awesome, take some pics and you cant go to sleep without posting a video...and a dyno. Dont whine, just do it.

:worthless:
http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/p.../worthless.gif

:p

I torqued everything down. Clearance is great throughout the underside of the car, even with the Stillen Headers, Berk HFCs, and the thicker rear swaybar from Hotchkis. Gave it a test-fire for a minute or two on the jack-stands. Sounds really nice, at least at cold idle for a minute. We'll see tomorrow how it sounds in general.

The only issue that's bugging me a little at this point is that the exhaust tips came out a bit high. They're right on the verge of touching the bumper plastic, or maybe they are touching it just slightly, but not with any force (you could probably slide a piece of paper into the gap easily, but nothing else).

So I opted not to fully heat it up tonight, and to leave the car on the jackstands while I think about this. Maybe I need to make slight rotational adjustments at the rearward 3-bolt flanges to correct it, I donno. It's really not a big problem, not compared to the underside fitment issues I had before. I'm only concerned about whether that might cause my bumper to melt and/or become blackened in the long run.

In any case, here's some pics:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...flers-rear.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...oseup-rear.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...oss-member.jpg

I'll get back on this tomorrow and sort out whatever can be done about the fitment of the tips during the day.

are those the carbon fiber mufflers?

Either that or it's really funny looking steel :p

Yes, I bought this exhaust with the CF muffler option as well as the 18" resonator option (as opposed to 12"), to hopefully keep the noise level a little more manageable, given how free-flowing everything is now (headers -> HFCs -> this CBE, and maybe further down the road I might even swap the HFCs for test pipes).

Looks real good! :tup:

ccclxxz PM'd me recommending that I just space off the rear hanger mounts from the body a bit at the back of the car with washers to get the tips fitting tight. Tested this by simply loosening the mounting bolts so that the hangers fell down a little (the bolts screw up through the hanger mounts into the underside of the car) and this seems to solve the tip fitment issue without causing any problems anywhere else under the car, and it's simple, so I think I'm gonna go with that solution.

Work is in my way this morning though, and I'm waiting to get an email back from FI themselves first just in case they have anything to say on the matter. Once those two things are outta the way, I'll probably put the car down, warm up it up, and take it for an easy drive over to the hardware store and back to get washers, and then fix this up and continue with the warm-up / break-in / testing early in the afternoon.

Edit: FI concurs, so this should all be sorted out easily this afternoon.

All sorted out now. Each of the rear exhaust hangers (there are two of them) is bolted to the body with 3 bolts, for a total of 6. Added 3x 5/16" plain old washers to each bolt, and now everything fits well.

I'm not inclined to pass any final judgment on the exhaust yet, based on the fact that I've been happy the first day and then sad within a few days several times on catback issues in the past, as problems sometimes don't really become obvious at first.

But that aside, initial impressions:

So far the first drives have gone well, and nothing's wrong. Compared to the previous setup (Stillen's CBE) the volume is a bit louder overall, and the tone slightly deeper. There's a little bit more low-frequency drone in the cabin than before too at low RPMs, but with the windows up it doesn't seem like it will be enough to be annoying on the highway. The main reason I even noticed it is that the change I keep putting in the center cupholder was vibrating along with it and making noise, which didn't happen much before. I guess this will help keep me from leaving junk laying around in the car :)

I haven't gone over about 4.5K rpms or done any WOT driving yet, as I'm letting everything burn in a little first before I blast too much pressure through it. Based on the tone changes from idle up to 4.5K though, something tells me this thing is going to sound insanely good in the upper ranges.

Videos will probably happen Saturday.

I can tell you that above 4K RPMs at full throttle it sounds simply awesome...very exotic...almost like a Lambo!

Hey wstar, remember this pic from my header installation DIY thread, showing how the CBE doesn't line up with the HFCs after I installed the Stillen headers?

http://www.the370z.com/members/semte...5-p1000865.jpg

Do you think it's possible that you had that issue with the tips being too high because of this (considering you have the same headers/HFC setup)? What I'm envisioning is that the flange of the CBE came down in order to meet up with the HFC flange, which in turn tipped the rear of the exhaust upwards, thus making the tips touch (or almost touch) the rear valence. Does that make sense?

