I having a speed shop build an exhaust for my Z. We are going dual from the cat back with an X pipe. My question to any of you experience people out there, should I not go bigger than 3 inch or should I keep it somewhere between 2 1/2 or 2 3/4 inch. I'm just afraid of loosing power. Any help would be great.


Thanks
Jose

 

I would say keep it 2.5 or under. You could go 3 if you were going turbo but no need till after the turbo.

 

Do not put a X pipe... go dual w 2.25 all the way straigth in to the muffler or muffler's, its gonna be a little louder but you see the best HP!

P.S. you can put two racing resonetors!

 

Ok no X pipe. I was going with 2 resonetors and 2 mufflers and you say not to go over 2.24 inches, hmmm alright.

Jose

 

I'd go with what the speed shop recommends (ie. X pipe vs. duals all the way back) before taking the advice of strangers on a message board - assuming the speed shop has done a lot of custom exhaust work and you trust their advice.

I had mine custom built from the cats back and the guy who fabricated the whole thing from scratch highly recommended a custom fabbed x-pipe, over a Y pipe or true dual setup (which we specifically discussed at some length). It cost about twice what an off-the-shelf setup would have cost, and more than true dual, but the results speak for themselves on my car. Couldn't be happier with sound and performance afterwards.

Talk to your shop about the pros/cons of all options and then go with what makes the most sense to you. Good luck - you'll love your Z even more when it gets its "voice".

 

Ok, here's a question that I have not seen so I'll ask it. What is the "cheapest" exhaust that I can get? By "cheap" I mean price, not quality (although I assume the "you get what you pay for" theme fits). I want them to be VERY loud, but not Rice. Nice loud low rumble like the 5Zigen system (without the HP loss).

-Chris

 

Chris

You want "cheap" and "loud", but with quality? The answer for you is just to remove the stock resonator, put a straight pipe in it's place, and leave it at that. I ran it that way for awhile, till I put in my dual system. Sounded fine to me. The more I read, the more I believe the stock system is a well tuned low restriction one. With the resonator out, I believe you'll get what you want. Shouldn't cost more than $30.00 at a muffler shop.

Lou

 

X pipe will give you good hp and the best tq. Also an X pipe wont give you the wierd vibration and noise created by a H pipe.

 

THANK YOU... THANK YOU... THANK YOU (continued on for a few more hundred lines)

That is about the BEST information that I think I have gotten as far as how I want my exhaust. I too have heard nothing but good things about the stock exhaust setup of the Z, but I just wish mine was louder. Ok, now my ignorance on the subject will shine through. What do I tell the exhaust shop when I go in? I want to make sure that they do the correct thing and don't mess anything up. Please let me know Thanks again Lou!!!!

-Chris

 

Culatr

what diameter did you go on your piping?

Jose

 

forget about the resenator...

here is a 10 min DIY project. Unbolt the stock pipe from the muffler and your done...reconnect with nit spacers or whatver...but its is 5times louder and sounds pretty good! not really rice...its deeper and has a rumble to it! if you dont like it...bolt it back together!!

i just did it today and it sounds pretty nice...but i may close the gap that i have...which is about 1/4" to about 1/8" so it quites down a lil!!

try it...you wont be dissapointed

 

Sean6tt,

ok, I have some questions for you:

1. Do I need to raise the car to do this or can I just lay on the ground?

2. Do I need to do this on both sides (I assume I do since it's dual)

3. What is an "nit spacer" and where do I get them??

4. Most importantly... can you PM me a sound file of what your Z sounds like with the DIY mod??

-Chris

 

I've heard one like this, it sounds pretty good. Its a single inlet exhaust, so only on one side. Anyway, get 2 nuts that are larger than the exhaust nuts, undo the muffler, put the 2 nuts on the studs and reconnect the muffler and tighten. My only problem with this is the possibility of exhaust entering the cabin.

2nd option, resonator removal, Highly recommend against it, it has an awful drone under part throttle cruise. I had mine reinstalled within hours of cutting it.

3rd option, get the muffler shop to just replace the stock muffler with a flowmaster for a camaro/firebird. Its lighter and sounds awesome.

 

Chris

Removing the resonator is not a bad thing, as I said, I did it, and it sounded fine to me, but TJMO. I noticed no drone. If you do it, just make sure you tell the muffler shop to remove the resonator and replace it (weld in) a straight piece of pipe. The sound is pretty good, again IMHO. If you don't like the sound, you can always just put the resonator back, it is reversable. If you replace the muffler as suggested by 2003z, I'd go with a Magnaflow. I would not, however, unbolt any pieces under the car, for fear of an exhaust leak, which is not a good thing.

Lou

 

Hmmmm... well, I saw another thread talking about this "mod" and so I went ahead and disconnected the muffler. All I can say is "WoW!!!" It's the best money I never spent!! ;-) I am a bit concerned by what you said about an "exhaust leak". What could happen that wouldn't be good?

P.S. I am making a video of the results right now and will post once completed (unless it's too big).

-Chris

 

Well, unfortunately the finished video ended up being 13.9MB (it's about 1.5 minutes long and is a complete step by step process of what I did) and unless someone wants to host the file for me, I have nowhere to post it so instead I made an audio file of the stock exhaust (unmodded), and then immediately after is the modded exhaust sound. I am EXTREMELY happy with the sound, but my wife thinks it's too "ricey". You be the judge.

-Chris

(I edited this post to include the link to the instructional website I just made on how to do this mod)
http://home.earthlink.net/~clonewolf/exhaust.htm