AAM Mid-Pipe combinations, lets hear yours!
 

Hello all,

I had the AAM Short Tails for a long time, and then I saw some videos of the AAM Mid Pipe with it and thought "yes this is what I need!"


Bought it, waited for it to finally get here, installed it, and wow is it loud. The lower rumble at idle (as compared to base cat back with short tails) is amazing. The rev out is fantastic until you go WOT and this awful cacophony of echoy fart noises. I go back and listen to the videos of a nearly identical setup. That farting noise just feels unbearable to me, if I could cut that noise out, and keep the low rumble and frequent pops I would. But due to the loudness I had to put the stock muffler back on.

So my exhaust setup was:
Stock Headers
Berk HFC's (non-resonated)
AAM Mid-Pipe S-Line
AAM Short Tails S-Line

Which created loud echoy farting noises when going WOT. If I partially get on the gas it sounds exceptional, but if I apply too much gas I get the farts.

So now I have went back to:
So my exhaust setup was:
Stock Headers
Berk HFC's (non-resonated)
AAM Mid-Pipe S-Line
Stock Muffler

So I have seen various videos of people running similar setups. I wanna hear what your resolutions are in your experience. I think the stock muffler setup is just a little too quiet, but the short tails alone is not my favorite either. At this point I just want to get opinions before I spent more money to go in a different direction.

Did you end up with resonated short tails and that lessened the farting noises? Did you go to the newer AAM S-Line muffler? Did you have different HFC's (or test pipes, resonated or not). How did the test pipes affect the sound?

At this point I'm not really chasing horsepower I'm chasing a sound that I love. Any advice you can offer is appreciated.

Maybe an oem nismo h pipe mid pipe would have been a better choice. I had resonated short tails with an oem nismo h pipe/mid pipe and stock cats. Sounded really good. Nice deep tone, a little bit of drone while not being too loud. I now have the same setup but with a garagline x pipe/mid pipe. Still deep, maybe a slightly higher tone but with more output with less drone. Im assuming the x pipe lessens the drone. Next upgrade is ART pipes.

I have AAM Midpipe and Resonated short tails on my 16 Nismo. I do love the pops and burble and sound at WOT. Do you have videos of the Exhaust in your first setup?

I'm planning to get either Berk/AAM HFCs or ART pipes by the end of the month. I'm not sure how it may sound and I definitely do not want Fart noises at WOT. Maybe resonated short tails sounds better? Any suggestions. I'll post an update on whatever Cat replacement I install..

I was running stock cats, midpipe, and resonated Short Tails and that was a nice, very aggressive sound. I installed the AAM resonated HFCs (kept stock midpipe) and the sound in cabin became unbearable. Everything vibrated no matter what RPM I was at and the drone was insane.

I only have the video from the start-up which was indoors at the shop. I can post it, but I don't think it'll do you much good.

BUT I can guarantee that the HFC's are what is creating my awful noises. I would absolutely recommend that you go with the ART test pipes, the resonators in their neutralize the rasp which I believe is what helps create this awful noise that I am describing.

I am going to be purchasing Motordyne's Headers and Test pipes that they have posted to their webiste for like 1600. then I will be able to report back. The gentleman who posted below you has indicated a similar result, that after putting HFC's on (resonated ones at that) the drone and awful noises get way way worse. I can concurr.

With the mid pipe and my berk HFC's I get this really crappy raspy rattle at idle when the car is warming up. I think this midpipe and HFC combination is just not ideal.

I have a similar issue with my AAM setup. Hissing leaky sounds at startup. I bought the AAM S-Line Mid pipe and Muffler. I also got the Berk HFCs, which I installed later. Still have my nismo exhaust in the Garage, just in case. My HFCs turned an otherwise great exhaust into a leaky sounding hiss of an exhaust at anything above 1/4 throttle. The car does run great though. I looked the exhaust over from rear mufflers to the cat to header connections. No Holes, cracks or loose piping. I added fresh gaskets with the copper permatex on both sides. No help.

I am considering taking the whole exhaust out and re-installing it to see if there are any broken gaskets. Could be the header to block gasket that is the leak source. Not looking forward to chasing that one down. Header removal is more than a pain in the @ss. Hate to think the Cats did this to a nicely put together exhaust.

I'll post a status after I do more digging.

Update: Trouble located
 

Well I did more digging yesterday. I found the leak. The Berk Gaskets installed between the HFC and the Manifold just don't hold up. The driver side one has deteriorated and then 2 of the three bolts loosened just enough to make lots of noise. I have replacements for both sides from Z1 that are going in this weekend. In the mean time I tightened the loose bolts and now the exhaust is back to normal.

Faith restored in the exhaust I purchased. No regrets. Note to self. Use the Z1 metal gaskets next time when installing the HFCs.

Lesson Learned.

OP I have the exact same setup as you, when I go to the track I put on the short tails and I think it sounds great. Off the track I put back the stock axle back (nismo). I bit of a pain but there really isn't much choice in axle backs only. My stock nismo axle back is rusting to **** so I will need another option soon. I was thinking QTP electronic cut outs at some point with an nice stainless steel axle back would be best.

Out of all the exhaust combinations I have heard and seen I think the AAM Competition exhaust is best paired by it’s self and to achieve best overall fitment.

I have the same set up you had, Berk's HFC, AAM Midpipes S-line, and AAM Short tails S-line. I'm thinking of changing the Berks HFC to ART Pipes but i'm not sure if it will make much of a difference on the rasp, i dont mind the loudness as much. just want to get rid of the rasp when i hit the gas. does anyone have that set up?