ARK DT-S bt.
 

I really didnt want to start a thread about this, but I didnt know who to ask or how to ask it. Im in a situation where I need to install my ARK alone. With no assistance. Also the car will be lower than normal as I dont own my own personal car lift lol..... So it will be up on front ramps with jack stands in the back. A: is this high enough "aprox 3.5 ft. B: can I do it alone regardless of how high the car is? the instructions mention another person used several times, for example for alignment of the tips. Has anyone installed an exhaust by themselves?

This is just the begining too...... once my GT rear, final drive gear, pistons, and rods get here im doing all that myself in the garage too. I can afford the parts, but not someone else to do the work ;(

It'll be doable by yourself. You might need to use your floor jack to hold pipes up while you bolt things together.

Also, you dont want to DIY the rear end. If you don't get it just right, it'll whine. A rear end you want to farm out to someone.

ive changed rear ends and gears in older muscle cars..... cant imagine it would be to different. they come with instructions too lol. BUUUUT how much would it be for someone to do that? It only takes about 1.5 hours if you dont doddle.

Then I guess I'm confused by the exhaust question. If you can set up a rear end, an exhaust is child's play.

yes but a center on a rear diff is the size of a basketball, not 10FT long lol. wondered what experiences people had trying to install one solo. Especially with such a low clearance. Also, do i HAVE to have a tune right away? If so.... I might just wait to install everything at one time. I know NOTHING about tuning so thats the one thing I have to shell out cash for.

You don't necessarily ever have to get tuned at all if the catback is your only mod. There's a long thread discussing this. You'll be fine.

You should have no problem doing it solo. it's just going to be a bit tedious. The allignment is mostly based on the hangers so shouldn't be too much of an issue. You will want to use your jack stand to help hold part of the exhauster - specifically the portion that hangs over the center bracing point because it'll rattle if the pipe is vibrating against the brace.

You just need to make sure you have enough room to maneuver yourself under there.

CBE by itself won't do too much, the restricting point is still the cat itself.

I installed my Ark DT-S exhaust by myself with the car up on jack stands. Well... most of it by myself. I did have a buddy help hold the muffler section while I aligned the hanger bolts. That was the hardest part since the rear section is over 30lbs. Much easier with some help but it is do-able.

nice, thats exactly what I was lookin for. Is it really 30 lbs? how much does the nismo's cat weigh?

^Yes, its around 35lbs if I remember correctly. The entire system is around 70lbs. I weighed it before I installed it. Too heavy IMO, that is why I sold it and went with a Litespeed CBE.

but it sounded good right? ;(

With stock cats it was way too quiet. With TP or HFC's, sounds pretty good.

lol im confused. what part of the DTS did you have? it goes from downpipes, to X, to cats, to tips. why would you have the cars original stock cats on the car? Am I missing something here? Also, putting the HFC's or test pipes on it make them hiss like CRAZY. Ive yet to hear a single setup that has them, regardless of exhaust brand that has HFC/test pipes that doesnt hiss when you let off the gas. I dont know much about exhaust, so what does it actually mean by "cat back". are the cats before or after the X? so the big chambers on the *** end are mufflers? Im assuming they need to be further up the pipes as your rear O2 sensor is after your cats.....

Ive heard on several occasions that the DTS is actually LOUD. it even claims 89db at only 3000 rpms on the site, thats LOUD. the nismo exhaust is about 90 at full rev.

Loud is subjective of course..... if your the type that thinks meisterschaft is JUST RIGHT, of course its going to be "quiet" to you. but personally I think meisterschaft are annoying. especially if your someone walking down the street and one of the dumb things scream from 4 blocks away. thats way to loud and intrusive on others.

And removing the cats would just make me fail emissions, but what happens if you remove the resonators?

I did an FI exhaust alone using a lift. I had to use stands with towels to hold the resonated mid pipes and the rear cans. It took a bit more time but it was cool doing it on my own.

The stock cats are before the x pipe. There's no down pipes on a NA car. Those are the cats you're seeing attached to the exhaust manifolds.

The hiss is just something you have to deal with on a VQ. They all do that.

well ive only heard 1 IRL with aftermarket. but several G cars. and the only ones that HISS are the ones that say they have test pipes or HFC's installed. why is that? I dont understand whats making the noise. Ah so he was refering to the stock cats that come on the DTS? or the nissans stock exhaust? because the system comes with the entire exhaust from cats to tips and everything in between. So im just confused is all. why would you run the cats off the old stock exhaust on your new DTS?

ARK DT-S bt.
 

Are you sure your new exhaust has cats and not resonators? The cats bolt up to the header. If your exhaust doesn't bolt directly to the header, you're bolting it to the stock cats. It's called a cat back because its everything from the cat back, ie the cat is not a part of it. Put up a pic of the cats on the new exhaust if its unclear. I'm sure we can figure it out.

