I thought I posted this earlier, but......As some of you know, mine is a 96TT and I'm thinking exhaust upgrade. The plan has always been to get to Stage III while looking good. The intake has been taken care of and for looks, I have 18 inch SSR SP-1s on order. For the exhaust I want a system that maintains the OEM look - dual pipe/muffler. I did a search on other sites but not on this one. Looks like my options are offerings from Z1, B&B, Labree and Specialty Z. It looks like SZ and Labree offer the same thing - made by Sebring. So here are my questions:
1 -What's the difference (obviously the deal braking ones) between these offerings?
2 -The descriptions all say exhaust system - what's included in this?
3 -What what others are available?
4 -Are the Labree and SZ systems the same thing?
5 -X-Pipe, H-Pipe, whatever pipe, what's the difference?
Thanks for helping, but please don't ask me to do another search. After the exhaust I will look at a chip upgrade. JWT seems to lead in that category. However, I'll take any recommendations if you don't feel like talking exhaust.

 

B&B is ***** expensive and not as well performing as the others, so take it off the list...


also they are cat-backs so they will bolt on right after the cat include and H or X pipe, (stock is an H pipe) i believe the X is supposed to flow better? i THINK! im not sure its just something i think i remember reading when i was researching exhausts a while back. also theres the HKS exhaust to look at as well, they are canister mufflers though, but supposedly the best performing system and i believe the most inexpensive.

 

SNW, thanks man. How r u? It's been a while and the Z has been running great. The HKS are out for me. Thanks for the lesson, I will certainly read on X and H pipes. This is a 1yr project so I have time. My rims don't get here until March/April timeframe. Once those are in place, I'll focus on the exhaust (maybe I'll do exhaust and chip at same time, depending on the money situation). Thanks fr chipping in. How's the darn snow up there???

 

haha im doing pretty good, in a hiatus on deciding what i want to do for transportation, sold all my Z's got a bike and 240sx as you can see, SX is totaled as of 4 days ago, might trade the bike and some cash for a 93 RX7 if not then possibly an eagle talon that or try to find another Z! the snow.... well i love snow haha. though as of this week i am officially ready for summer, we had a 3 day streak of temps in the negatives without adding in the wind chill. and the snow itself is probably like 1 to 1.5 feet deep haha. good to hear the Z is still running good. hope i get luck like that if i get that RX7. damn, sure is a long wait for wheels, they volks?

 

I was told by ZLover that SZ and Lebree are same. As matter of fact, Lebree "stole" SZ's design, if I remember his explaination correctly. If I had to choose between the two, I would have to go with someone who came up with the design first, rather then to support people who took other people's design.

Other then the sound being great, I was also told by the same person, as well as others, B&B does not perform as well as the others especially the HKS, and HKS being a lot cheaper, it would make sense to go with that over the B&B. This same sentiment has been eckoed by other members in another Z forum. Also the HKS has very minimal bend in the design, and the B&B have a bend that is close to 90 degree angle.

I personally have the Greddy PE and I hate it. The sound is ok. It sounds deep but I'm not digging the canister look. I much rather have something that looks less aggressive. I think I will take the SZ exhaust as a replacement as soon as I address other issues with my Z.

 

Well, I'm deliberate on these things. They're SSR Professor SP1s, F18x8.5 ET25, R18x10ET10, both with appropriately sized rubbers (I went with as close to OEM overall diameter as available). In any case, they don't get to me for another 2 months. That's why I have time to start thinking exhaust.

I like your bike. Keep it. I wanted one like that but my wife threatened to leave me!!!!!!

 

Yeah, from pics advertised by both vendors, I couldn't tell the difference between SZ and Labree. The Labree is less xpensive but that may not matter or me. I'm settled on either one. I have some time though (12months), so I will research. Thanks though, yours is the only response I have had thus far that really adresses my real concerna. Thanks again!

