dude that sucks...glad to hear you're okay though! (and the car is okay...most of it lol)

you're welcome! I'm excited!

Do not think I can get a the 300USD deposit that is required. :(

Thanks alot buddy, ya I'm glad there was minimal damage & Nissan will start fixing the car on monday. It's just my luck tho, the week I'm suppost to get my exhaust, this BS happened. :(

Yup, that is how it always goes down. Murphy's law: What can go wrong will!
Glad to hear that you are o.k. You will have your exhaust next week bud...

Thanks, Tony

Ahhh my friend, You can according to Mike from DD Motorsports in this thread:

http://www.the370z.com/exhaust-intak...exhaust-3.html

Page #3
Reply#34
Date: Today @ 10:25 AM

Tony, exhaust arrived this evening. I'll check it out and see if there's any shipping damage and let you know if i find anything. Thanks.

Mine arrived today, I'm unwrapping it, so far so good. The only thing I've not unwrapped are the cans themselves. I want to get the stock exhaust off before I unwrap them.

Given the polish on the resonators, I'll have a huge grin when I get those out...lol

Installed today, looks good and sounds pretty good too! It's definitely quieter than my old setup but more refined for sure.

are you going back to the same dyno for a new run now?

I installed mine tonight...did it without a lift, and just a pair of jackstands and a jack :)

I think I spent about 3 hours on it...most of that trying to bust loose the OEM exhaust. I didn't jack the car up very high, so I couldn't use a breaker-bar or really anything...lol. A couple times a bolt would come off one side, only for the other to be tight enough to have a molecular bond. :facepalm:

After all hat work, of course I took it for a spin w/ the wife since she helped me (fetching tools, complaining, talking too much, and handing me parts, you know, the usual stuff...) - butt dyno says a good chunk of gainage!...volume inside is quite a bit louder, and there is a definite (to me) drone at the 2K region with a 7AT (but the radiop does overpower it and you can hold a conversation over it without having to speak up...) - which equates out to be around 60-65. 70 and up it's less noticable. It's really noticable if you use moderate-light accelleration to where it doesn't downshift, and it just RUMBLES that much harder. Bumping the accel button the cruise is a good example...in fact, it rumbles hard enough to vibrate the steering wheel!

Overall I think I like it. The loudness in the 2K region might bother me, but I think some sound dampening material would help with that.

Definately sound more "racey" now - I just kept hearing Forza 3...lol


One othe thing, I think I'll take my car to the dealer and have them put it on a lift, so I can really torque down those bolts. I got them pretty snug, but they aren't NEARLY as tight as they were from Nissan...

I laid down a lot of deadening material in the hatch and it didn't make a difference. You will need to cover the entire interior which is going to be a hassle and end up adding 100+ lbs since the only thing that is going to cut out the drone is mass-loaded vinyl, so I wouldn't even bother with it.

After reading this I don't think I will mod the exhaust :ugh2:

How about the intake mods, does their sound intrude harshly in the cabin as well? Drone would irritate the crap out of me after about 100 miles...............I guess Ima just an old man, whaddyagonado, eh?

Why is everybody complaining about drone? It's like this past month's theme has been "Drone". Is it really that bad or are people being too :supergay:

I'm no exhaust-guru, but I'd imagine a certain amount of "drone" is expected at lower rpms to get the sounds under-load and at higher rpms that everyone likes to hear.

I'm guessing people just want their cake and to eat it too. (no "drone" but all the exotic sound at higher rpms).

It does have very deeeeeeep tone at low RPM's. When in the higher RPM's it's music to my ears.

The intake sound is beautiful, actually. I can't hear that much of it anymore because of the exhaust, but with the stock exhaust it was just beautiful. There's a very throaty growl from the engine in the mid-range... fantastic!

That's pretty much it. The exhaust sounds fantastic otherwise, but there are some RPM ranges that sound very deep or produce some drone depending on the load the car is under.

First, there is zero sound deadening in this car to begin with so it's already pretty loud (tire noise). Two, it's a hatch... so sound isn't really going to be compartmentalized between the cabin and trunk area. I'm sure this system sounds a lot more tame on the inside in a G37 even if it sounds identical on the outside.

That said, the FI CBE sounds fantastic... it's the best sound I have heard so far for this car. I have heard a number of others in person and think they sound either weak or just very ricey. The FI exhaust is deep, throaty, and powerful. It is not "hollow" at low RPMs... it has depth like an American V8. It is not ricey and raspy at high RPMs like a weaksauce 4-banger... it has the refined yet aggressive scream of an Italian exotic.

Aftermarket exhaust is not for everyone... that's a fact. But for those that want it, without a doubt I think FI is the best out there.

damn you finally got them :tup:

which ones did you get again? res or non res?

not now, ill go after i get FI long-tube headers.

lol same here. i used some penetrating spray to get the cat bolts loose(r), but it was still a b*tch. My stock y-pipe bolts were far harder to remove on my car.

