Re: the Stillen exhaust fitment...

Really, as many problems as I had, I think Stillen is right that this is a matter of just knowing how to do the install perfect, rather than a true parts/fitment defect. I think they're just overestimating how easily everyone else in the world will figure out how to make it work.

As others have noted, this is not a question of simple up/down adjustment of the main length of the exhaust. If you just push the whole thing up or down, you'll either hit the crossmember below, or hit the rear suspension stuff above in the rear. The trick is to adjust the angle of the exhaust. You want to raise the front a little while keeping the back down. The slipjoints in the rear help with this, so be sure you've got those loose, maybe bang on them a bit with a hammer as you're adjusting to make sure they slip into place (while also jacking up the exhaust from the little crossbar on the front Y-pipe section). I'm pretty sure it can be done, maybe it's just a little too tricky for most of us. I ended up having my guy heat the pipe just forward of the big center gasket and put a little kink there, but it was probably possible to get it to fit without doing that.

As for the slip-joints: they're there for fitment issues, to get the lengths right, which in turn gets the angle right. Once you get everything fitting perfectly though, I would weld them if I were you. That's what I did anyways.

I agree and disagree...

It's still just way to much to do to get something this simple to fit. Also I have been meaning to mention this but you can actually see that when the two Y pipes meet to create the X the piping before it actually angles down. Why ???? I mean there is literally 1.5-2 inches of space above that area why force it to be such a tight fit with so much room. That's the part that really bothers me...

ok just got my stillen exhaust and berks HFC installed by amplified motorsports thanks LOU tell jet thanks on working on my ride

ok
Stillen exhaust - same with everyone piping was sitting on top of the cross member(followed the intructions by the book) we clamp the rubber hangers loosened everything
best we can do was maybe 1mm off the crossmember*barely any clearance
i can hear it rattle when im gunning it 5k and up

i also have the hiss between those low 2k-3k revs and when cruising and slowing down
its kinda annoying maybe josh and kyle could elaborate what the cause of it is

sounds like a leak but when i put my hand in the joint i dont hear anything
i would post a vid but dannygt's video is exactly what i hear
did stillen have a fix for it?

berks HFC- i guess its doing what its suppose to do lol...no CEL/SES also...so far


other than that love the sound cant elaborate on performance yet we shall see when i take the car to the track

Josh, I understand your position with the exhaust but if no one but Stillen can install them correctly shouldn't that indicate that something is amiss? I'm wondering how many of these recent installs are the updated version. Hopefully we can get some information about those.

Josh/Kyle - I just got my Stillen Catback Exhaust delivered along with the CAI's. They are still in the box. I'm a bit troubled about all the problems everyone is having and not sure if I should go ahead with the exhaust install. Seems like after following instructions, there are still issues. I don't want to waste time (and money) if there's still a problem. Should I send them back and wait for a fix???

sending back parts sends a clear message to vendors that we will not tolerate low quality, especially at the prices we are paying. That being said, they could have a hefty restocking fee. You may want to check that out before making any decisions :tup:

^ lol, I remember buying a hooker exhaust for my trans am, $350 just a couple years ago. But yeah, it's a little hard to stomach any issues when you have paid top dollar.

I have both the Stillen G3 intake and the Berk HFCs being delivered next week. After reading this thread and a few others I'm not sure now if they will both be going on. I am not interested in a hissing and raspy engine. Does anyone know exactly where these noises are coming from?
For those who have the HFCs and intake only are you experiencing any problems at all? Thanks.

Danny, I just watched the video. Earlier in the thread I posted than on my car(an 05 g35), I have been through 8 exhaust configurations, and I've always had a hiss when decelerating in the lower rpms.

I see that your car exhibits the same behavior. In my case, after 3 years, the cause of the hiss is still unidentified. I hope for your sake that you are correct and the join/gasket is causing the leak/hiss. Good luck.

We cut a piece of rubber from a tire and placed it up in the cross members and exhaust to stop the rattle

The hiss is apparently normal and nothing to worry about. It doesn't sound bad, there's no reason to complain about it really. The only concern was whether it was a leak, but even non-leaking exhausts have that sound.

