I honestly don't think labree (aka sebring) is going to give him the sound he is looking for.

 

i just cant stand the look of the HKS. i could care less what anyone else thought about how my car looked, but when i look at it, i want to like what i see. i always try to find the happy medium between looks and performance. to me, dual tip is the best looking. as for sound, i want a nice deep throaty sound. no farty, raspy, coffe can sound. but everyone has their own tastes (some less than others ) so it all boils down to what you like on your car.

 

I love that pic Randy.
As far as sound goes, i like both the HKS and Labree. I don't think the difference between the two is that different to me.
The Stillen exhausts should be avoided at all costs tho. yuck

 

There was an Auto Show, you know one of those 'how-to' type shows. They put the vehicle (Mustang - I think - V8) on the dyno, then they installed a cold air intake. Dyno again - got 10 HP! Then they installed Flow Master American thunder mufflers. Only changed the mufflers, not the entire exhaust system. Dyno - got another 6 HP! Performance makes a BIG difference! I realize that this was a Mustang, but at least it gives us some idea on what we can expect and see to help us make a decision on what to buy. Just thought that I would share this information.
BTW - I thought that I would attach a pic of the rear view of my Z with the twin 3" chrome tips on my Flow Master American Thunder mufflers.

 

i already checked with borla and apparently they dont make anything for the Z...they told me about some brand named pace maker...not too confident though...im gonna check labree sounds good...

 

those flowmasters look good KevinH. how do they sound?

 

borla does make an exhaust for Z's. Look up a few posts to the czp link. There's a link to a borla exhaust system right there. Also, zlover, in that pic, you're missing the xpipe on the labree compared to the hpipe with resonators on the hks. That's a much bigger difference than that very small bend in the specialty Z. Don't get me wrong, the xpipe was much too loud for me and I swapped it out for an HKS Hpipe with resonators, but the Xpipe is MUCH freer flowing than what comes with the HKS.

 

i dont think it makes a difference between an H pipe or X pipe. they both are used to balance air flow. imo, wouldnt an X pipe create more terbulence since the exhaust gets criss crossed at that point?

that pic that zlover4life had up is a pic that was taken by me to show the difference between the two on bends. and beleive me, there is a reason why im not running the labree anymore.

at first i had the hks on.. man the throttle responce was good, with a nice growl

then the labree.. it was loud, back fired like a bitch in between shifts, and the rev decline was slower.

so, the hks went right back on my car. there was a BIG difference in perfomance. its not my opinion, but a fact from someone who used both and compaired

 

yep, and thank you for the pic Ken!

and yes, Borla does make a cat-back for the 300ZX (they don't make one for the 2+2 though.. maybe that's what he was thinking?)... I have the end pipes sitting at my house right now (I had the catback on my last TT too)

 

Alright, that's what I wanted to hear until buying into the whole...HKS is so much better...statement. I haven't had any problems with my sebring and I like it a lot, but that difference may be because of me being TT and you being NA. I did notice a difference in throttle response however when I went to the Hpipe from the Xpipe. Alright, cool, experience rules.

 

I'm thinking you might have other engine issues, because my Labree system (as you can hear the video in my earlier post) did not back fire once, and never has yet. I'm sure HKS is fine, but why dont we post the sound of the HKS as I did the Labree so we can determine the difference first hand. I never heard the HKS to date, but I am overly happy with my Labree system.

 

He posted a vid on page two of this thread check it out. Sounds nice. Charles has HKS on his car too and it sounds nice, however, both him and I have agreed that my sebring sounds way better than his HKS.

 

Oh yeah, thanks.

Oh most definately the Labree sounds better that. But it sounds good also, not ricey at all.

 

no engine issues here. there is a simple reason for the back firing

mufflers has chambers. chambers creates back pressure, and terbulence which causes a ristriction in air flow.

heres a pic of the hks cat back.

if anyone takes notice, you can see right to the other side. the hks does not have a muffler. just exhaust cans. dont mistake these with a honda fart can. these cans actually resonate sound. a lot of 4 banger fart cans were designed to create sound to make the 4 banger sound more than what it is. which make them ricey.

 

i missed the hks soud clip the first time. you are right, not ricey at all. that thing sounds mean as hell as a matter of fact. like an exotic almost. but i still cant get over the look of the hks. those huge cans sticking out at that angle just turns me off.

 

I missed the sound clip of the HKS the first go around as well. They sound awesome & MEAN! I'd try and do the same for you guys, taking a movie with sound with mine, but its all apart right now. I am installing a Greddy style urethane front body kit. Its on jack stands. Maybe later! But I assure you, it doesn't sound like the HKS! Mine is probably more 'throaty', deeper sound, lower tone.

 

Randy, show your HKS system.
I love what he did to it.

 

2nd.. show us your fire ball pic

 

fire ball pic... wtf?!?!

HKS Hi-Power, painted black with high temp paint...

 

Painted black?

 

haha, wtf emo? oh, and that hks looks a better painted black, but still, that sideways thing kills it.

 

Oh the owls are awesome.....

 

throaty....yes but loud

the flowmasters on my last z were louder than my labree/sebring catback and test-pipes now

i love the sound of my labree exhaust, and mine does gurgle as the engine slows down, but i kinda like how it sounds

ive never heard hks in person, or hardly any other brand, so im kinda biased right now...to me, the vids dont really do justice to what it sounds like in person

 

Its not bad since I changed the O2 sensors. Initially I had the Flow Masters installed without the Cat. converters and bad O2 sensors. You could not carry a conversation on inside the vehicle! I took the car back, and had them install cat. converters. This quieted down significantly. Then I replaced the O2 sensors so that it was not running so rich all the time, and that quieted the car way - way down. The only problem I have is when you are running around 2000 RPM and below, then the Flow Masters have a real deep tone that gets on your nerves after quite a while. So.... I don't run the car at 2000 RPM and below for a long time!

 

I had the same problem you're having KevinH, the loud drone at low to mid range rpm with less vacuum, it was almost unbearable. I traded my unresonated Xpipe for a resonated HKS Hpipe. It quieted down significantly.