Advice on Fuel Cell / Dual Exhaust please

[ZHeadV8]

Hi Guys,

 

I have looked through the results of my search for endless hours and have not found what I am looking for so would be grateful for and advice or experience anyone can share please.

 

My 240 is having a 420BHP Edelbrock Performer SBC fitted which will have a 100BHP nitrous shot for the odd straight line - all info courtesy of JTR and this forum, many sincere and heartfelt thanks, I have looked, listened, kept my mouth shut and learned a great deal !

 

The challenge is that I specifically want one exhaust either side of the car but rather inconsiderately Nissan / Datsun put the fuel tank in the way.

 

The plan is to remove the fuel tank, relocate the wheel well to the centre of the car and install a fuel cell with an aero aluminium filler cap half way up the rear quarter, leaving room for the exhausts.

 

This in itself sounds simple but there has to be something waiting to bite me in the a$$ if I get it wrong.

 

ANy advice or views please ? Also, the only place left for a spare wheel is in the boot space on display, held in place with a three pointed spinner - again, any views or advice anyone can share please ?

 

Many Thanks

 

Andy Farrant

[Pyro]

I bent over backwards tring to install "true duals" in my Z. In my first dual job, I cut out 5 gallon worth of stock fuel tank (on the passenger side) and relocated the filler to make room for a muffler. That worked very well but the tank was only 11 gallons. Then after a few years of that, I cut everything out and installed a 10 gallon fuel cell up in the car (about 1/2 way) and build a new floor board to cover the cell. That gave a lot of room for mufflers and fuel pumps.

 

However, I found out quickly that I didn't like the sound of duals on a Z. It sounds like any other V8 car and doesn't match the Z style. I miss my single exhaust with the V8! If I had to do all over again, I would just run a nice mandrel bent 3" single pipe out the back and a very smooth 2.5" Y-pipe before that.

 

I was running mid 12's with a single 2.5" exhaust without any problems.

[ZHeadV8]

Hi,

 

Not what I expected to hear but a very valid and thought provoking view - when you say a single exhaust I presume you literally mean one pipe with a tail box as opposed to twin pipes down the car merging into one tail box at the back ?

 

This is the way nice executive saloon cars are built. They are very quiet, smooth and polite - how did it sound in the Z ? (very very hard to describe a sound I know)

 

If you check out darius240z.com and look at the videos you can hear his car with dual exhausts but both coming out of one side - surely it just sound the same but spacially seperated when you put one either side ?

 

What I would like is a deep, crisp aggressive tone - it should pick revs up quickly because of the nature of the engine. Like a TVR Cerbera for example running a stainless exhaust. (we have loads of those here in England, don't know if you get them much in the US)

[ZHeadV8]

Does anybody have soundbites of single pipe systems please ? I am convinced I want dual exhausts but am intrigued now - I expect it to sound like a nice neat executive saloon but I am wondering if it barks like a standard Z exhaust does (I know it will be different going from straight 6 to V8 but I am talking about a sound - how do you describe that exactly?)

[nullbound]

i installed a fuel cell in my car. one of my reasons was for the dual exhaust. i previously had 2.5" to single 3" pipe and prefer my duals now, especially in my case since the single 3" pipe was choking my top end.

 

i used a 15 gallon cell that i bought from summit racing (part number SUM-290215-SD). there are pics in my imagestation album referenced in my signature of the cell install. if i had it to do over again, i would probably use an ATL well cell so that i didnt have to hack up the back of the car.

[Pyro]

It is all about sound pulses. The duals sound like two big 4 cylinder engines running side by side. A choppy sound, especially with a big cam. With single exhaust (yes, 2 pipes into 1), the sound pulses cancel each other out inside the pipe and it makes a deep mellow sound. Plus it greatly reduces resonance.

 

Yes, sounds are hard to describe. But my V8 Z sounds like a loud Ford Mustang now. The single exhaust V8 sounds like a very very mean import engine. In fact, my car with the single exhaust recieved glowing complements from a local nascar engine builder after a few 7000 rpm drive by's. Now people just look for a Mustang when I drive by.

 

IMHO, the V8 already removes a lot of the Z import flavor. And the Ford V8 sounding exhaust totally kills the Z import experience and makes me think I just should buy a muscle car and sell the Z.

 

I'm running a similar set up as you are. 425 hp plus 175 hp N20 and my car is running 10.7's at 135 mph using a T5 and a R200 3.90 diff.

[deMideon]

I have a dual 2 1/2 exhaust with flowmasters... a VERY aggressive sound. I'm not real sure if I want to go to a single muffler or not. quiter would be nice in some ways but now people look at my Z and say what the hell is that! I kinda like that. No one can mistake it for a V-8, but it in no way resembles a muscle car and I am enjoying that part a lot.

[ZHeadV8]

Great replies guys thanks,

 

I am WELL impressed with the 10.7 and an R200 3.9 - I have a NISMO 3.9 Limited SLip DIff, will hopefully work well.

 

Thanks for the advice on the cell and flowmasters, we do not have those here in the UK I don't think but hey hell there's always UPS

[ZHeadV8]

Pyro,

 

I would be incredibly grateful if there is any way you could record a sound bite of your single exhaust and post it - ticking over and being revved hard.

 

The dual sound is a known quantity - would use carbon back boxes and stainless pipes like TVR but a single ............. ????

 

It's a bit much to ask so I understand if it is not possible but it would be interesting.

 

Cheers

 

Andy F