its easy to copy existing exhausts after others have done the R&D and make it for a cheaper price. From the looks of this exhaust I dont think you will get but a few hp gains.

Looks like Stillen's exhaust but with a different finish!

Not bad for the price. If someone gets it please post a video. I would love to hear it.

Based on what?

So long as the diameter is neither too wide nor too narrow (2.5" sounds about right, N/A for this engine), the bends are mandrel, the path is reasonablly straight, and the flanges seal well, why wouldn't it make just about as much power? :confused:

Seriously, how much R&D really goes into one of these CBE's? Does it go through more than 2 iterations and a few dyno runs? :rolleyes:

The most expensive thing here are the materials -- higher quality SS will cost more (and titanium or inconel will put the price waaaay up), but the difference in heat retention or weight isn't going to acount for a range of like $1000 bucks when it comes to performance. Like, seriously, if this made 3-5 less whp at peak, is that extra few ponies worth another grand?

The only issue I see in the set up is the flange right at the x-join. A straighter path with a nice 2-1 Y merge collector before adding a flange might make a few whp difference, but so long as that flange doesn't leak or isn't a bottle neck, it should be fine.

Hey, worst case scenario, maybe the "names" will feel the competition and reduce their prices -- they'll move more units and we'll all have more options with better prices. Capitalism at work ;)

based on the bends, size of the mufflers, and they might be chambered too to keep to volume low all this will keep from getting max gains. R&D is for getting the right look and fit for ease of installment and for getting the right tone they want. Also testing with different resontaors and mufflers to get the desired results so to answer your eye rolling question yes it can take more than two iterations to get it the way they want. You will see alot of companies come out now that look like all the ones that came out first. Its easy to copy someone elses work. The ones that make the most gains have little bends and use straight thru mufflers with no bends but this will cause some drone.

But if its so easy build one yourself and market it for sale.

:ohsnap1:

I've welded together a horrible 3" mild steel exhaust with a random Magnaflow muffler that made almost 50 WHP on my turbo project car. It's really not that hard to fabricate an exhaust that makes good power.

This OBX exhaust will probably produce some decent gains, even though there are many bends and the exhaust is quite lengthy.

Most importantly to me, and other people who aren't concerned about a figure of +/- 5 whp, is it will probably sound good.

I'm going to OBX later today (they are only located 10 minute from where I am) going to pick up some LSD and ITB for Honda's if anyone want to give this exhaust a try pm me I think I can beat ebay price.

OBX have their own manufacturer overseas that is why their product price so low (no middle man)

by looking at the picture I think this exhaust is a Stillen replica

here is a picture of the stillen
http://www.mossyperformance.com/Prod...z_dual_exh.jpg

and the OBX one
http://www.tuningdepot.com/ebay/images/es-n370.jpg

yeah looks pretty close to a stillen..just the Y pipe doesnt merge evenly into the collector...thats about it..u can just cut it and weld on one of these...BAMM is a stillen exhaust..haha..

http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/d...rtnumber=10733

actually the pipes run through the mufflers twice..this will quieter than most aftermarket setups..

didnt notice that until you said that, good point... on stillens each pipe has its own muffler, obx's shares the two mufflers.

love to hear a sound clip thou

You are presuming a great deal of experimentation and fine tuning on the part of a given company based on the assumption that they have no prior experience with similar set-ups and are devoted to milking every last hp. The price tells you nothing about that, so buyer beware.

I highly doubt the design of these sytems are generated empirically through trial and error either -- the impact of runner length on headers, collector design, diameter of piping vs peak torque, are all well known, and these principles can be applied to new vehicles without completely reinventing the wheel every time.

On that note, the choice of an X, H, or Y pipe for a given set-up was probably determined on the basis of theory and expectation rather than trying various iterations to see where power was gained or lost for this engine... and that is why we see all three designs rather than a few variations on one.

The major pain is making it all fit on a specific vehicle and keeping emissions in check. Speaing of emissions, any systems that includes high flow cats or test pipes probably won't pass emissions, so that isn't a concern, so much as the goal is to fool the secondary O2 into believing the cat as designed by the factory is still on there and working.

Like I said, I'm guessing maybe 2 iterations, probably mainly for reasons of fitment. If there's more going on, one of the "Names" should share the details, as it would be of great interest to many of us I think to see all of the time, effort, and experimentation that was happening behind the scenes before the final design was sent off for production.

As far as sound, most of these kits use pretty standard mufflers and resonators -- I think the Saclam kit is the only one I've seen with a really unique looking design.

That said, my guess is most of these systems are derivitive of the VQ35HR exhausts (or, shocker, the OEM VQ37HR one) anyway.

And if I had a lift and a good welder willing to work for beer, I absolutely could design an exhaust system. As WarmandSci noted, it's not THAT complicated if you know something about intake and exhaust systems, especially when you are just talking everything after the cats. Header design is a bit more complicated, and designing an intake manifold without a flowbench is probably a waste of time.

Again, I'm just talking cat back exhausts here -- designing a turbo or S/C set up is quite a bit more complicated, as is designing (or improving upon a design) for an IM or header.

Making a CBE just for your car is one thing and can be done cheap as you dont have to please the community. A CBE that is for the Z community is under great scrutiny, as we can see from this forum. So they have to get the right tone, weight, size, looks, etc to make thiers more sellable than others so it will take more R&D to get an exhaust that is different and good. Just look at the many variations FI has to offer, I dont think he hit all that with 2 trys. When I picked my CBE the sound and looks were a huge part of the decision, so just getting a tone that people like can mean trying different mufflers, sizes and locations and pipe bending to get the right freq as each engine type produces its own unique freq to begin with.

Now do I think an exhaust should cost 2k? no Can a company copy an already existing design and modify it slightly and charge $500 yes. Getting an exhaust out for a new vehicle before others will have some R&D and mkae it cost more to be the first.

Just off the phone with OBX they don't have these in stock yet, the one that was sold on ebay was the only one they have it was a sample from the factory.

So I'm not sure of the final price yet.

no ETA when they will bring them in.