I had the hardest time with the passenger side y-pipe end. Drivers side was easier, but giving the direction of the bolt that makes sense. Harder to pull than push. The inner bolt on the passenger side inner bolt was bad enough, but the outer bolt damn near won - I gave it my all 3 seperate times, with pentrating oil...4th time, which was my "either this or I give up" moment, it finally popped...

The whole time I was just using my 3/8" drive, which doesn't give a lot of leverage...lol...I couldn't fit my 1/2" drive and get any room...

This convinced me that IF I go with LTHs (note, the if, now...) - I'll have someone else do it.

18" reso w/ stainless cans. :)

nice...i got the non resonated...

i know what you mean by the drone in the 2100 to 2500 range...atleast thats where it is for me...but only in the upper gears like fifth and sixth...

I agree with you. Plus, I want to add that this is my first hatchback, my first Nissan, obviously my first Z, and my first cat-back install.

The last V-6 cars I've had were older 80's models (85 Cutlass, 81 Malibu), and otherwise, I've had 1 V8 (78 T-Bird), the rest have been 4-bangers, 95 Saturn, 97 Ranger, 05 Civic. As you can see, nothing like the Z, so, my experience is limited.

The only exhaust mod I've done to a car is adding a cherry bomb muffler to my t-bird after the one that was on it rusted through. I've also changed out the pipes on my bike, and it's CLEARLY louder and not smooth (sounds more like a Harley than a Honda by FAR)...

It's there on all of them, with an auto it's noticable since it tends to drop the RPMs to that range when it shifts early and often. Usually I'm accellerating enough to where it doesn't do it for very long, but it's certainly there. It's probably why Tony recommended the 18" resos for 7ATs, even if one didn't have HFC's.

I also found it interesting that I'm hearing either some kind of backpressure pop or something along those lines, when downshifting the 7AT and engine braking only - kind of a muffled sound...(hit the paddle shifter, syncrho-rev kicks the engine up, tranny enguages, boof...ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmm hit it again...vroom,grab,boof..ohmmmmmm) - I didn't notice it before, but, then again the exhaust was quieter before ;)

lol..like a little bit of a back fire...i get that too...but its so minute that it doesnt stand out...

LoL Is that the scientific sound effect recontruction? :icon17: :happydance:

I knew someone would razz on me posting that, lol....

All I know is if I don't get the exact same sound, I'm sending my Z back to the factory till they get it right! :bowrofl:

Exactly! You are hearing something that was already there, just better muffled at the time. (Love the explanation btw vroom,grab,boof..ohmmmmmm).

I used to subscribe to one of those urban legends (for lack of a better term) that stated that if you change to a freer-flowing exhaust, you have to richen the fuel mixture to eliminate the backfire (mostly on deceleration) or else you will damage your exhaust valves from the detonation. Of course like most legends it was all BS.

On my BMW K1200RS, I installed a Staintune full exhaust, which eliminated the cat. It has a sweet, mellow sound, much louder than before (I like that on a bike, since the cagers can now hear me). But on decel, it backfires quite loudly. Fortunately it comes with an insert that screws into the tailpipe that muffles the backfire nicely while also giving it a sound that to my ears is not unlike a 911.

Actaully, I'd be happy with an OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM kind of sound.

Sounds like a 2-stroke!

Hungry Z much? :bowrofl:

My bike does it occasionally (Honda VTX1300-C) with the pipes I have on it. I don't remember if it did it with the OEM pipes, but with these pipes, if I nail it, then decel just right, it'll burp a few times then KABOOM...scares the **** out of the wife since she doesn't ride as much...when I hear it burp it becomes a game to try and get it to blast...lol

On my bike I still have the emissions control stuff on it - which is nothing more than a reed valve and a vacuum switch - where it'll inject fresh air into the exhaust port to burn off any unburned fuel. What I think is happening is that I'm getting a build up of unburned fuel in there, that would ignite if there was any O2...the burps are air going in and burning some fuel, the blast is detonation inside the pipe. Sounds just like a 12ga going off, and I'm sure it's gotta be shooting flames out the tips...lol...

As for what it actually is with the Z, I'm not sure, but I doubt it's anything like what it is with my bike - more like a backpressure pop...I guess...lol

Just out of curiosity, is a smell similar to burnt wood or some kinda odd smell after installing common for this exhaust?

It definitely isnt like the fuel smell i was used to with stock minus muffler setup after a lot of WOT action.

im freaking out like i forgot to take some kinda packaging out of the pipes before I installed it or something! lol

Totally normal. It will go away after a few days of driving. There are some oils inside the pipes that burn off and some of the packing inside the mufflers is going to burn off.

I love that smell.. just indicates your setup is fresh from the oven :D

I am going to re post this thread so new comers do not have to sift through hundreds of pages to see the content.

OH NOOOEEES!! Tony all the info those noobs need is in the first post