As for rasp: compared to the stock exhaust, or say a mild exhaust on a big V8, there is some raspiness to the note. Mine was really bad at first, but that was due to a leak. With the leak fixed, I find the sound to be awesome. There's a little rasp in there, but it's just another subtle component of the sound, it's not a big fart can sound or anything.

Are you sure the hiss isn't the intake???

Intakes will give a hiss, that's the rush of air. I'm more concerned about any leaks/hisses coming from the catback exhaust, and having rattles due to clearance issues with the cross member. I'll guess I'll take Josh's word at Stillen and follow their instructions to the tee to see how the install comes out, as he said they addressed this. Wish me luck!

It could be, wouldn't be surprising. But I think others have reported it with the exhaust and no intake mods, too.

Umm... haven't heard it in the exhaust.

Guys, it's not the intake, it's not the cat-back, it's the HFCs.

FYI 100 mi after install of berks hfc and stillen cbe my ses/cel light came on
luckily amplifiedmotorsports is great with there customers and i will have it checked tomorrow i will keep you guys posted

update: code was p0456 small evap leak
from what i gathered it could be a loose gas cap
or i might have a defective cap
last time i got the ses/cel light on i assumed it was the gas cap
so this is the second time it has happend(assuming since i never check the code 1st time i got the light)
is this covered under warranty? im afraid they might deny it as i just added my bolt ons and the dealer might blame it on them

The hiss that you guys hear as the revs drop in the 3-4K range is a well known sound when putting test pipes on any of the VQ motors. It applies to the 350Z/G35/G37. If any of you are previous Z/G owners then you are already familiar with the term "rasp". Test pipes will have the most pronounced hiss/rasp, HFC's with an aftermarket exhaust will have it as well if you know what to listen for. Resonated test pipes will help with reducing the rasp, but nothing short of the full OEM exhaust will completely eliminate it.

tru-asistik = if you've ruled out the gas cap, check the evap can lines in the rear of the car. They are on the passenger side right behind the exhaust tip. If you have a tiny leak there it will throw that P0456 code.

The hiss/whistle you hear from the intakes is the exact same thing as the test pipe hiss. Resonances also happen in reverse on the intake side.

RCZ's video of his Stillen CBE + HFC vid. You can hear it in there, not as prounouced as DannyGT's, but it's there. Thanks for posting the vids guys!
[youtubehq]6aIiNLfUnos[/youtubehq]

^^thank you

has these problem been fix yet i just now saw this and i just recently order the exhaust this morning

Yes, the issue has been fixed. You should have no problems with the Stillen exhaust. Enjoy

Just got Stillen exhaust put in and I heard a clanking noise after driving like 3 minutes maybe 5 please help o yea the instruction said move silent damper from oem to new Stillen exhaust and the instruction mentioned that there is 4 silent damper but the mechainc said only 2 where found? does anyone have a picture of the silent damper so i can make sure that was the mechanic pointed to was the silent damper. and also when i was parking my car i look out the passenger window and saw smoke is this normal in the begining?

There's just two dampers. Also, the smoke is normal. For clanking, you can check for install issues. Make sure things are clearing and that all hangers are in place, bolts are tightened up, etc. Make sure that bolt that acts as a hanger for the driver side part of the muffler is mounted correctly and hasn't somehow come out.

well im going back to mechanic tomorrow to pick up rest of my stock exhaust ima see wat they say

Not so sure....... Ordered Gen III intake, Stillen headers and Stillen exhaust on Monday and did the install over the last three days based upon the advice. (already had the Berk cats)

After spending much, much time laying flat on my back readjusting the exhaust, adding 8 washers to each bolt as a spacer to the brace, it still on occasion rattles and vibrates. Now to be fair, instead of the Stillen Y-pipe I used an existing one that I had that appeared to be of much higher quality. Go back and do the realignment with the Stillen Y-pipe and see if it solves the issue. So far everything people are complaining about are still issues.

Honestly really quite surprised. Every vendor on occasion has issues or problems with new items, but exhaust clearance is not rocket science and misalignment of parts should never go out the door as this is a known issue. As everyone has pointed out, you shouldn't need a phd to fit an exhaust.

