weighs less than the Stillen TD but has similar gains. The price is great and sounds good.

 

Ahh I see what you are saying, the title could be a bit generalized and missleading to what my intentions are.

To the above posters, I do like the Nismo but I love the tone of the stock exhaust. Most aftermarket catbacks loose that tone and give it the basic growl that any well tuned non V8 would have. As Noobish as it would sound the Z's stock exhaust note is very similar to Ferrari/Maseratti style. Hollow and high pitch. I want to retain that and amplify it, as many others have posted about, all while gaining power.

I think my goal will be reached by this method......
Y-pipe
Resonated Test pipes
center resonator if needed
Changing out the stock muffler for a magnaflow...or equivilent straigh through design.

 

See, you are now looking at replacing the entire exhaust system including the one piece that gives you the tone you love - the stock muffler. If you are going to piece together a system like that you might as well go for resonated test pipes and a full cat back system. This will give you:
resonated test pipes
better flowing y-pipe (unless you go true dual)
mid pipe with resonator(s)
freer flowing muffler(s)

Many have tried piecing together a full custom exhaust and i'm not sure many if any of them succeeded.

I have the Tanabe Super Medalion Hyper and think it retains that exotic sound. quiet and stock-like at idle, but definitely makes its presence known upon opening her up. I'm using the stock cats for now, so no personal experience with this exhaust and test pipes, but I know a couple on here have this exhaust with test pipes if you're interested. You can search the Exhaust forum for "tanabe" and you're bound to find sound clips.

 

what kind of gains are you looking for with your proposed setup?

 

honestly the gains are minimal that I am looking for. I hear 8-15hp with testpipes and 6-9hp with a Y-pipe. I will be supercharging the car next year so I dont care about 2-3 extra whp and a horrible raspy sound if you know what I mean.

I know HP will be gained, but sound is my main goal, power coming 2nd to that goal. To the above poster...true I may not want to remove the muffler. I am just going to go piece by piece until I reach my goal.

And if anyone ask why supercharge..well I have a 400whp turbo rx-7. I want one car to maintain somewhat reliability. Knowing that I only have a belt to blow and simplicity of the system, and the broad torque curve, that is why I am going this route.

 

If you do this with stock exhaust, PLEASE post sound clips. I'm trying to do the same, just not sure what to expect.

 

what's so great about the 60+ pound oem muffler?

Without a resonator on the mid pipe it will sound like sh*t.

My advice is keep the exhaust completely stock or replace all 3 exhaust components. Get hfc/tp before or after for taste (of sound).

If u must go piece by piece, start at one end at work ur way up, dont start in the middle of the exhaust chain by swapping out the y pipe first. My .02

 

Well you stated that you wanted to keep your stock sound. The nismo does that quite well, but is significantly louder at WOT. However, adding testpipes to nismo will result in one loud *** exhaust. Search on youtube for 350z with nismo+testpipes, and the general consensus shows that it sounds a bit "ricey". As far as the most power for the money, I'd have to go with the stillen true dual. Used of course. There are alot of exhaust out there that compete for the most power, namely three. HKS true dual, Stillen true dual, and perhaps borla like mentioned above. I believe most true duals give about the same horsepower, but it really is the sound that most people are after. The stillen exhaust does sound stock as well, but definately more gains across the rpm band. As far as the comment that the performance from nismo can definately be felt over stock, that's rubbish. Either your butt dyno is wrong, or you bought the car used and it had testpipes or something. The nismo exhaust, being a catback exhaust does not yeild nearly enough horsepower to be "felt" like you said. Maybe thats me, my nismo exhaust did nothing but make the car sound like sex.

 

Members have already posted their opinions. Look at the number of after market cat back systems installed.

 

+1 on seeing what stock +ypipe and resonated TP sounds like. Personally, not so into getting power (trying to mod an NA Z for power isn't gonna yield alot of results, obviously), but am in the same boat as you. I don't really want the deep sort of "untuned v8" sound as you referred to, but want a louder version of that high pitch hollow stock tone. Still trying to decide between nismo and Tanabe Hyper Medallion, but I haven't been able to hear either in person, and based on the vid clip, I'm not entirely sure that the Tanabe comleptely retains the stock sound. I guess I'm afraid of spending close to 1k on either a nismo or a tanabe+y pipe only to find that I'm not getting the sound I want.