I want to do a cat back replacement, but question/concern is about the noise out the pipe, I dont want something that Is going to be heard inside the truck (like the current rusted out muffler is), I wouldnt mind a bit of noise but dont want it to get annoyingly loud for sure. I've seen, and read a bit about the Nismo Cat Back, and have heard some have not been happy with the sound of it. Do they (Nismo)suppy something that is a larger diameter pipe than stock? I know that I am not going to get any better mpg's out of it, but I would assume that a slightly larger exhaust system wouldnt hurt performance. Has anyone bought a Cat Back setuup that they would recomend, again not looking at going louder,

the cheapest I have found for Nismo Cat back is on Ebay, 350bucks plus 60 s&h, has anyone bought from ebay, could recomend a trusty seller, or maybe found a similar, or better deal elsewhere that they could recomend? I would like to replace all the way up to the wye pipe as that is starting to look rough as well.

I purchased that exhaust from that seller, and it is a reputable deal.

The NISMO will drone a bit more, the pipe is larger and it comes with a larger Y pipe as well. Larger pipe diameters increase cabin drone, it is just how that game goes down.

I don't mind (actually enjoy) the sound of my NISMO; when I don't want to listen to it I turn the stereo up. On the highway it is very tolerable imo; can't really hear it much over blowing AC. If you do not like the NISMO sound, you can always add a resonator or swap the muffler to something baffled, but it will still nonetheless have more drone than stock no matter what you do due to larger Ypipe/intermediate pipe diameter.

The NISMO is imo the best catback deal for the Xterra; the sound is throaty but not over the top imo, it is comfortable on the highway, the power/torque gains were actually noticeable, and I got some increased MPGs out of it. And it is the only one that comes with the larger Ypipe up front. Nissan changed the HP specs on the Xterra by about 10HP in 2003 (iirc), and I am under the impression that all they did was put a larger Ypipe on the 03 and 04s than they did on the previous years. The 02s and older had a 1.75", the 03 and 04s had a 2.0", and the NISMO is a 2.25" (iirc). The Ypipe is the most lossy part of the Xterra exhaust (besides the manifolds) so putting on a catback that does not have a larger Y pipe doesn't make sense imo.

Good luck,

thanks AndyGS4, So I am guessing then that it is already set up as a direct bolt on, in other words, I wouldnt need to buy any adaptors to make it fit from the size of the new stuff, to the factory pipe size ?

No, it comes as a complete kit..

I don't think I had to buy anything to put it up. Bolts, gaskets, flanges were all in the kit...

I guess the only thing I have left to ask then is, are the exhaust systems on the 2002 NA Xterra, the same, size, diameter and routing as the SC version 02 X's?

They spec out a different exhausts for the SC/Non SC variants.

I don't know the reason why; as on paper it would seem all dimensions/diameters are identical. But if you call aaaforeignauto (ebay seller) they may know the difference.

Either way, they claim to either carry a NISMO kit that works on both variants, or carry 2 separate kits (SC and nonSC).

Since you are SC'd, (more air throughput) I would be willing to wager you will get more power/economy out of the increased pipe diameters than I did.

Ok, the Nismo Cat Back is on, it came yesterday and was installed last night. The worse part of the instal was removing the old studs to bolt the new wye pipe up, had to remove the crossmember from under the transfer case to get the pass side cat out to remove them. Other than that, its not a bad job to do all around.

It isnt as loud as the blown out muffler that was on there, which is nice,... at idle you can hardly notice it and even pulling out its not bad at all, accelerating up to around 55, I did hear it from inside with the windows up, but again its not that loud that it gets annoying. so far, I have to say I am glad I bought it. Also glad I got it when I did as the people I bought it from on ebay ( aaaforeignauto ) just raised their price right after I got mine. They were great to deal with, I had a few questions for them before buying, that were all answered right away. There was a slight delay in getting it shipped which they refunded me $25 due to that and also threw in a free set of Nismo floor mats for the X. I would recomend them to anyone looking to buy.

So I ordered and received the nismo exhaust from the same dealer..aaaforeignauto. Haven't had a chance to install yet but on the instructions it says it is for an 03 frontier. Just curious if that should be a problem? I know the x is built on the frontier's frame and what not so I'm hoping it won't be a problem. Also, I noticed an extra hanger on the new exhaust where there is only one on the stock. Anyone have experience with this?

2000 xe

Yeah, mine had some paperwork in there too about being for a fronty, cant remember what year fronty it was, but it also had the diagram for the X in it as well. I was also worried about seeing the extra hanger, turns out, there actually was a place to use it on mine. Just be prepared as I mentioned in my previous post, about the studs for connecting the wye pipe, oh and I also ended up breaking the bolt for the rear tail pipe hanger on mine, due to it being rusted fast. So, pretty much, get under there a day or two before planning on doing it, and PB Blast everying to help make it come apart easier, and have a couple of extra nuts and bolts on hand just in case.