ART pipes v3 - Install
 

Just ordered art pipes from Jomer (fbnissan) yesterday morning, arrived today before noon, talk about fast shipping.

I followed the art pipe thread for awhile and it was widely debated to use gaskets or rtv and in some cases both. The last posts I read stated everyone was using hi temp rtv. The hardware I have from motordyne has 2 metal gaskets and 2 oem gaskets, no rtv. Does this mean the install has come full circle and no need to use rtv? Awesome quality pipes but only want to install them once...correctly.

Yes, they now come with a stock metal crush-gasket ring seal.

No more RTV.

Impressive response time, thanks. An special orientation for the flange gasket, smooth side on the art pipe vs factory pipe side or doesn't really matter as long as it is seated properly?

Btw, awesome welds, very nice product, to bad they have to be hidden under the car.

On the outlet side the gasket direction doesn't matter.

FBNissan is a great vendor I purchased my ART pipes from them as well. Install is very straight forward but lmk if you need any pointers as I just did mine last month. Tony btw - I did not know you were revising the flange to be used like OEM with the o-ring style gasket. My pipes were supplied with the RTV and I'm having a terrible time getting a perfect seal. Anything you can do for me?

If there is nothing that Tony can do I will give you a tip that I used that has worked great for me. On my ART install I ended up having a leak on the drivers side from a poor RVT seal. I ended up buying a sheet of blank exhaust gasket material (metal, not cork) and cutting it to shape with a rotory tool cut off wheel. I used the factory crush gasket as template for hole diamter and the ART pipe flange as the template for outer shape and bolt hole locations. I made two of these custom gaskets and the seal worked perfectly.

Clean the flanges first then apply the RTV as a moderate layer to both surfaces then allow it to air cure for 5 minutes before bolting it all together.

Then let it cure overnight before starting the engine.

OP or Tony, can you guys post up a few images of the new flange design, this might be worth the upgrade since i'm having a hard time making a perfect seal as well.

Here is the new style:
http://www.the370z.com/members/nv370...51132-art2.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/nv370...51131-art1.jpg

Thank god! Only 1 year too late :(

I'm confident you guys got it perfected now. I had lots of issues trying to get a good seal with mine. I believe I still have a small leak but with new flange it should work perfectly.

Hopefully this revision will work. Replaced the original Graphite gasket with another one, didn't work, tried Hi temp RTV three times and still no proper seal.
Spent almost half the price of ART pipes on labor so far !!!

Current owners of older design ART pipes should get the updated design replaced under warranty.

OP, thanks for the pics, this looks like it might just be the solution that will actually solve the leaking issue permanently, let us know how the install goes

I agree 100% with this statement. I purchased the V2 pipes 1 month ago and literally the very next day I heard there was going to be a revise to the V3 pipes. I called Tony's shop (before I had even opened the box) and asked what the revisions were going to be. If significant I would return my pipes and wait until the new production was out. I was told the ONLY change was to the metal material being used during manufacturing and that I should install the V2 pipes without worry. Now that I find out the flange was entirely revised to fit the OEM O-ring type gasket I am a little disappointed. This is a HUGE improvement to the product overall in my opinion. I've tried several of times to fix the current leak I'm having using the RTV gasket maker without success and quite honestly I'm sick of getting under there. Tony, I love your products and I really don't like making posts such as these but I do wish that I was more informed when I called in last month. IMHO the new V3 pipes look flawless and OP I'm sure you will love them overall just as much as I love my mine (aside from the gasket of course).

EDIT: I forgot to mention, I did talk with Tony yesterday over the phone and he is a great guy to deal with. I respect him and his business and his products are top notch. He was very friendly over the phone and quite insightful, but I would still prefer an alternate solution other than having to add more RTV and an older style gasket to temporarily remedy this leak.

Hi guys, I'm working on a different solution for the gaskets. If you have any sealing problems feel free to contact me. info@motordyneengineering.com
Send me the address where you want it sent.

I'll send you a new set of gaskets with a higher temperature material.

