Exhaust Systems
There is also the:
- Edelbrock
- GReddy BL Exhaust
- Remus Exhaust
- Pacesetter (rumor to rust out pretty fast)
Written by Merlin Johnson
Borla [$418 list]
The second exhaust I tried was the Borla stainless muffler, it was damned
expensive for just a muffler, the hangers and pipe bends were slightly off. So I had to
pay someone else to rebend things around a bit to get everything to fit. Basically, I will
never buy a pre-built Borla muffler again. I like the mufflers themselves, but not their
quality control in application fabrication. I have a friend (James) with the Stillen and
it sounds pretty good, I have the Borla, it is a bit louder at full throttle but VERY
quiet at freeway (60-75mph) speeds with no "droning". The early versions of the
Borla muffler had restrictors in them, you could look down the tip and see a small
diameter "doughnut" welded at the base of the tip, this was supposed to keep
noise in check.
In doing a few back to back comparisons with the stock muffler, the
Borla and a generic turbo muffler, and with the car having headers; the Borla felt better
than the stock muffler as far a top end, but was worse than the turbo muffler as far as
bottom end throttle response and top end pull. The Borla was a quieter muffler over all
than the turbo style muffler. I have learned later that the turbo style muffler is barely
any better than the stock muffler but makes lots more annoying "drone" and
noise, thus....is the borla that shitty? I think it was that restrictor, the muffler
itself is of good design and their product would be good if you started with just the
muffler and made the rest yourself.
The Borla is a full stainless steel muffler with a single
"intercooled" tip, as far as performance, it is not worth the money, as far as
durability, maybe.
HKS [$440 list]
HKS makes a system (cat back) makes 7hp and costs more than the Borla. It's quiet and high
quality.
Stillen
The Stillen is an aluminized muffler with dual stainless steel tips. The Stillen muffler
is approx. $225 (but can be had for VERY cheap, just grind the salesman). I have not heard
of any premature rusting with this muffler has I have of HKS and Trust.
Stromung
Cool dual tips, fairly quiet, expensive, very deep, and it drones, basically that is all
the input I have on it. Probably the equivalent to a Stillen or something.
Trust
This is the Trust exhaust system as it was sitting on Jim Wolf Technologie's
floor before installation. I didn't take a picture of the box of gaskets and bolts that
are also included.
This is the best exhaust I have run across for the SR20DE. It achieves low backpressure,
doesn't drone, doesn't get blatty, fits right the first time, sounds good at WOT, but
costs way too much and can rust easily. Trust supposedly knows about this rust problem,
they basically say dot use the muffler where it can rust easily...duh. They make a
stainless version, but it is even more expensive. Trust also has something for the G20, I
am doubtful if there is something that fits on the NX2000 or 200SX SE-R. The Trust when
run without a cat reduced backpressure by two more psi over a no cat, 2.25" mid pipe,
2.25" generic turbo muffler system, and was gobs quieter.
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