# whats the largest exhaust pipe i can sport?



## nisdrivensan (Dec 10, 2002)

whats the largest exhaust pipe you can get for the 1.6 ga or the sr20det. i want to do like a 2.5 but i dont know if that would ruin the 16ga .... im doing a swap at the end of the summer .... and i know the 20 could hold that ..... what doyou fellow sentranites thing?


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## rkeith (Jan 12, 2003)

Harrisburg, huh? pretty sweet..... Im about 45 mins from you, outside Lancaster....
Anyways, on topic---
The largest exhaust you can run on a NA ga16 is 2"... anything larger will choke it off.... IIRC a NA sr20 (not DET) is like 2.5"....... Turbo is best no larger than 3"


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## Psch91 (May 18, 2002)

Could a mod move this away from the Cosmetic Section? I kind of belongs cause you see the exhaust, but its more motor related I would think.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

if you were keeping the Ga16, 2" is optimal.

since you are getting a SR20DE (non turbo I assume) you will want 2.25". You can put the 2.25' on w/ the GA16 for the time being, but you will loose some low end power until you do the swap.

If you are going SR20DET, I would recommend 3" piping, but wait until the new engine is in. The 3" would mess up the flow for the GA16DE.


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## StevenLK (Jul 15, 2002)

rkeith said:


> *The largest exhaust you can run on a NA ga16 is 2"... anything larger will choke it off.... *


what do u mean by choke'.... i have a 4'' it sounds. GREAT 
but i was going more for sound then racer'SPEED... but'
i see how its more of a kick and slow release when i have the silence on. i guess. rear end torke`... heh


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## rkeith (Jan 12, 2003)

stevenlk_20 said:


> *what do u mean by choke'.... i have a 4'' it sounds. GREAT
> but i was going more for sound then racer'SPEED... but'
> i see how its more of a kick and slow release when i have the silence on. i guess. rear end torke`... heh *


oh. my. took me a minute to decipher that....
anything larger than a 2" exhaust on a NA GA16 and you will lose low end power..... 
any example of this is like trying to drink through a really large diameter straw....


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## zeno (Sep 17, 2002)

> i have a 4'' it sounds. GREAT


Are you nuts! You just wasted money to decrease the performance of your car. You will lose power in a ga16 when you start to go over 2". Buy a real exhaust man and get rid of the ricer attitude.


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## niky (Jul 20, 2002)

hmh... if he wants to fart out of a barrel, it's his fun...  but seriously, it doesn't feel so good after a while... we put headers and exhaust on a stock engine the other year, and the pull from a stop was noticeably sluggish afterwards...*oops... too big.*

BTW, i'm experiencing the opposite problem now. We just installed an SR20 on a sentra, and the exhaust is still stock (we're still testing)... and the airflow is horrible! If you nudge the gas slowly, or at 2/3 throttle, it goes just fine... but at WOT, it farts like a mule on beans! prop-pop-pop-brrmmm!... another strange thing, at 1/3 throttle, it also shudders in a similar manner...

why is this? (not the WOT, i know the answer to that... it chokes on the sudden influx of air meeting backpressure...) at 1/3 it chokes and at 2/3 it's okay? is it harmonics? or is it related to pipe length?... considering the amount of time for the air to come bouncing back from the 1.5 inch pipe back up the SR20 headers and hitting the wavefront of fresh exhaust in the headers, i'm thinking this is the culprit... anyway, i should have my new piping done tomorrow!


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

stevenlk_20 said:


> *what do u mean by choke'.... i have a 4'' it sounds. GREAT
> but i was going more for sound then racer'SPEED... but'
> i see how its more of a kick and slow release when i have the silence on. i guess. rear end torke`... heh *


 Um that's hard to read, learn to type. 
*First, lemme give you a big slap for spending money on somethin that ridiculus.
*second, lemme kick you in the nuts for saying you did it for sound over "racer'SPEED".
now then, 4" is not an exhaust size, that is a freakin sewer pipe, I could launch a pineapple out of ur exhaust (AND THAT'S ABOUT ALL IT'S GOOD FOR).

You say you were going for sound...I got a Stromung 2" pipe and it sounds SO FREAKING GOOD. If you mean you want to sound like a civic (I have no clue why peope want to sound like a 2-stroke lawn mower), then you don't deserve to represent the Nissan community.