Yeah I remember that pic. Given your pic, the issue I just had with my exhaust tips, and the issues we all had with the Stillen CBE (it was low in the center and hitting the crossmember, but I think for the same reasons - it's just affected differently because it hangs differently), I'm pretty damn sure that Stillen Headers + Berk Cats = HFC outlets come out too low. What's not clear is which (or both) of those are at fault.

I'd say it's the headers, because I did the HFCs and CBE first, and everything lined up just fine. It wasn't until I subsequently did the headers that this alignment issue came up.

Had the same issue......but I think I may be the only one who agreed to have my HFC's shortened and welded back on. So far so good.....no issues to report and that was about 3 to 4 weeks ago.

Nice Wstar!!

so how does she sound?

She sounds great :)

I shot some interior video yesterday, although I haven't pulled it off the camera and processed it yet. I'd really like to do some driveby videos of it, if I can find a safe place to dump my camera on the side of the road in the next day or two.

I still have a couple of raspy rattly sounds inside the car from the vibrations of this exhaust. I think one is my negative battery cable and/or the plastic conduit around it in my trunk, and the other is a tiny trapped piece of glass they weren't able to remove from the passenger door when they replaced my vandalized window (the dealership showed it to me, but it really is basically, "We'd have to go to the body shop and cut your door apart to get this tiny fleck of glass out", so I said no).

So yeah, that reminds me, pull the video off the camera from yesterday :)

In-car video with the new FI catback:

[YOUTUBEHQ]TKDQF1y4nAo[/YOUTUBEHQ]

Edit: Copying my "more info" from youtube here so you don't miss it by watching it embedded:

Fast Intentions catback on a 370Z, interior driving video so people can hear how it sounds. Obviously, the audio captured by the camera isn't exactly like real life, but it's close enough. This catback has the 18" resonator and CF muffler options. This is a 7AT car with many other bolt-ons (Headers, HFCs, long-tube CAI, UD pulley, etc). Please ignore the various rattling noises, those are the camera/mount and/or some interior stuff I need to fix up from my latest projects, nothing to do with the exhaust itself. Also notice I'm missing my radar detector at the moment too, hence the low speeds and extra cautious driving :)

Love the tire squeal at 1:20 from the car in front of you.
If you want someone to hold a camera for you to do drive by sounds, I should be free on Saturday.

Sounds nice! :tup:

I won't be driving anywhere this weekend. I'm taking advantage of the 3-day weekend to make another serious attempt to quit smoking. So I'll be holed up at my girlfriend's place all weekend watching Babylon 5 DVDs and whatever else we do to keep me occupied ;). If she lets me drive anywhere Saturday I might just start ramming people off the road from the lack of nicotine :)

Note to say, stay away from you on 3 day weekends. :p
Sounds good, if you want a good place, think about a park maybe during the day when no one is there.

damn that is pretty loud..18" resonators didn't help too much did they ? Man I didn't want it that loud and it sounds like drone. Sounds nice though.

I'm glad I got the 18" resonators for sure. Keep in mind that my setup includes HFCs and headers too, so it's nothing like what this would sound like on an otherwise stock car. Also keep in mind what I posted earlier in the thread about my trunk though. I've got a big hole back there that's resonating like a giant drum. I added the Dynamat this past weekend, and then some foam is going in tonight, we'll see if that reduces my trunk resonance further.

The camera makes it sound more drone-like than it really is, on top of all of those excuses :) I'm just saying, given all of these things, don't take my video as evidence of the FI exhaust being inherently drone-y.

As far as general volume level goes though, as I said over in the FI thread: compared to the Stillen catback on the same setup, idle and low RPMs have gotten slightly louder, high RPMs have gotten slightly quieter.

Well I just added the FI HFCs to my order (18" CBE, SS mufflers).

It's going to be interesting to see how mine sounds compared to yours since I am going to be running the stock headers. I'm sure that changes the sound a bit. And I won't have the cf mufflers or a giant hole in the back of my car :P. I plan on getting a ton of video so hopefully we can get some good comparisons in the next couple of weeks.

You know, just as an aside, when I put the Stillen headers on, it actually mellowed the sound out a bit (I was already running the Berk HFCs and Stillen CBE before adding the headers). Def. not what I was expecting!

Well I guess that kinda makes sense. With the not-quite-equal lengths of the stock header you would have a "lope"-ier sound from pulse trains colliding in the exhaust, whereas with equal length you should have a smooth sequence of pulse trains in the exhaust.

Agreed. I guess the point I was trying to make was that m4a1mustang's car might actually sound a little louder than yours, given that he still has the stock exhaust manifold.

