exhaust
Wow, again, lots of misinformation. Performance/Price/Quality. You get to pick two.
Performance/Price = Exhaust shop. They HAVE to make several welds that are not necessary on a pre-made system. Those are likely hand welds, MIG or ARC welds, and not at the quality that a TIG weld from a robot at a factory would be. Human error is a factor. I've never seen a shop with a good MANDREL BENDING machine, good mild steel or aluminum piping, and a skilled welder with nice equipment charge any less than about $225 for a 3-inch custom job, w/o a muffler. Throw in a $60 flowmaster (cheapest muffler out there IMHO), taxes, and you're looking at $300.
Performance/Quality = Pre-made exhaust from reputable company. Usually runs around $500, and that's on the high side. Megan Racing's exhaust is $325 and is very high quality, as I have seen in person. It is GAURENTEED that it will fit, without incident, no welding, complete bolt up. It's GAURENTEED by a big reputable company. The bonus of it bolts to your catalytic converter instead of being welded. You can do it yourself, it only takes a ratchet and socket to bolt one of these suckers up (well, and another wrench to hold the backside.....) More or less you're going to pay an extra $100-$200 for all this assurance and quality. It's worth it in my opinion. And if the first type ever breaks or goes and you have to buy another, you've done better by going with quality the first time.
Performance/Price = Exhaust shop. They HAVE to make several welds that are not necessary on a pre-made system. Those are likely hand welds, MIG or ARC welds, and not at the quality that a TIG weld from a robot at a factory would be. Human error is a factor. I've never seen a shop with a good MANDREL BENDING machine, good mild steel or aluminum piping, and a skilled welder with nice equipment charge any less than about $225 for a 3-inch custom job, w/o a muffler. Throw in a $60 flowmaster (cheapest muffler out there IMHO), taxes, and you're looking at $300.
Performance/Quality = Pre-made exhaust from reputable company. Usually runs around $500, and that's on the high side. Megan Racing's exhaust is $325 and is very high quality, as I have seen in person. It is GAURENTEED that it will fit, without incident, no welding, complete bolt up. It's GAURENTEED by a big reputable company. The bonus of it bolts to your catalytic converter instead of being welded. You can do it yourself, it only takes a ratchet and socket to bolt one of these suckers up (well, and another wrench to hold the backside.....) More or less you're going to pay an extra $100-$200 for all this assurance and quality. It's worth it in my opinion. And if the first type ever breaks or goes and you have to buy another, you've done better by going with quality the first time.
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AZhitman
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trpower7 wrote:Wow, again, lots of misinformation. Performance/Price/Quality. You get to pick two.
Performance/Quality = Pre-made exhaust from reputable company. Usually runs around $500, and that's on the high side.
Good info trpower.
By the way, BRM's system for the 240 is of HIGHER quality than the NISMO systems and is $280 for aluminized, $380 for stainless. Really nice stuff - all mandrel-bent, flanged, TIG-welded, and fully finished (not mass-produced).
I'd argue that this offers you all three: Performance, price and quality.
AZhitman wrote:Good info trpower.
By the way, BRM's system for the 240 is of HIGHER quality than the NISMO systems and is $280 for aluminized, $380 for stainless. Really nice stuff - all mandrel-bent, flanged, TIG-welded, and fully finished (not mass-produced).
I'd argue that this offers you all three: Performance, price and quality.
From the BRM site: "Price $480.00 Aluminized | $580.00 "That's for the S14, but the only 240SX exhaust they showed...Does NICO get the uber discount due to your mass pushing, Greg? :pface
Sounds like a few educated people out there.. no, really. There are some shops that will hack your exhaust and the quality is junk. I'm fortunate to work at an exhaust shop that that won't sell something to you if you don't need it, like 3" titanium fully polished mandrel TIG welded hi-flow blah, blah, blah....This product may a beautiful show-piece, but is 1 to 2 HP worth the extra few hundred bucks? It's all up to you, man. Choose wisely, but IMO if you're going to deck your car out w/ turbo/nitrous or whatever, you WILL eventually need that 3" mandrel exhaust system if your over the 180-200HP range. So as many people have said, it all depends on what the future holds for your car, that little bit of lag may be worth it for now. The potential of the 240sx is unlimited so far. I forgot what year of car you have, but for a *cheap* exhaust system on a DOHC: Keep factory pipe, eliminate the resonator (like suggested), replace with a glasspack, run a basic turbo muffler or Magnaflow, and a resonated tip. Sounds sweet, and runs great with an aftermarket intake system. On the SOHC, I unfortunately haven't found a real good set-up yet. Suggestions appreciated! Justin
