Help me make a ss exhaust decision

[Gayle]

Gayle, the butterfly goes before the rear muffler like seen in the 4th pic down. You want the exhaust louder right? Why don't you chop off the rear muffler, so you will still have the stock cat and center muffler still there, then you install the butterfly with a straight through pipe (instead of the new rear muffler). That would work out a lot cheaper than us$1200. I will eventually change my exhaust, but to be honest the quieter it is the better, I'd go with a new exhaust manifold (tubular) also. I think it's a waste of money chanign the exhaust just for a different note. If you don't take a ride in other peoples car with the exhaust you want, you might not like the change and it will be a lot of money wasted.

Yeah, I know it is stupid money. But there is a lot of stuff on my car that is stupid money like the bilsteins and the wheels and I absolutely love every single one of them. The only thing I don't like about my car is that it doesn't rumble like the 525 did. The sound is what does it for me. And the thought of a nice shiney stainless steel muffler down there instead of one that is flaking rust makes me happy.

[BigKriss]

fair enough Gayle, it's your money and your car and do whatever make you happy. I like adjustability on the car and thats why I would choose the butterfly. Jon K had some video's of his car a while ago (with a new exhaust and before the supercharger). It was loud, you should check it out.

[Gayle]

fair enough Gayle, it's your money and your car and do whatever make you happy. I like adjustability on the car and thats why I would choose the butterfly. Jon K had some video's of his car a while ago (with a new exhaust and before the supercharger). It was loud, you should check it out.

Jon K has the B&B triflow which is supposed to be the loudest of the options. And he had the M5 version on a 525. I have already conceded that B&B would be too loud for me but thanks for looking out for me.

[darron525]

hi Gayle,

I have 93 525 with a ss muffler. While the growl was ok under throttle, the sound was not as loud as my stock mufler so I took my stock resonator off and put straight pipes. The sound was a nice deep rumble at idle and I was happy until about 2 weeks later. I don't know if it was the break in period or what but me and the wife were going to lunch one day and all of a sudden I had this loud growl (dronning) comming from outside and she said that the honda on the side if us needed to do something about his car and I said uhh thats not his car . Now im trying to decide if I want to order the ss resonator or a new stock one since my old was 13 yrs old I did not keep it.
To sum it up I wish I would have went with the eisenmann and may even end up selling it and getting the eisenmann.

darron

[Gayle]

hi Gayle,

I have 93 525 with a ss muffler. While the growl was ok under throttle, the sound was not as loud as my stock mufler so I took my stock resonator off and put straight pipes. The sound was a nice deep rumble at idle and I was happy until about 2 weeks later. I don't know if it was the break in period or what but me and the wife were going to lunch one day and all of a sudden I had this loud growl (dronning) comming from outside and she said that the honda on the side if us needed to do something about his car and I said uhh thats not his car . Now im trying to decide if I want to order the ss resonator or a new stock one since my old was 13 yrs old I did not keep it.
To sum it up I wish I would have went with the eisenmann and may even end up selling it and getting the eisenmann.

darron

I had read that there was a break in period but hearing about your experience makes it real for me. I am really glad to know that. Thanks for sharing your experience.


Nice looking car. Nice wheels

.

[Zeuk in Oz]

a ss exhaust is a stupid waste of money

A point of clarification please Gayle.

Is your (presumably stock) exhaust not Stainless Steel ?

I would suggest that stainless is never a waste of money but, living on the coast as I believe you do, it might also make sense to enquire about the grade or quality of stainless steel used by the various manufacturers.

This, unfortunately, can vary greatly and might make a big difference to the longevity of the system.

[Booster]

Thats true about the grade or alloy content in various Stainless blends.304-304L-316L ?Or low nickle content.
I bought a West coast USED AC Schnitzer { made by Bosal or one of the German makes ?)full exhaust that was from a E34 and was about 13 years old.
It looks NEW and held up great. I plan on putting it on my 5 with the turbo system in place.
Its a BEEFY box for sure....so I'll have to do some loose sound mock up tests to get the TONE just right by adding/deleting the other mufflers along the system.
I would expect lesser systems to corrode on the surface abit if they are questionable brands.

[genphreak]

fair enough Gayle, it's your money and your car and do whatever make you happy. I like adjustability on the car and thats why I would choose the butterfly. Jon K had some video's of his car a while ago (with a new exhaust and before the supercharger). It was loud, you should check it out.