Tony

There's prompt service right there. Nobody's perfect, and sometimes things don't go according to plan for no good reason.

The way in which Motordyne deal with this kind of thing *really* impresses me!

Yep. I don't want to sound like a nut swinger but I've noticed they always have good communication and stand behind their products. Currently I only have their ART pipes but I actually wear the Motordyne tshirt to like every car meet that I go to because it was one of my favorite mods on my Z. Free advertisement for them but it fits well and looks good too haha :tup:

Motordyne T-Shirt at AUTO-X haha

Tony, this is great and would help me a lot, thanks so much

Tony

Any long term tests done on these new gaskets?

Haha, yeah, same here, the MD shirt is one of the only company shirts i've ever worn because it actually looks smart and fits me well.

Indyn, Tony knows what the problem is (having spoken to him about this before) I'd be pretty confident that his retro solution should be what's needed.

MadMaxx, when the graphite gasket did not work out, I was suggested to use RTV by Tony and he was pretty confident that solution would work out, three times later I don't think it does.

Before I spend more money on trying the newer updated retro gaskets, would want these tested out, Don't want to be a lab rat anymore.

ART pipes are great concept and are not cheap, but the price paid is not justifying the
experience.
BTW, I've noticed one thing though, not sure why but it always blows up on the drivers side, when the seal is new and perfect, the exhaust sounds amazing. But when the seal blows up, RASP and sputtering is pretty audible.

Tony, can you post pictures and details of this new gasket that you were planning to send for owners with V2 and V1 versions.

Well said indyn!

Touché...


Out of interest, when you seal the ART pipe to the manifold, is the other end free hanging, or attached to the y-pipe?
I was going to ask if you had tried it lose to allow maximum torquing on the manifold connection and allowed it to cure overnight?

I've been having sealing problems with my art pipes also (v2). Tried the sealant which worked for a bit but then ended up developing the problem again after about a month.

Emailed motordyne and asked about the new gaskets... quick reply back asking for a shipping address. Top notch customer service!!

Just wanted to say thanks to Tony for doing this even though he didn't have to by any means.

Thanks but this is a warranted issue. Its not acceptable by Motordyne standards if it leaks and IT IS covered under warranty. We will take care of it.

Although its never been used on ART pipes, the new gasket material is American made metal/ceramic based and specifically designed for use on headers.

Tony

these new gaskets will be 100% leak free even after one years of continuous use?

I have to assume the problem is related to high speed/pressure gas at the manifold location and normal exhaust gaskets not being up to it?

It would suggest that these specific gaskets for this use should sort the problem?

Yes.

^ Tony, please reply to my email asking for the new gaskets, i would love to get my hands on them asap, thanks

Will do. :)

Got it , thanks so much for the reply, always great service from Tony :tup:

Tony
pm sent.

I have a stock Nismo, with v3 art pipes, using RTV.

sometimes the car sounds great, and sometimes it sounds very "scratchy" when heavy on the gas.

It's 50/50. sometimes nice deep tone, other times, "rocks in a can scratchy" sounding.

I don't hear exhuast under my door though, only from the back. and I have never had a CEL come on.

would this indicate a exhaust leak or just the nature of the pipes?

I have the same thing going on, but mine goes deep after the car is warmed up and all sounds fine.

most likely the seal is broken. If you give it gas while idling, you can hear it sputtering while the rpm drops, more like you're blowing a piece of paper.
But you've the version 3, so why use the RTV and not the ring gasket?

The interaction of exhaust parts varies the sound with what they are connected to. Do you have a leak? If you don't have a leak of any kind it may just be how that particular combination of parts sound.

If you have the V3 you certaintly don't need RTV.

I have the v3 before you came out with the option to add the donut gasket.

They are def V3's though. I bought them right when you started sending only RTV.

I purchased them in Decemberish.

What exhaust are you using?

All Stock NISMO

There will be some rasp on the stock exhaust.

I will say from my experience that it's only slight at a certain RPM, i fixed it with the resonator on the XYZ pipe.