Also, what the hell is "rear end torke`?" Speaking of torque, I don't think you JUST lost your low end, you prolly lost YOUR ENTIRE POWERBAND. I don't recall ever seeing a 4" exhaust on any car. The only car I've seen running 4" after the engine was a BUILT 500+ hp SR20DET running a 4" open downpipe.

Please Learn about things before you attempt messing with them, you prolly had more power in stock form.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

niky said:


> *BTW, i'm experiencing the opposite problem now. We just installed an SR20 on a sentra, and the exhaust is still stock (we're still testing)... and the airflow is horrible! If you nudge the gas slowly, or at 2/3 throttle, it goes just fine... but at WOT, it farts like a mule on beans! prop-pop-pop-brrmmm!... another strange thing, at 1/3 throttle, it also shudders in a similar manner...
> 
> why is this? (not the WOT, i know the answer to that... it chokes on the sudden influx of air meeting backpressure...) at 1/3 it chokes and at 2/3 it's okay? is it harmonics? or is it related to pipe length?... considering the amount of time for the air to come bouncing back from the 1.5 inch pipe back up the SR20 headers and hitting the wavefront of fresh exhaust in the headers, i'm thinking this is the culprit... anyway, i should have my new piping done tomorrow! *


 I recommend 2 1/4 exhaust on the SR20. If it's backfiring and such, I would check the O2 sensors and maybe the MAF (grounding).


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

1997 GA16DE said:


> *you prolly had more power in stock form. *


 sorry, I didn't mean to say "prolly." I SHOULD HAVE SAID "YOU *DID* HAVE MORE POWER IN STOCK FORM."


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## niky (Jul 20, 2002)

yup, 2 1/4 is about what i'm getting... going to be testing the car later... hope its good!


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## nisdrivensan (Dec 10, 2002)

so 2 inches tops for a ga16de and 2 and a half for sr20det
???? 

i like to fart but not from my baby car


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

nisdrivensan said:


> *so 2 inches tops for a ga16de and 2 and a half for sr20det
> ????
> 
> i like to fart but not from my baby car *


 well, 2.5 is the minimum for an SR20DET, but 3" is recommended. Like I said before, I've seen an SR20DET running a 4" open downpipe.


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## tsi200sx (Nov 8, 2002)

> what do u mean by choke'.... i have a 4'' it sounds. GREAT


I think (at least I hope) this guy is confused about the difference between "exhaust" and "exhaust tip"

A four inch exhaust tip is stupid, but it won't affect your performance significantly either way. If you actually have a full four-inch cat-back, all I have to say is what were you thinking?

These guys are talking about the entire exhaust system, or at least from the cat back. 

I have a VG30E and when I had the flowmaster put on the biggest cat-back pipe that they recommended for that engine was 2.5", anything bigger and I would lose low-end torque. So that's what I have. 
So it figures that an N/A 1.6 would do best with no bigger than 2". A turbo, now that changes things.


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## slvrsentra98 (Feb 27, 2003)

*Bigger is not better*

My friend has a 70 chevelle 454 and it dosent even have 4 inch exhaust now if a engine that has prolly more then 3 times the dislpacement of your 1.6 dosent need 4 inches why the hell would a small ass engine like the 1.6 need any thing close to that size.


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## nisdrivensan (Dec 10, 2002)

i dont think i will go anything bigger than 2and a half for the turbo 
what do you guys think?


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## nisdrivensan (Dec 10, 2002)

i mean i think it would be a total waste of money...... but then this is a sr20det .... im a recent newby in this ...... tell me am i going right?


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## 97sentra (Jun 30, 2003)

if you are going to run a turbo on your motor, the bigger the exhaust pipe, the better.


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## rkeith (Jan 12, 2003)

97sentra said:


> *if you are going to run a turbo on your motor, the bigger the exhaust pipe, the better. *


grrr... did you read through any of the thread? thats not necessarily true. Yes, for 2.5 will suit you nice, but 3 would work as well.


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## nisdrivensan (Dec 10, 2002)

haha ., well thanks all for your help?? ahah thanks again


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## Murph (Aug 8, 2002)

*this is VERY simple folks* 

If your going to be running a turbo, the larger the exhaust the better. In the meantime you will lose performance but who cares if your putting in an sr20det.

For a 1.6 a 2" exhaust should be considered the absolute most you will want. Maybe even smaller. Remember as you start dealing with larger pipes the flow rises exponentially. For example, a 2.5 pipe flows ALOT more than a 2.25 pipe.