Hey, Nissan Skyline GTS's (basic Skyline) with the standard 2.5L straight 6 (RB25 engine-very nice motor) have a butterfly (waste gate) standard at the rear. It makes the muffler work with one outlet until you gun the car and then it allows the second pipe to work, giving a **much** meatier sound.

I am sure this could be a mod we should look at. The Nissan is a SS system all the way through, so second hand parts would not be the junk (from our era's) BMW exhaust ones are and the cost much less than new custom stuff as all the Jap perf boys cut these off in favour of polished performance bazzookas that are invariably torn off at the first speed hump they go over. It might well be worth going to see a stock cat-back setup from one just to check out the wate gate it employs.

I haven't looked into it other than being impressed by what I saw on a mate's R33 Skyline, so perhaps you'd like to make some enquiries Gayle?

BTW; Re resonators, a 525 can get away with it without (or may typically not have) whereas 535 **never** can. I have a non-stock generic style resonator (all SS) and its of less value than a cowpat under your foot- underlying my next point-

Someone (there are not many around) makes a SS resonator though and I would suggest one of those and whatever rear muffler meets your preference. If you have no real-world examples of a 535 with such a system, call the manufacturer's receptionist on a Tuesday/Wed morning and ask who in the company might have seen/know of one. The first thing to know is what does the resonator look like (is it as long as the stock one and thus properly catch the M30's drone) in which case it has to be bent 'like a banana'. I'd also suggest shiny SS pipes to make it all match up properly and prevent the fitter getting away with using bad welding-wire and technique- be sure to make them understand you want it nicely finished. In stock form the pipes to the cat are 2" and then from the cat-back they are 1.5" or 1 3/4". Beware if you change this to 2" all they way the resonator position may need to change (or may not...). if it does the best place may go further back to avoid the deadly harmonics- and doing so is not possible as the pipes feed round the rear suspension directly after the stock muffler. You really want advice from your chosen resonator manufacturer who should know all about it if you can get to the person that developed the resonator they make for the 535. I wouldn't fit anything until you can get such informed advice on the plans you have.

Of course they might say you should match their resonator to the muffler- and they may well be right there. However if you had a wastegate from an RB25 exhaust you might well be able to take advantage of both worlds. (I've no idea if the Nissan wastegate would fit (for all I know it is inside the muffler), but there may be a way to graft it fror $100 instead of $600 and this may provide the sound you crave without the pains everyone else has had. Best of luck- and don't forget to post pics! Nick

No doubt throughout your research you have been made aware Gayle, there are a lot of people out there doing parts from SE Asian companies like these, not all are bad but none have any idea about E34s... so local fabrictors that make the resonators are the only choice really. I just hope the wastegate could be a good idea... (Thankx Kriss) Nick

[Gayle]

Bo--my current muffler and resonator are rusty and flaking from their former life on the east coast even though she was a garage princess. The rest of the underneath is really good. I want stainless for the sound. It is all about the sound. In CA, what I put on should last an eternity since it never snows in San Diego.

Vinny--The indys who will be installing it made the point that not all stainless is the same. What do those numbers mean? Which are good?

Nick--I am probably going with the stock resonator after what I have learned in this thread. I appreciate the reinforcement that a 535 can't go without a resonator. I also appreciate the info about the 2" and 1.5" or 1.75". I figure you can never have too much information to make sure something stupid doesn't happen. The indy was in favor of supersprint and I am probably going with the eisenmann so I need to watch my own back. Thanks for the help.

[Booster]

Bo--my current muffler and resonator are rusty and flaking from their former life on the east coast even though she was a garage princess. The rest of the underneath is really good. I want stainless for the sound. It is all about the sound. In CA, what I put on should last an eternity since it never snows in San Diego.

Vinny--The indys who will be installing it made the point that not all stainless is the same. What do those numbers mean? Which are good?

The numbers are simply alloy content of each grade. Usually ...the higher the number, the higher the Nickle content . For the most part anyway.The "L" refers to less or more of lead or alloy..........I actually have spaced off the spec knowledge there.
Since your zone of weather isn't as nasty as some of see....this is less of a concern for you really.
If your motor isn't BUILT for bigger HP.......I wouldn't concern myself with the wastegate/flap add on either. Rather ..focus on the size of tube to use and then the rest needs to simply have the proper sized flanges to connect and of course the opening size of the muffler choice.
A nice CUSTOM fitted system can be hand pieced together quite affordably if your not rushed too bad.
Then you could slip fit everything together to listen drive and decide on how many mufflers are going to please your ears.
...............Vinny