Headers....Warning! The factory 02 sensors do not come out easily and one seized during removal, I went to the dealer to purchase a replacement. They are $425.00 and according to the dealer and an independent muffler shop, seizing during removal is a common problem. One of the parts guys told me he always quotes a new exhaust manifold along with the 02 as he said usually you cannot remove the 02 and it's easier to replace both. Upon taking the stock manifold to the muffler shop, they got it out but the threads were destroyed during the process, so it's another $425.00 that you didn't expect plus the hassle.

Warning, Warning! Pretty handy and do my own work as I'm very fickle about getting things right and not banging up my car. Also have excellent tool collection. I would never attempt the header install again. It might be OK if you do them all the time, know the tricks and have the special tools. But it was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. You need to have the hands of a five year old to reach things as it's so tight.

Header quality vs stock. Stock is high quality but a poor design. Small tubes, crappy merge collection point and unequal length. Problem I've had is shorty headers typically do not help much. Dunno?? The dyno never lies.

Last note.........throwing 1168 MAF codes obviously from the Gen III intake. Do these go away on their own after the computer learns or is it another issue they don't tell you about??

Overall I honestly don't know what to think. Old established company, OK prices and the quality goes with the pricing. Vast difference in the welds and material of the Y-pipe that I purchased prior. Call them Monday and see how the mop flops and trying to get into Cobb for dyno tuning. We will see, but it would be a cold day in hell before I'd do headers again.

The intakes shouldn't be throwing any codes. 1168 is an O2 sensor code, which you mentioned you had problems with...

As for the Stillen exhaust, my problems with it were unending really, but they made design changes after that first batch, and most people are reporting no install problems anymore using the complete Stillen CBE (including their Y-pipe).

Also, I wouldn't recommend using washers to space off that crossmember, that's got to affect the rigidity.

Just a hint for O2s that won't come out easy. Heat up the bung that is welded on the exhaust where the O2 is with a torch till it gets hot maybe even slightly red, then turn the o2 sensor out. Learned that from a ASE Certified mechanic friend that put my Berks in and the driver side O2 got stuck coming out. Did that and it turned out with ease.

Tried heating the 02 base with a butane torch and two things happened: I chickened out as I don't like to singe anything and the other is, it didn't help. Was very disappointed the muffler shop didn't try and heat it with their gas torches before they took it out as it sure stripped the threads.

Update...... Removed the JIC Y-pipe, took the cats off, installed new crush header/cats gaskets and installed the Stillen Y-pipe. Think a big trick is to tighten the top two bolts first on the cats/exhaust manifold to create more of an upward angle and do the bottom bolt last. I tightened the dog poop out of the top ones and snugged firmly the bottom ones.

Loosely fitted everything, jacked the exhaust up and retightened everything. There is more clearance but the washers will remain as I just don't think it will clear completely w/o them. Drive the car a bit to see if the exhaust sags and make a decision later but there was definite marks where it rubbed in only 18 miles.

Also.....thanks for the heads up on the 1168 code. My OBD II code reader said MAF but it's a general code reader and not Nissan specific.

The Nissan description is:

P1168 - Closed Loop Control (Bank 2)

(From Nissan OBD-II Trouble Codes )

Forum threads here and there say it's likely an O2 sensor (the header ones that are real AF meters).

OK; fool me once, shame on me. I'll call Stillen and if they don't have a cure......shame on them.

More of an update.

After what I consider to be a very significant amount of effort, the exhaust system still makes a "clanging" noise. You hear it in normal driving just hitting soft bumps. Evidently the $20.00 new crush gaskets and the time spent being very careful installing Stillen Y-pipe... the exhaust still ain't working.

Don't let anyone BS you, it's not the real deal if it doesn't fit right. Think an old school term "racers net" (which means you need to make to work) applies. The car is only 4 months old...... a clanging exhaust is ghetto. What? I need to take a hammer and put a dent in it so it doesn't make a noise! No wonder they put them on sale. Congates.......got me. I bit on the sale price.

After taking a morning off; jacking up the car with again on jack stands, you try laying flat on your back in mid July Texas heat readjusting the exhaust and still hear a clanging noise .......tell me your happy about spending on over grand on what should be a slam dunk easy deal!

Didn't call Stillen today, but bet our *** I will tomorrow. What a pain in the butt!

mine went on with little effort, with jackstands and hand tools. im not 100% happy with the sound with the HFC, but no other complaints.

