I wanted to get custom piping on my 97 maxima?

Question

The guy said he could do it (over the phone) if i didnt have a catalyic converter in the way of the downpipe, i checked all over the place and i cant find out if i do have one

Answer 1

I haven't crawled under my 95 lately (and it is dark now), but the cat is the bulge closest to the where the Y pipe comes together, typically with a heat shield (if it has not rusted off). The next thing back is the resonator (more square ended like a muffler), and the muffler is way back right rear.

Since Stillen mentions a Cat Back exhaust system, there has to be a catalytic converter. If you use a Y pipe without a cat, it is not street legal (off road use, like track racing only).

I had a muffler shop fabricate a straight pipe with hangers in place of my muffler once, but left the cat and resonator in place. It sounded cool (like an old Jaguar XKE), but my lap times were no faster on a 2 mile road racing track (high speed autocross).

Answer 2

Look at the warpspeed site to understand your exhaust better.

Your exhaust breaks down into sections -- Manifolds, Y-pipe, cat, cat-back. No one makes custom manifolds, so basically start at the Y-pipe.

Since you have a V6, you have a "Y-pipe" instead of a "Down pipe."

You don't normally have a custom y-pipe done at a shop, you have to buy one from a company that makes them especially for your car. This is the best performance mod you can do for your exhaust on a Maxima. Cattman and Warpspeed make them.

What a shop can do is custom build a cat-back system. They remove the stock exhaust from the catalytic converter back and replace it with their own piping, muffler and usually a resonator.

I have a Cattman Y-pipe, high flow Carsound cat and a GReddy cat-back exhaust on my Maxima. I installed everything myself, since those are all bolt-on items designed for the Maxima. Warpspeed also makes kits that bolt on to your car.