Another "Which Exhaust?" Thread
 

Okay, don't point me at the sticky, as I have read through it and still have questions.

First off, I'll start by saying that I am very picky about my exhaust. You might tell me that no exhaust exist and that I will have to settle. Anyway, here it goes.

There are 3 priorities that I am looking for.

Gains
Loudness
Weight

4 things if you count sound, but I will deal with that when I have a couple narrowed down.

Basically I want the most gains, with no droning at interstate speeds, from the lightest exhaust possible. I had previously leaned Stillen for the gains and loudness but read on here that it is heavier than the stock exhaust. Then I leaned towards the Invidia Gemini for the loudness and weight, but read that the gains were not that great. Next was the Tanabe, in which I read the gains were not that great either.

So do I have any options that fit all 3 priorities? If not, which exhaust gets me the closest? These priorities are listed from highest priority to lowest.

I would ultimately like to go with HFCs or TPs so I hope that doesn't kill any viable options when it comes to drone. Please let me know if I have unrealistic expectations.


Thanks in advance!

See sticky above.

Our cars don't have much sound proofing, and the mufflers sit right under our hatch so you hear the exhaust a lot. That said I have an 18" resonated fi cbe only. And it's hard to have a convo in the car. I'm thinking about sound deadening. the exhaust sounds sick tho, only bothers me when the wife is in the car.

Thanks Joey, I had pretty much ruled out The FI exhaust due to the loudness.

Cooltoy, I am willing to bet that less than a quarter of your 5000+ posts you actually put thought into or actually read the first couple lines of a post.

What about Amuse? 19lbs all titanium.

That was a joke. Or do I need to put a smiley at the end of it for you? ;)

I'll take that bet.

Fúck, I'll take that bet too

Guess it also depends on your budget

Yeah it's a little hard to pick out a joke online with no cues, especially in this day and age of internet wise guys. My apologies.

6MT, budget is not important. I am fully aware I may have to spend some dough to get exactly what I'm looking for.

YouTube the sound you are looking for and go from there. You will hear all aftermarket exhaust systems inside your car regardless of choice.

If you want lightest get amuse from 370ztune, or meischeter titanium, (not sure if I wrote it correctly) both are gonna b around $3-4k

The sound on the meischeter exotic like

No sweat. I thought it be obvious, since you specifically said not to. I guess you'll get used to my sense of humor.

I went through the same quest, as you are going through, a year ago. And I came up with Fast Intensions. No regrets, and over 1000 satisfied customers agree.

FI is lighter then stock, has gains at the top of the spectrum, and is customizable as far as volume of sound by offering several resonator options. It is the only exhaust that offers CF cans which, if chosen, will provide further weight saving. And look great.

how deaf are you?

18" resonators and im guessing no HFC or TP and you cant carry a convo?

me and the fiance carry on a conversation fine at highway speeds with a FI straight pipe set up.

only time i cant hear her is when i go full throttle. typically thats just the conversation ender :tiphat:

dont rule out the FI. it's literally the best exhaust on the market for the Z. period.

everything else is overpriced, less quality, and less gains.

[QUOTE=FPenvy;3013647]how deaf are you?

18" resonators and im guessing no HFC or TP and you cant carry a convo?

me and the fiance carry on a conversation fine at highway speeds with a FI straight pipe set up.

only time i cant hear her is when i go full throttle. typically thats just the conversation ender :tiphat:



Yeah once your at highway speeds it's not loud at all, it's getting through the gears at low speeds that it is the loudest.

even so, with 18" res its super quiet.

my old setup of nonres TP and non res CBE with CF muffllers was still decent at low speeds.

I would say that 18" resonated FI is not that loud. It is a tad louder then the Stillen, but really not that bad.

I was not looking for a loud exhaust and I am pretty happy with the final sound.

I wonder if most of those YouTube videos are taken in the first week of ownership, because it quiets down a lot after a few weeks.

When I first got mine, I was rather unhappy, as it was super loud. I was even considering selling it. But after 2-3 weeks of break in, I would not give it up for any other exhaust. It is quite under normal driving conditions (you can still hear a nice low rumble). It does not interfere with conversation. But when I put my foot down to pass, they know they are being passed.

The best judge is my wife. She used to put her hands on her ears for the cold starts before the break in. Now she says that it is fine.

i'd like to see what she would say about mine lol

She would tell me to :gtfo2:if I had your set up. So would my neighbours.:roflpuke2:

mine absolutely loves my set-up.

she actually got mad at me when i put the mufflers back on for inspection lol

You should try the hks hi-power. They say it has a low tone until you get on it. No drone, and similar gains to the fi

.........and double the price.

any exhaust is gonna be "low tone" until you get on it.