 

First off, LaBree/SZ are not made by Sebring, they both use Sebring mufflers. The exhaust was designed by Specialty Z and originally manufactured by LaBree to be distributed through SZ. LaBree and SZ had a falling out, SZ found a new supplier (or they make them in-house, not sure), and LaBree began distributing the exhaust with their own name. If you buy from LaBree, you're giving money to a company who has done no R&D in the Z32 community and it'll be going into their pockets alone. If you buy from SZ, you're buying from a company who actively develops products for the Z32, and the money will go back into making better products. I believe SZ has also improved on the design since LaBree stole it, so I'm sure they could tell you exact reasons why their product is better anyway.

B&B is overpriced, under performing, and poorly manufactured. If you'd like proof, I'll dig through my hard drive and try to find pics of crooked B&B systems - it's common to have to bore out the bolt holes to pivot the pipes so it'll sit straight. I also wasn't impressed by the welding when I saw it, and the gaskets looked cheap.

Z1... just don't bother. It's not going to perform like a SZ system.

X-pipe vs. H-pips is all theory - no one knows which one truly performs better. Some say the H is better for torque while the X is better for horsepower. Some say it's the other way around. Most say that there really is no difference since the whole point is to create a vacuum in the system and they both do that. I have an H-pipe, for what it's worth.

But the bottom line is simple: the two best performing exhausts on the market are HKS Hi-Power and Specialty Z. If you want the stock look, HKS Hi-Power is out of the question, leaving only one option. And since the advent of Specialty Z's system as an alternative to HKS, I see no reason to consider an exhaust system other than one of the two.

 

Thanks. That's good info to consider!

Thanks again, I appreciate the information. If I can dig up more on SZ I will post, but I'm now really leaning on SZ.

 

i loved my SZ in every single way. ive had 2 sets too

 

my SZ should be in next week. I got it from a member on 3zc for a steal, and he threw in some meghan test pipes.it is a 2.5" system, which should be plenty for me, since i don't plan on going with turbos that are much larger than stock. I might go with 3" down pipe and then 3" to 2.5" test pipe.

I can't wait to get it on, oh and my car is running again. injector swap was a success.

 

Lucky dawg you!!! You got that b4 I could get it. I wanted it so bad, but I'm glad for you bro! In any case, I have a few months to save for the SZs. I figure out that by April-May, I will have it! I can't wait to find out what the combo of cone filter and less restricted exhaust will do to this car.

 

Increase horsepower isn't it obvious? sorry lol /sarcasm off. On another note, are you NA or TT?

Perhaps Z lover can chime in because this poses a question for me. I've been on the witnessing side of a long debate between the whole "back pressure is needed for NA's" vs "no back pressure is needed for NA's". Thoughts and opinions from others who know more about it than I do? Once when I was at the track I took the exhaust off and slightly faster times of about .1 than with the HKS on. This of course could all contribute to track conditions etc etc, but i'm interested to see what people think.

Which brings me to another point. I met someone with a TT who had a HUGE canister exhaust and swears up and down that he opened the exhaust too much which caused the seals in his turbos to poop. Possible? Something i'd like to know since i will be TT soon.

Also, I have the HKS exhaust. It sounds wonderful and I love it.

 

any loss of back pressure will always increase top end performance, in NA's though some low end torque is lost (SOME) but thats it, its really not a negative. the negative is when you go to large diameter exhausts on the NA though is turbulence that is created, its not the actual loss in back pressure itself. also, he has a TT. a 96 i believe?

 

I have no comment on the general back pressure debate - both sides lack evidence. But what's the point of the question? I mean, any aftermarket exhaust will have back pressure... you'd need to go pretty big to get rid of it.

As for "destroying turbos because the pipes were too big"... that's bullshit. Turbos themselves provide back pressure due to their small openings (they technically rely on it to spool - back pressure increases exhaust velocity).

 

I don't guess it would really matter anyways since i just ordered some SZ downpipes + test pipes to go with my HKS.

 

i didnt see that second part, yup total BS about destroying turbos, and as Zlover said theres many different sides to the no back pressure crap, i know for one thing, to completely eliminate back pressure would be like running open ports on the cylinder head and thats no bueno. however reducing back pressure to a free flowing exhaust will be beneficial all around other than the minimal like couple lb/ft of TQ lost in the lower end which, if performance is your concern, you wont be measuring it down in the low RPM range.... the rest is up in the air for debate