Anyone ever run a Tanabe muffler?

[ezzzzzzz]

I read more posts than I cared to. Exhaust tones are very subjective. I like the deep throaty sound but hate the tooth loosening drones. Most straight piped mufflers are suited only for the young or track.

Without installing acoustic materials in our old Z's they all reverberate like soup cans with tires. As a daily driver, I lean towards compromise between comfort and performance. Most people want that too only it takes a bit of experience to understand it. That is why many of us have installed open exhaust only to be disappointed if not down right frustrated at the end results and swapped it out looking for our ideal sound.

To the point, I had a Tanabe Medallion installed in a 94 Accord. The sound was rich and deep. It had none of the shrill chainsaw rasp typical of most ricer mufflers. The interior noise did increase but the droning was tolerable. I've seen that a few late model Z's have a Tanabe exhaust installed and the owners seem happy. Has anyone knowledge of a S30 owner running a Tanabe setup? I actually believe it would be fine muffler for the L6 in any displacement. The downside is the cost to find out! I'll have about seven hundred in mine before the muffler is purchased! Crazy as it sounds it isn't hard to get there. Here's my roster...

Janspeed 3-2-1 stainless steel header (old school from the UK and it is a piece of artwork) with 2" collector, 2" to 2.5" 304 S/S expander cone, 2.5" 304 S/S V-clamp flange kit and 2.5" 304 S/S mandrel-bent custom fitted piping. No muffler as of yet... but considering a Tuner Hyper Medallion with removable baffle (when I want that extra rummmpppfff).

All parts except the headers were purchased from Verocious Motorsports in DE. I looked at plenty of S/S component suppliers and VM was consistantly less expensive.

[Nismo280zEd]

wow man... all that money on nice SS header and mandrel pipes and your gonna put a 50 dollar tanabe muffler on it? They are junk in my opinion. If you want deep base, Skunk 2 makes a nice deep muffler but it'll probably be too much drone for you. My magnaflow is deep on the low end and sweet on the top, had a little bit of raspyness on top end but i installed a premuffler and it got rid of it. LOTS of guys run magnaflows on here. But if your spending all that money, might as well get a muffler with a waranty... my magna has a lifetime warranty on it.

 

-Ed

[olie05]

I'm curious about this janspeed header bieng a work of art... any pics?

[Guest ON3GO]

Tanabe makes some pretty good products.

had there exhaust on my supra and liked the way it sounded and the performance was great too but it look just way to big.

ended up putting a Blitz Nur spec on it and was way happier.

 

Tanabe arent cheap either, they can get pricey as long as its the real deal and not some ebay clone.

[ezzzzzzz]

Here's the Janspeed. It is used so don't get worked up over the darkened finish. I just installed it this past Monday. It fit perfect and actually allowed for easy access to the inner stud nuts on cylinder #1 and #6. The long tube collector fits perfect as well. It passes the tranny and dumps dead center in the tunnel and flush with the floor pans. There's even a bracket to attach an additional hanger off the bellhousing for more support. When compared to the MSA 3-2-1 header I puller off it is hands down better.

As for the Tanabe it is anything but cheap in quality or cost. I've seen the Magnaflow and heard one after the packing burnt out. They sound great if a bit loud and resonant heavily in an uninsulated Z (stock jute and carpet). They certainly have their application and I've used similar straight thru designs in the past.

I've been there with two custom Chevy trucks (V8 and L6), four Camaros from 67 to 73 (SB and BB), 71 442, 71 Land Rover (96 Vortec V6) and several other street machines of various engine displacements. I've run reversed cherry bombs to Flowmasters and heard many more so I know very well what sounds good and what grates on the nerves over time, at least to me.

Again, exhaust tones and tolerance are very subjective. To each his own. I simply was asking if anyone had heard one in a S30. I haven't made any choice except it needs to be stainless. Rebuilding a custom exhaust rotted due to mild steel construction sucks. I do build my own exhaust because quality counts and there are no mandrel benders in my area.

I'll be looking into the other lines as well. Thanks for the input.

[Nismo280zEd]

that header looks pretty nice even for being used. I"m curious as to how low it hangs when bolted up. I've run two MSA headers 3-2-1 the one i have now is their "thick flange" header, but i had to take 2" out of the 2 pipe collector to shorten it up as it draged the ground. Now it sits about the same height as the oil pan, maybe a little higher. Let me know or if you have any pics of it installed from below.

 

And yes you said it... to each is his own. I'm just not a fan of tababe mufflers, I feel that companies that dabble their hands in many fields loose certain quality in others, but that is just my opinion. And as you said to each is his own and everybody likes a different sound. Good luck with the project and i'm curious as to the header height.

 

-Ed

[Guest Carolina280Z]

Dont want the Flowmaster sound

 

Dont want to sound like a bumble bee

 

want something that is more European sports car sounding..some noise, but like I said , no bees and nothing like a Flowmaster , dont want to sound like an old pickup truck.

 

I am also considering having the exit pipe in front of the rear wheel vs going all the way to the back as I have never liked the look of the stock pipe that appears to be in need of attachment to something under the car..

 

Any help will be appreciated.

[ezzzzzzz]

I'll shoot some photos of the underpinnings so you can see how tight it fits.

I've run Flowmasters (delta) on two different vehicles and they were not much different than open exhaust (reminded me of reversed cherry bombs). The biggest problem we have is limited length of the muffler. If we only had another 6"-10" to work with. I'm guessing a resonator will be needed to subdue the overall DB's and drone.

[ezzzzzzz]

After much looking and thinking I'm leaning towards a Magnaflow ss resonator and ss muffler. If only for the lifetime warranty. The only problem I dealing with now is fitting the 14" resonator in the system. Once I have a couple of ss pieces swagged and fitted in place will I know if I can accomodate it. If not, I'm probably be using a Vibrant 12" resonator even though their warranty is only 2 years for stainless! In the end I'm hoping the resonator will cut the overall Decibels by 3 or more. For those not in the know, it takes 3 db's for the human ear to hear a change in volume. A 3 db drop would be significant and hopefully reduce interior resonance too.