He said price was no object, and I just disagree with your second statement.

even still the HKS isnt that great and why waste the money?

save your money and buy intakes with the money you save going with FI. :tiphat:

I am encouraged by this. I put my 18" resonated FI exhaust on Saturday and over the weekend I was thinking it was just too loud to live with long term. But today, Monday, I think it is a little quieter. I assumed I was getting used to the noise but maybe it really is quieter. It is beautiful at higher revs but the deep drone at low rpm medium load bothers me. I keep my Z in the garage and my wife said Saturday it "shakes the house when you start it up". It's funny, when I was younger there was no such thing as too loud.

I came here to suggest Amuse Ti, but I see that I was beaten...

The Tomei single that I have weighs in at a scant 18lbs but is loud as hell (no cats). I ended up putting a muffler on there, that weighs almost as much as the whole Tomei setup, to quiet it down.

FPenvy, I noticed you have the 7AT as well, so would you say that it is decently quiet at interstate speeds? I loved the sound of the FI along with the gains and weight, but drone annoys the sh*t out of me. I don't care how loud it is when I am full throttle though.

Give it a few weeks. It quiets down a lot (at low revs). I also find that the start up is not always the same. Sometimes it is louder then other times. I am trying to pinpoint the reason for it. I think it as to do with ambient temperature of the air (thus the engine during cold starts), but I am not sure yet.

well there's a few way to look at it along with questions.

a. do you listen to music while driving?
b. how loud do you play music while driving.

my set-up is not for the faint of heart, trust me.
it literally may destroy your hearing.

but even with mine as loud as it is at 80/90mph on the highway in 7th yes there's some volume but i listen to music and it's not as bad as you would think.

i mean worst case whenever i finally make some gopro shots i can do a interior shot for everyone.

i have plenty of it regular and on the outside lol

As long as you keep you RPM's at below 3000-3500 it is pretty quite. If I turn up the stereo to about 1/3 the full range, I can hardly hear the exhaust, but after 4000 rpms it starts to get louder. Which is OK in my book.

Oh, and those downshifts when you are pulling up to a light are so sweet. Just like a small shot of testosterone.

To add, I am not a loud exhaust kind of guy, never was.

my downshifts make people jump out of their cars lol

i was rolling with a crew of mustang guys yesterday and i was forced yet again to the back of the pack due to volume......still got the finger a few times when we hit a tunnel from the mustang boys haha

Thanks guys, it sounds like I will once again consider FI as an exhaust option.

I want to be able to carry on a conversation in the car while on interstate without having to raise my voice. I also don't want a headache after a long road trip.

in all honesty the stillen' are marginally heavier at that.

if you really want to save weight go for the titaniums but then you're shelling out twice the cost of a ss based one.

from my understanding all the exhausts on the market will give realatively similiar gains without going test pipes.... so what i boils down to is sound. that should be the biggest decision factor for you IMHO

I think you should call Tony and discuss it with him.

That's another reason we speak do highly of FI - you will be dealing directly with the manufacturer and will not get better customer service from anyone else. FI might even customise a few things for you if you need.

leave the stock cats on and pick the 18" res and SS cans if you want the quiest option.

if you want power but still as quiet with some sacrfice for power then res HFC with the same CBE setup.

Best power, fitment, and affordability: Nismo "take off" exhaust, w H-pipe

For more power add any of the following:

1. ebay or other non-resonated test pipes - cheapest, but also most raspy and not very eco friendly...

2. Any resonated test pipe - more expensive, much less raspy, and as above.

3. The infamous ART pipes - much more expensive, sounds good, a bit more power, and as above.

4. Various High Flow Cats - slighly less power, varying degrees of rasp depending, and more eco nicey nice...

5. Various long tube headers (my personal recommendation = PPE). Much more power, good sound and modest rasp (varies), and there's no way to stop the tides from rising at this point anyway... (or weld in a cat somewhere if you wish/must).

Moral of the story: The OEM cats are the biggest restriction...

Also, changing the size of the OEM Y pipe pipe (not sure on the Nismo H if the diameter is changed from OEM...) generally results in a lot of additional "whooshing" noise on decel.

Good luck :tup:

my pansy ears couldn't handle the FI... i needed something a bit more tame but still sounded mean at the higher rpm's

like this?