The hiss comes from the motor. You only hear it with HFCs and TPs because the stock cats block the noise.

then what is directly after the X pipe, before the mid pipes? I thought those 2 big cans were the resonators. and BEFORE the X was the cats, two small bulges in the very begining flaring out left and right. Im not unboxing it all just for a quick pic lol just use Nissan 370Z | Burnt Tip 2009-ON | 3.7L, RWD as a reference. Im no exhaust expert, so im not really sure what each section of the exhaust is. aside from the mufflers, thats obvious. From all the vids ive seen the cars running stock cats with their exhausts tend to have a lower tone, no hiss, just generally sound better. Are cats really worth that... 5-6hp you will get to put up with that sound? especially at half the cost of a full exhaust?!! im putting my exhaust on to sound good, couldnt care less about numbers. Once the turbo goes on having an FI/gemini/berk/hks/ark or whatever exhaust wont make one bit of damn difference from one to the other anyway. I just want it to sound good. If that means making 494 hp instead of 500 so be it.

I see where I went wrong there...... kinda face palming. Yeah Im using the stock cats...... boy I feel stupid now.

The cans by the mufflers are Helmholtz resonators. There are also two resonators in the X pipe. That exhaust does not have cats in it. It attaches to the factory cats.


ARK Advantages and Features:
- All Bolt-On System
- Helmholtz Design for Minimized Drone
- Burnt Tips
- SUS304 Stainless Steel Construction
- Fully Polished Finish, 2.5 inch Dual Piping
- CNC Machined Flanges
- Exposed Micro TIG Welded

Items Included:
Axle-back Muffler, Mid-pipe, X-flow Y-pipe with resonator, Bolts, Gaskets, Hardware

Some of the resonated hfcs or tps get the hiss down to a manageable level. it's just a sound the motor makes. You'll get more power from hfcs or tps than you will with a cat back, so many people find it worthwhile. It may not be to you if it really bothers you. If you're going turbo later, it's not worth doing anyway. Once the turbo goes on, brand doesn't matter, just diameter. 2.5" will work, but 3" will be more efficient.

You saw it while I was typing. Never mind. Good luck getting it installed. The car is way too quiet stock, so you're going to love being able to hear the motor.

actually I had a question about the turbo and diameter. I hear a lot of chatter about 3in piping, but most of the test setups that companies design their turbos and test on all have 2.5 exhausts. example is the FI turbo. And they also mentioned that using 3in they couldnt achieve proper functionality and performance. why is that? I would automatically assume more flow/less resistance=better performance. and is .5 inch diameter really going to restrict air THAT MUCH. is it the difference between 500 and 550? or are we just talking a few puny ponies?

I'm not sure what you mean by "couldn't achieve proper functionality and performance". For a turbo, bigger is always better. Backpressure is the devil for turbos. A dump tube off the turbine housing would be the perfect turbo exhaust, but it would be insanely loud. The flow difference between 2.5 and 3 inches is pretty big. It's not straight math.

It may not be as noticeable as making X power vs Y power. If its running more efficiently, you may make the same power on less boost, leading to a cooler intake charge and a less stressed motor.

Most companies use 2.5 inch exhausts because they can sell them to every 370. A 3" exhaust on a NA 370 would most likely be way too big. As few turbo 370s as there are out there, its hard for a business to justify making an exhaust that so few people can use. There's only GTM and FI as far as I know.

I have dts on my car, im gon drive down to manassas to get some starbucks soon.

At 9pm? lol I had no idea sb was open 24 hours :roflpuke2: Im in manassas park, so there are probably 3971.5 SB's between you and I. Which one.....?

Gatta get my hot white choco before sleep, that starbucks is on sudley manor dr.

:O vinte white chocolate mocha with whip cream, 2 packs of hawaii raw sugar and some vanilla powder...... the perfect drink. before bed though? might wanna go get that checked out. lemme know the next time your going up there at a normal time. As i have work lol.

Welp son come check it out if you wanna hear it.

Check the mid-atlantic part of the forum. I'm sure you can find somebody to help you out around where you are.

exhaust is on the car. OMFG it sounds amazing. its MUCH louder than i thought it would be...... which im not a huge fan of, but zero rasp, zero drone. local shop installed it and allowed me to HELP THEM and only charged me 100 bucks called pauls auto in manassas. so now the nismo exhaust is off the car and sitting at my house.


sound clips dont sound like the real thing AT ALL. its not even close. unless your rockin a 3000$ camera with a mic the size of your fist.

so uh..... couple questions. first, it seems a bit down on HP. Second, why is it running hotter than usual? I asked several times if i would need a tune, and everyone said no. sure? and no, the pipes were free and clear upon install, no obstructions. sounds perfect, no leaks, no rattle, no buzz. so this leads me to believe that the car needs tuned........ I dont understand how lowering back pressure on an NA engine would have ANY effect on it at all. intake side yes, exhaust side no. WTF IS GOING ON!!!! maybe there is a drop in flow VELOCITY??? im not sure if the ark DTS is any bigger diameter than the nismo, I think they are both 2.5. But I do know that its not MORE restrictive, so its not back pressure...... only thing i can think of is that there was a drop in exhaust velocity which is a bad thing. Im going to go have it tuned to see its a real issue or not, couldnt hurt anyway as even the stock nismo tune is pretty conservative compared to tuning it for stupid tree hugging hippy gas consumption reasons. I dont care if my car gets 15 mpg as long as it runs like a sports car should.

sounds good though....:ugh2:

self bump, need the help. weekend=tune time available.