Haha... I hope the noise levels are still acceptable for a DD.

And guys, please call me Steve! :)

BTW, wstar, what kind of camera were you using for that vid?

I've stayed off the cancer sticks for about 2 years now. Have you read the book "Easyway to stop smoking" by Allan Carr?

Best decision ever. :tiphat:

Hope you're hanging in there! How's the Babylon 5 marathon? :tiphat:

John

They are to me, might not be for some people :)

It's just a Sony DV Handycam I've had for years, the model number is DCR-TRV19. In the latest video, it's attached to the inside of the rear glass using a really nice professional suction cup mount that RCZ linked to us before, I'd have to look it up again.

Nah my expectations were too high to try to go cold turkey saturday, didn't make it. It worked for me a few years ago when I went cold turkey starting on a Saturday morning, lasted 6 months. I'm going to have to do some gradual cutting down first and then try again in a week or two, and maybe find some drugs to help :)

depending how much you are smoking now...you could save enough in a year of not smoking to get yourself a supercharger...

Oh yeah and being alive is cool too.

I'm doing it for the health not the $$, but I don't smoke enough to buy a supercharger in a year anyways :)

reported nuimos as

Updating my long-neglected journal. Nothing significant has changed on the car recently. I'm at 13.5K miles, been through a couple more changes of Motul 300V. All the current parts are holding up great, car still runs like a bat out of hell.

Forgestar wheels arrived recently, but in 18x10 + 18x11 sizes. That means going back to 285/30ZR18 + 315/30ZR18 Michelin PS2's if I keep these larger wheels, assuming the offsets on them look good (need to go measure that and calculate it out soon).

Probably won't deal with the above until sometime in Jan.

Also, I see FI released longtube headers. I'm gonna have to get in on that at some point too, but it may be even longer until I do.

Have you done any UOAs with Motul? I've switched over to Redline. The stuff I keep reading about Motul in the VQ makes me nervous.

Good to hear the car is running well Wstar! Happy Holidays buddy.

Those are my wheels, hand them over! :ugh2:

If they send me a 9.5 front instead of the 10" I ordered then we'll swap and make Forgestar pay the shipping.

Hi guys, I'm not dead yet :) Just been busy with everything else in life and neglecting my 370Z, so there hasn't been much to add here the past year. (Neglecting to upgrade, not neglecting to drive and maintain).

The Z's at 17,532 miles now. All of the mods are still there and hanging in just fine, no new problems. I actually haven't been driving as much as I'd like, oil changes have been going every 3 months instead of by mileage.

The Forgestar wheels (18x10/18x11) did finally go on the car some months back. After re-re-re-evaluating my tire options for the 43rd time, I actually ended up trying out Continental's ExtremeContact DW in 275/35 + 295/35. They had pretty good ratings on TireRack.com, the design looked good, and they're pretty cheap as far as these kinds of tires go. The tires have been awesome at least in aggressive street driving, and I'm really happy with the grip and balance of the car on this setup.

As far as tire/wheel fitment and looks go: with the 18x10 F14's + 275/35 up front, the tire rubber is actually sticking out just a little more than "flush" from the body. It's not much, we're talking less than a centimeter, but you can tell. I do wonder if this has any aerodynamic effect worth even thinking about. The rears fit in just fine. If anything, on my next set of tires I'll probably step up the tire width a bit (305?), since there's still room left.

I'm looking to probably go for another round of upgrades this summer, I'll have some time and attention free. I have a lot of catching up to do on the latest forum trends on what's fashionable to add to the car these days :) So far from a quick perusal, it looks like I might try out that M370 manifold and FI's long-tube headers, and then get an UpRev tune and be done with engine stuff. Still needs suspension upgrades too. I've been on the fence about trying out an SC kit the past several months, but the threads here about 7AT damage with them is putting me off of that for now. Even if someone strengthens the 7AT, that's probably a large chunk of added cost. Have to see how it all adds up once that's available.

Nice to see the forums are still rockin along without me.:tup:

I'm glad you bumped this up, it was an very good read! I'm interested in the Continental DW tires as my next tires, how do you think they compare to the OEM Bridgestones?

Well, my car sure seemed a lot grippier, but I also added an inch of width, so it's not really a fair comparison. The Contis are solid tires though, the tread design has a lot more in common with the Michelin PS2 than our OEM Bridgestones.