Thread: What size exhaust are you guys using with NA VE's?

so i have a stock sr20ve with n1's, jwt ecu, and 2.5in exhaust right now and i've been seeing people mentioning 3in exhaust a lot with N/A ve's. my exhaust is pretty hacked up from a previous spin out so I'm looking to replace it soon and id like to see who's using what! if 3in is significantly better than 2.5, without losing power in the lower rpm's then that would be great especially if i decide later on for upgrades that would definitely demand a larger 3in exhaust. but if the 2.5 performs much better then id just stick with that. if anyone has dyno charts they could share comparing these two exhaust sizes that would also be really awesome!

It's not only exhaust size. It's also the components and whereit is placed

Sent from my GT-P3110

+1 for that especially for na applications. Need to consider how your system will affect the pressure wave.

FWIW, my car made 8 more WHP with the cat removed

3" here

Yippee I was the first to vote lol stock VE with all the bolt-ons 3" custom exhaust piping from the header back with no resonator or cat to a 3" vibrant muffler.

exhaust... whats that dumping out the header ftw

I have 2.5 just because thats what it came with and its not that bad for a VE.. If I were to buy a exhaust though it would 100% be 3"


How loud is that?

As far as loudness, I know for me, 3" exhaust with no cat to a Magnaflow muffler, but with N1 cams/JMR header and such it is LOUDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

And with my gearing set, when at 65mph in 5th gear, the motor is right at 3500RPM and it DRONESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS drone drone drone!!!! Way annoying. But then again this is what the car is for and why I have it, not for comfort. Although I did wear headphones connected to my iPod on times when I do drive it on the highway for a long time. My daily driver (Altima SE-R) is quiet as a mouse unless I get on the gas pedal and has heated seats. Talk about night and day.

BTW if your SR20VE is stock and ONLY has a 3" exhaust you will lose power down low. However, once you get an intake, big header, N1 cams, etc. the 3"exhaust has a semi-synergistic effect with the other modifications and that low-end loss disappears and you make more power. Remember internal combustion engine = basically an air pump. You need to have balance on both ends, and in the middle

im not worried about components or where their placed, its not a full blown race car, yet anyway. only components i have now is a muffler and will most likely add a resonator with the new exhaust, 2.5 is too loud right now so 3in with nothing but muffler would drive me nuts and surely get me pulled over more. so it looks like 3in is in the lead by a good amount, but no one has said wether or not the 3in takes away some power in the lower rpms vs the 2.5?

3 in makes more power EVERYWHERE. its a big very common misconception that larger or no exhaust looses power down low.