Anyhow, get a big bastard on there if your going turbo. Dont expect it to be good for the 1.6 though. Its all whatever its worth to you.

Personally I would go straight to a 3" and not have to deal with it later.


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## rkeith (Jan 12, 2003)

Murph said:


> *this is VERY simple folks
> Personally I would go straight to a 3" and not have to deal with it later. *


Ooookay, and deal with the lag in the meantime?  Also, what happens if your turbo plans fall thru? Then youre stuck with an exhaust too large for your engine and an actual _loss_ of power. Do it right, or dont do it at all....


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## rkeith (Jan 12, 2003)

.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I believe you will also lose gas mileage while you're waiting for a turbo and you're gonna choke the engine with spent fumes making their way back up into the cylinder.

If you're going turbo, go ahead and get the freakin sewer pipe, but I suggest you install it the same day the turbo goes in.

"I'm planning on a turbo next year, so I'm gonna install a 3" pipe now." How smart does that sound? How's this? "I'm planning on installing a turbo next year, so I'm gonna put a BOV on my intake now." "I might get a Bluebird so I'm gonna install FMIC and piping now." If you'really are going to go turbo, how hard is it to set aside the parts for later?


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## Murph (Aug 8, 2002)

1997 GA16DE said:


> *I believe you will also lose gas mileage while you're waiting for a turbo and you're gonna choke the engine with spent fumes making their way back up into the cylinder.
> 
> If you're going turbo, go ahead and get the freakin sewer pipe, but I suggest you install it the same day the turbo goes in.
> 
> "I'm planning on a turbo next year, so I'm gonna install a 3" pipe now." How smart does that sound? How's this? "I'm planning on installing a turbo next year, so I'm gonna put a BOV on my intake now." "I might get a Bluebird so I'm gonna install FMIC and piping now." If you'really are going to go turbo, how hard is it to set aside the parts for later? *


no it doesent choke it. In fact if spent exhaust gases get back into the cylinder (which would go against the pumping nature of the piston) then the o2 sensor would tell the ecu to put in less fuel.

maybe if we all had lots of money to spend like rkeith might, then feel free to focus on short term performance too. It is ok to have a slow car folks  it just makes the turbo setup later all the sweeter. 

though an exhaust is relatively easy to install, its always a good idea to use and test parts individually instead of throwing it all together at the same time. You can work out a few quirks that you might not have otherwise seen that way.

-Mike


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## ErikHalvorson (Jan 11, 2004)

In case anyone is searching the archives and comes across this thread, Mike Kojima has recently discovered some hidden power in the SR20DE (N/A). Combined with other mods in his B14 Teal 200SX Naturally Aspirated (SCC project car), while testing at JWT, they found 188whp while testing with a 3" exhaust bolted to a SR-VE 20 valve exhaust manifold which has a 3" collector. Kind of goes against all of the prior wisdom doesn't it. Now granted, this was not a stock engine but one that CAN be reproduced easily. Not sure what it would be like on the street and Mike wasn't sure what the emissions would be like either but he was going to keep us (SE-R mailing list) posted. the engine in question has 11:1 compression, was burning 91 octane fuel at a 12.7:1 A/F ratio... Just thought I would share the news....


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## nissan_280zx (Dec 7, 2003)

so for my 2.8L straight six NA I should go for about 2.5" from the headers back?


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

Ya, that sounds about right.


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## Gsolo (Sep 11, 2003)

nissan_280zx said:


> so for my 2.8L straight six NA I should go for about 2.5" from the headers back?


thats all i run on my chevy 350 and its perfect....

my two cents is it depends on if you are going for torque, high end horsepower, or just sound. torque you wanna keep it little bit on the small side...horsepower you want it to be a little on the big side.....noise you just want big and open. there is a small allowance for size in performance....like a spectrum. ex: 1 3/4" - 2 1/4" for most small (stockish) 4cyl. granted some are special and can run 2 1/2" like a modded sr20


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## nissan_280zx (Dec 7, 2003)

Gsolo said:


> my two cents is it depends on if you are going for torque, high end horsepower, or just sound.


the engine will be modded really soon with a new cam designed for 
2000-6000rpm and the exhaust will have a high flow cat and a straight through muffler with 3" tip, basically i want a comprimise between torque and horses, sound is just a fringe benifit. latter i might be increasing the compression ratio with the fitment of forged pistons.


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