Then maybe it's the headers that are throwing things off. Congrates to you.....wish I had the same luck. Something isn't right.

One thing to keep in mind is that the slip joints are designed to crush down on the inner pipe. The benefit to that is that it acts as a secondary lock. When the outer pipe crushes down onto the inner pipe it maintains that position and is very difficult to re-form, hence the reason why some people who had the first product run of exhaust systems had difficulty even when jacking up the exhaust when they tried to re-install the system to correct the "sagging issue." This is also the reason why we recommend supporting the exhaust system with a jack so that when the outer pipe does crush down it is in the desired location.

It could be that the problems are from the original installation with the JIC Y-pipe and our rear section. Perhaps they won't work together? Perhaps they spacing is a bit different? I don't know, there are a lot of possibilities.

Please send me an email with photos of the problems that you are experiencing. I am especially interested in understanding why you needed to stack a bunch of washer to install this. No one else has ever needed to do that so that is something I am very curious about.

If you purchased this system any time within the past couple of months than I assure you, you most definitely have the new production version which no one else has had issues with during the installation process. All of the running production changes that were made have completely eliminated any issues that were found from the first production batch.

Shoot me an email with some photos if you can please. I will take a look at them immediately and we'll see what we can do to get you squeak free and enjoying the exhaust!

i fix the clanking noise myself i went to a shop and rented the lift. i guess the exhaust place i went to rush it and didnt read the instruction. but i lifted the car back up lossen the bolts up and raise the exhaust up with a support stand as high as it goes then tightened it from front to back. when all bolts was i thought i **** up again cause the cross member wasnt touching but the sway bar was but when i remove the support stand it move down alittle giving space from the sway bars. now i regret paying those exhaust store to install when i could of rented a lift and install everything myself

What tool do u use to cut the space for the intake to fit

Josh

My play time just ran out as I need to prepare for a business trip to CA. I'm scheduled for dyno tuning Saturday and will take the pictures then. However, this sounds a bit like: "I didn't have sex with your wife, she had sex with me."

The dimensions of the JIC pipe is identical and had zero issues when connected to the stock back half. I sat the stock, JIC and Stillen on the floor on end standing up next to each other prior to installing and all three matched perfectly. Even put a straight edge on top and was surprised how identical they were. As mentioned, it's a very, very high quality design, top grade stainless, the TIG welds are perfect and it has flex joints just like the factory puts into the exhaust.

The exhaust was raised prior to final bolting and all procedures followed to a T. Guess I'm having a hard time with it's the customers fault. Granted it's more difficult doing it on jack stands but it shouldn't be rocket science and bolting up an exhaust is pretty straight forward.

I'll call when I'm at the airport heading your way.

High speed pneumatic grinder using a porting carbide tip. Took maybe 4-5 minutes at most to do both sides including clean-up. You need a compressor, but the tools themselves are quite reasonable.

Used to do my own intake porting and some mild head cleanup so I already had porting tools. In fact, I was tempted to do some cleanup work on the header inlets as they are pretty good, not perfect.

You could stand to be a little less abrasive about the situation. I'm not sure what's going on with your situation, but even the first batch of Stillen CBE's (which I have), which lots of people had issues with clearing the crossmember, didn't seem as bad as you're describing this, and it's been quite a while since forum members here started reporting a higher success rate due to the design changes. Lots of them have gone in fine in the past couple of months, haven't really seen any fitment issues reported lately until yours.

Maybe try loosening the slip-joints a lot and freeing them up with a mallet to make sure they slip well when you jack it back up into place to retorque again, that would be my next guess. In order to raise the center further than the last place you torqued it too, the slipjoints would have to go "shorter", which if they made any impression on the underlying pipe means they need to slip over the bump of that impression to adjust now.

Would describe it best as "irritated" as the headers really kicked my butt and the 02 from Nissan still has not arrived. Need to do more with my life than lay under a car in 100 degree heat and as mentioned.....my play time ran out.

Still feel that it should be a "non-issue" and even though others are claiming success, others are not (like me).

Wondering how many other brands of exhaust you have to jump through this many hoops with? One of the reasons I favored the JIC is not having slip joints as for some reason, really never trusted them. We'll play with it and make it work, certainly didn't expect to have to.