Honest Cheap eBay Exhaust Review

mdscole

I come from the world of Corvettes. This Nissan is a new thing for me because a coworker was upgrading from his 2009 to a 2013. His original was a base car with the sport package. That's it. He wanted all the fancy upgrades...

The dealer would only give him 10K on a trade in. Wow. what a ripoff. I offered 12 and settled at 13.

I think I did well for a 2009 which desperately needs tires, has curb rash on 3/4 of the rims and a quarter sized snafu on the paint with a buffer. (and 70,500 miles)

Tires are on president's day. (sale) So - I bought an exhaust.

I read on here that the puritans all hate anything that isn't stock or isn't $1000 - $1500. There's a similar group on the corvette forums. Undoubtedly - they'll post below on how horrible this is and how it precedes the Apocalypse.

I had a Corsa Pace Car with the Tigershark tips on my vette. They were great - but expensive.

I'm not into this Z for much and I'd like to keep it that way. So eBay we go.

It was cheap. Like $270 - because I had to pay the CA sales tax. For that price even I was wondering what would show up.

This is what did...

Big box:


Poor packaging:


Beautiful (if it fits)


X Pipe:


Mid Pipe:


Mufflers:


Video:
https://youtu.be/9IVa8cCaw7E
https://youtu.be/9IVa8cCaw7E

MagmaRed370z

Looks good. Don't know about how it performs or build quality.

__________________
Sold: 2014 Magnetic Black Base.
Current: 2014 Magma Red 370z Sport | ARK Grip Exhaust | 25mm HR Spacers | GTR Button | DRL Mod

JC-Nismo

Looks good, please post a sound clip once installed.

dalton91

Is that the topspeed? Link to auction page please....

mdscole

link to auction: 4 5" Dual Rolled Tip Performance x Pipe Catback Exhaust for 370Z Z34 Fairlady VQ | eBay

mdscole

Both the resonators on the x pipe and the mufflers themselves are perforated pipe with some sort of packing on the backside. Essentially a glasspack or magnaflow. I don't know what the fiber packing is actually made from.

This is obviously a low restriction design since it's a straight tube. The question is whether or not it sounds like a straight pipe or not.

The tig welds are good, but not "artistically beautiful." It's tough to make an ugly tig weld anyway - but if you've done any welding, working the pool with skill makes very even swirls. These are good - not great. Not done by a 50 year old craftsman.

mdscole

4 5" Dual Rolled Tip Performance x Pipe Catback Exhaust for 370Z Z34 Fairlady VQ | eBay
4 5" Dual Rolled Tip Performance x Pipe Catback Exhaust for 370Z Z34 Fairlady VQ | eBay

mdscole

I can't seem to post a link to the auction. I get the "Thank you for posting! Your post will not be visible until a moderator has approved it for posting."

So simply search for this: 171925412463

dalton91

Please follow up on this.... The exhaust looks very nice and the design of it should take care of drone and not be too loud. I have done some looking into DPT Motorsports (aka.. DNA Motoring and Speed Daddy, among others I think) and they have a terrible history of not getting the right item to the buyer, poor customer service, damaged shipments, etc.. so it looks like you are one of the lucky ones!!! Congrats! I really hope it sounds as good as it looks and doesn't rust out in a week. I really like it and would be interested in getting one myself for this cost... thank you for sharing all of this with us.

MagmaRed370z

When are you installing it? Take videos inside and outside the car if you can.

__________________
Sold: 2014 Magnetic Black Base.
Current: 2014 Magma Red 370z Sport | ARK Grip Exhaust | 25mm HR Spacers | GTR Button | DRL Mod

Anthony@Royal

It actually doesn't look bad for >$300. Interested to see how it sounds.

mdscole

The install went well. I went slowly and spent probably 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get the car off the ground.

Notes: All the stock nuts are 14mm.

They exhaust nuts are ON THERE. Soaked them in penetrating oil to get them off. 1/2 ratchet to get them off. Last thing I wanted to do was bust a stud off the cat.

The removal was ok. Lube on the rubber mounts helps alot. The best tool was a set of channel locks to pop the rods out of the rubber mounts. It was easier to unbolt the exhaust hanger bracket from the frame for the rear muffler mount on the passenger side. Just as well because the heat shield has to come out for these to fit (standard ARK design)

Install was really easy. Reuse the nuts to the cats for the x pipe.
Hang the mid pipes from the hangers.

Then start bolting it together with the hardware. There were 4 smaller and 4 larger pieces of hardware (and no instructions of course.) You could use either one - but the center section to the Y pipe required the smaller bolts because the bolt hole to the tig weld was too close.


Then simply install the mufflers. Slide the rod into the hanger and line up the flanges.



The tips are not quite perfectly straight....



I tried to bring the left (driver) side up - but wasn't successful.

This is how it sits now:

mdscole

install video from manufacturer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2DIctoPOrc

Sound video from me using a phone inside the car: https://youtu.be/MyT9L-d3bVs

Install Impression: In comparison to my C5 Corsa system - this was far easier to install. There are no rattles or contact between the car and the exhaust.

The tip alignment has room for improvement. I think that the right side is too high. There is some wiggle room with the flanged connections - but I haven't messed with it after the install.

This system fits the classic 2 out of three scenario.
1. Great idle
2. Great WOT
3. No Drone

Pick any two.

Reminds me of the mellow tone of the borla. Deeper than stock by a far cry and louder on top. Idle is nice and WOT sounds nice. Not terribly agressive - but I'm coming from a built LS1 with long tubes and a pace car exhaust. that thing sounds like a race car.

A little drone around 2000-2400 rpm. Need to drive it more to narrow that in.

Seems like a nice system for someone looking for a bit more deeper sounds to let you know you're not driving a civic. I'd do it again.

HP increase: not discernible from the seat of the pants. It's not worse than stock.

Price independent: it's a good system - Could use instructions, better shipping packaging, and better tip alignment.
Price dependent: It's a steal.

dalton91

Thank you... sounds great! I look forward to a few more videos (both in and out) and how you feel about it in a week or two...

+++1 thanks!!!

MagmaRed370z

Other than the left side tip, looks and sounds great!
Awesome job!
Can't beat the price , really.
Looking forward to see more videos at full throttle and at idle (cold start and warm)

__________________
Sold: 2014 Magnetic Black Base.
Current: 2014 Magma Red 370z Sport | ARK Grip Exhaust | 25mm HR Spacers | GTR Button | DRL Mod