There seem to be so many options for exhaust. I figured I could get one of the helpful and knowledgeable people here to help me out. I have a 6mt sedan and want performance but not for thousands of dollars just for an exhaust. I realize Stillen and Nismo are good, but why do they charge more than $1000? (Truly butt rape if you ask me) I can get a flowmaster or magnaflow (just examples) for under $100, and get custom piping for under $200. Just curious why they are so much better.

Also, what is the best route I can take for performance gains without spending over a grand.

Would moving up to 3" be too much for the car?

 

I bought the greddy exaust and payed 575 for it. I like it, it sounds nice, check it out boss

 

The G35's exhaust is VERY well tuned from the factory. People have been messing with the exhaust on the 350 and LOSING hp. If you are going to custom build an exhaust, I highly recommend dyno testing before and after. I will pursue that myself this summer. The thing to look for is pipe restrictions such as unnecessary bends and crimps. One thing I want to try is to order some factory 350 down pipes which appear to be almost headers and less restrictive looking than the stock sedan downpipes. The muffler is variable capacity and as such generates extra torque down low which could be lost with a free flowing exhaust. The exhaust can be improved on but is not as simple as your basic Nissan exhaust. I will first look at a true dual design with and X type arrangement to even out the flows, but I still have to dyno.

Again though 100.00 is not a WHOLE lot of money and you can probably get an muffler for even less on ebay. So the risk is not that great. there is nothing stopping you or me from just clamping on a new muffler to check the performance but without concrete data (dyno, 1/4 times) it will be very hard to evaluate it.

If you are going for looks and sound alone, a free flowing exhaust is a good investment (the VQ exhaust is wonderful with headers and high flow cat, especially at interstate speeds) but it sounds like you want the full range power as well.

Another thing a full exhaust does for the VQ is to extend the power band to about 6400 rpm which helps immensely

Better Life thru Chemistry

 

is greddy exhaust any good??

 

Yep its really good, increased HP is noticable, and the rpms fall faster

 

OK I'll add some input I learned while on my trip to Borla for some prototyping of a G35C's exhaust. First, the pipe diameter doesn't make so much of a difference if there is no air coming out. As one of the engineers there put it: Imagine a hose with water, if you don't have that much water flowing out of it, it doesn't matter how big the hose has to be. The only way pipe diameter will/may help is if you go FI (forced induction ala turbo or supercharger). Second, I think Borla has pretty competitive pricing when compared to many other manufacturers. Take for example their new TRUE DUAL CAT BACK for the 350z, we see a $700 price tag as compared to many $1000+ units. Borla takes time into making their products and have flowbenches and such to see exactly how air is traveled through their products along with dynos to see their gains. I am not saying go out and buy a Borla but I am giving some of the companies where the credit is due, they take time to build and test these products while a custom job PROBABLY (unless you're a gearhead ) doesn't go under these rigorous tests. But if you build you're own please tell us how it comes out!