Dual Exhaust on the Nissan

sethk8 · Oct 28th, 2003, 04:02 PM

I've been wanting to get duals on my Nissan. Don't want to pay to much and don't want something that will RACK your head off! Any ideas?

jadcock · Oct 28th, 2003, 05:50 PM

Seth, I would recommend sticking with a single exhaust. When I bought my truck, it had a dual exhaust system on it and I really hated it. Granted, it was put on cheap, but I still hated it. It had a single glasspack behind the converter, which then split into dual pipes somewhere near where the muffler is supposed to be. Then one pipe exited near the stock location and the other side bent around above the rear axle and out to the other side. It had big 3" chrome tips which had a bracket that was welded to the frame.

Things I didn't like about it:

1) The muffling device (the glasspack) had to be pushed way forward, to just behind the cat, and with a 4-cylinder engine, it was very raspy inside the cabin. It sometimes hurt my wife's ears at certain engine speeds...the resonance was very annoying.

2) The right side pipe was squeezed into a very small space...between the spare tire and the frame. It was rubbed up against the spare tire. No good if you ask me. I don't think it could have been run any better back there, unless you ran it UNDER the spare tire, and that would really wreck your ground clearance...not to mention making your spare useless.

3) It was welded to the frame, meaning you could really FEEL the engine at all times. They probably got too much sway and movement in the exhaust that it was bumping and banging around so they welded the brackets.

I had Monro Muffler put a correct single exhaust system back on it and am completely satisfied. It's all aluminized pipe and is completely OEM correct, meaning it bolts to all the correct brackets and hangers. The truck is 200% better now. And there is no seat-of-the-pants power difference either. Nissan designed it correct from the beginning. I hear Gibson makes a cat-back system for the Hardbody that's a single exit and probably bolts to the stock hangers. AC also lists one at 4x4parts.com; I'm not sure of the brand. I don't intend to rain on your idea...just giving you my experience with a dual exhaust system that was on my truck when I bought it.

lovemysan · Oct 29th, 2003, 02:02 PM

I have a two chamber flowmaster and duals out the back. Its very mellow. Not raspy. It has a rushed tone when run hard. Not really a growl. Its sounds very good when driven by. I'm going back to a single though soon because I don't like being able to see the pipes. The flowmaster that I have has good sound characteristics. If I want to hear burble I just slide the glass open. There is no resonence to deal with. If you like the dual look go with it. The problem I had was the spare and no good place to bring the tips out from under the truck. You can see 30" of pipe from the side and its not attractive. I'll probably get a polished muffler and let it be seen from behind the truck in front of the axle and just dump it.

I gained no noticeable HP from this of course. Gibson makes an excellent straight thru muffler. There are some glass packs out there that sound good to. Just make sure to get a perferated core and not baffled.

rattler · Oct 30th, 2003, 04:48 PM

Most of the performance exhaust manufacturers stay with the single exhaust using a larger diameter pipe and free flow muffler. I would tend to follow their lead as they spend the bucks on the R & D. There is not too much room under the truck to run duals other than running them side by side with the mufflers stacked. You could always run the pipe out the same side of the vehicle.

lovemysan · Nov 4th, 2003, 09:07 PM

FYI I cut my pipes off just behind the axle last weekend. What a difference that made. It is very throaty, makes a nice burble at idle, and annoying resonances at highway spends. I'm going to have a length of pipe welded on to push the sound a little further back. I don't think I could leave with it for extended periods. My flowmaster was barely audible in the cab with the sliding window closed before. I want to keep the burble but not the resonance.