Ark Exhaust Type 2 x Pipe *Updated* 56k/Cellphone WARNING
 

First of all.. I would like to thank vividracing for following through on my order. I sent payment through paypal and after 3 days theres this huge box on my front door :) The funny thing is.. I was bugging Phil for the tracking # so I could make appointment for install and dyno.. I received the email during midday at work and it was in front of the door when I came home! I havent opened the box yet since ive been busy ever since I received the exhaust so I won't be able to give review of quality.

Ill give you guys update as well as dyno numbers soon. Hopefully this week. The only thing is...i won't be able to provide baseline since it'll cost too much to dyno before and after. Here's some pix All taken by Droid X..

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...xlink/ark1.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...xlink/ark2.jpg

*11/02/10* UPDATE PICS After Opening the Box

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...nalxlink/1.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...nalxlink/2.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-10-19_964.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-10-39_672.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-10-51_430.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-11-37_860.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-19-23_384.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-19-47_340.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...6-19-56_27.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-20-28_926.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-24-07_264.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-26-55_688.jpg
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...-27-03_310.jpg

So.. What do you guys think?

Can you explain what a "Type 2" is? Never seen this.

Type 2 is the final production version . Suppose to be no issues..

Whats with John 3:16?
Is that supposed to make them "holy"? Never mind

Type 2 is their signature x pipe

http://www.the370z.com/intake-exhaus...w-db-test.html

john 3:16?? come on now....

What do the welds look like?

*UPDATED 11/02/10*

Pics from Droid X. Hopefully enough for you to see where I am at with my exhaust. This is due for installation tomorrow. I will post review if there's fitment issues/leak or what not. Stay tuned!

:iagree:

Isn't it written somewhere about separation of church and Nissan?

Dude get the baseline dyno done!! ARK has said they will cover the cost of both Dynos!!

i see a few pictures with dings and scratches... are they deep? are they all over the place?

Very good !! :bowrofl:

watching

whoa, those welds look nasty.

I would've never installed something like that!!
Thats just poor quality.

thats what i was thinking but I'm just going to wait and see what happens. i believe he put up another thread with the same pictures and i said something about not installing it...

ouch. Those welds are iffy and scratches just make it look worse.

Those weld will not break. The scratches are on the hangers where each tips much be hand welded. All 370z exhaust will come fully polished free of scratches during our November sale.

Yeah.. Wasn't expecting it either. After having the pics posted for awhile now.. No offense But I was hoping ARK would have at least stepped in to see if they can do something about my dilemma first rather than securing their sales by saying that their product will not be like that on November sale??

not be *** or anything but that looks really bad. The seams are nasty looking.

^^^He just made it sound like they have been half a**ing everything and. that is a little messed up, try contacting him and see what he says/does. My exhuast better be flawless...:mad:

I think the ridiculously large pictures only further exemplify the horrible craftsmanship of this exhaust. :shakes head:

I would never put anything that looked like this on my car.

Oh wow! So Nov is a month of not getting a typical shitty ARK quality exhaust!

Looks like a group buy for Nov.? Lol

This is what we will be offering for now on. for all G/Z customers.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. There is already a post on the G forums saying that they are completely satisfied with our product.

reference
NeverBonestock Response Post
Alex

Judging by those pics I wouldnt be proud to say thats what you will be offering.

Just a small problem, We're in a Z forum.
How are Z owners going know to be checking a thread in a G forum for positive feedback? Besides the Ops exhaust is for a Z not a G or did I miss something? Whats the ops thread, and pics got to do with another member issue? I find you guys even allowing to be base member self promoting and stipulating to see you're distributors as being cheap. No other vendor has base members promoting their product. But thats Ak's decision to allow that and I respect him so I'll stop their. hope you're exhausts improve in quality? For the sake of the unsuspecting members here.

:iagree:

If you plan to offer any of your products, pay up for the forum sponsorship. But that's AK's job, not mine. In regards to the exhaust -

Those are some of the worst welds I've ever seen. I'm only glancing over the pixelly pictures and I already see three or four weld porosities, and some overall shoddy work with discontinued welds. Do all of the systems look like this?? Good thing it's just an exhaust and not meant to hold containment. Probably leaks like a sieve out of those welds. There's scratches and dents all over that system too, at least from what I see.

I'm bashing just offering constructive criticism. I'd like to hear what ARK has to say in regards to their quality assurance checks on their products. Hard to believe a company would let a product with clear scratches on the hangers and bad welds go out of the shipping dock.

We all had the same convo on Thursday ..about the other exhaust.

I thought the other exhaust we were talking about just had some really shitty welds and-

oh, I see.

Here are some resized pics of the fail, WOW what poor quality these exhausts are. :eekdance:

I would rather pay the extra money for the authentic HKS Hi-Power rather than this.

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-27-03_310.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-26-55_688.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-24-07_264.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-20-28_926.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...6-19-56_27.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-19-47_340.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-19-23_384.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-11-37_860.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-10-51_430.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-10-39_672.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/u...-10-19_964.jpg

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu107/Waiz_guy/2.jpg

ya and i think this exhaust is even worse.

about the exhaust I showed you, there better welds on the new design. I saw it at sema.

Ark Inc. Please don't think in any way that I am here on the forums to destroy your reputation. There are nothing but good reviews of your exhaust in the gencoupe forum.. Thus the reason why I wanted to purchase the exhaust in the first place. I just want to give my feedback to the community since there isn't much available to date.

*UPDATE* 11/13/10
CEL came up. At the same time.. My driver side projector stopped working. I will be visiting the dealer first thing tomorrow to see what causes the CEL. I will update as soon as I can.

As far as the exhaust.. I'm pretty sure I'm well pass the break in period since the exhaust tone got deeper and quieter. Also.. Expect a lot of drone while breaking in between 2-3k RPM. After 2 weeks and 2,100 miles of driving, I can attest that there is very very very minimal drone between 2-3k RPM and none anywhere else.

So far.. Very happy with the sound across the whole RPM band ESPECIALLY pass 4k. The sound just makes me want to smile every time. It feels like I've picked up power low-mid. Can't quite tell on top end.. Feels the same. Will see when I get schedule for a dyno.

Still pretty bummed out about the quality but I am going to have to deal with it since I've spent money to have it installed.. And definitely wouldn't want to pay the restocking fee if I end up returning.

I would not have installed it and sent it back to get something else. I'm amazed you don't notice any exhaust leaks...or maybe you just havent inspected...

Like I said, i'll put up pics once i get mine just to see how poor they are about their quality at ARK. If Its bad, i'm going HKS just sayin.

I just got my polished exhaust. I will get some pictures up today. My initial impression as to opening the box was pretty good. Well packed and no scratches.

I will not be surprised if they give me a hard time for a swap or return. I just felt obligated to share my experience with the product and hoping that nobody else is going through the same situation.

I am currently at the dealer @ mossy nossan kearny mesa. Well see soon enough if the ezhaust is the cause of CEL

exhaust wouldnt cause a CEL...
but lets find out.

Catbacks will not throw a cel. Test pipes, headers, HFC's and maybe intakes are usually want causes cel

I know that. The thing about the ark exhaust is that it doesnt really clear the crossmember under the car. The shop had to jack up the x pipe to make it work. I am hoping that process didnt cause any discrepency where the car would throw CEL