Stillen Gen3 Intake, Berk Hi-flow cat, and Stillen cat-back exhaust

racerxj17

now its sounding like the exhaust wasnt changed, just in the install guide. what actually was done? i have one on order, and purchased only knowing the issue had be resolved. im not going to lie, im going to be pretty upset if i cant get it to fit like a 1300 exhaust should

Josh@STILLEN

We did make a change to the exhaust to bring the center section up higher. If the instructions are followed you shouldn't have any problems at all. If there are any questions during the install, feel free to contact us. We have a service facility on-site, we've installed a ton of these.

I'm sure you'll be more than pleased.. especially when you get it back on the road and feel the difference.

Cyberium

I'll be ordering the Stillen Intake and cat back in the next few days. I'm not worried about fitment, I trust in the Stillen brand.

To answer another members question on why most people are going with Berk HFC instead of the Stillen HFC is two-fold. One, the Berks were out first and all the mod happy kids went with them. Second and more importantly, as you can see the Berk HFC have raised bungs to put your O2 sensors into which will help in not throwing a CEL light. The Stillen's do not have this feature and you will most definitely be throwing codes. And quite frankly, I don't feel like buying non-foulers and drilling them out. Been there done that on my other cars. If Stillen addressed this issue, your damn right I'd be going with the whole stillen set up (HFC, Intakes, Exhaust)

But for now, I'll stick with the Stillen intakes and Exhaust and go with Berks

axio

Hey Josh, thanks for the reply. As for the installation, I basically took it to the mechanic. He spent a long time fiddling with the exhaust, raising the middle section and then tightening all the bolts, and it didn't clear. Then he loosened the up again and did one section at a time with the jack pushing up the middle section and me pushing up the rest of the pipes as well. After a few times of us doing this, we were able to get the exhaust to clear by a few mm. We then unbolted the crossmember and added washers in there to act as spacers. Overnight though, the exhaust sagged and hit the crossmember again. I went ahead and added yet a third washer, and then also used hose clamps on the hanger to help prevent more sagging.

Now, the exhaust clears the crossmember by 1/4". Taht's with three washers acting as spacers to pull the crossmember down. And using hose clamps...

And what's worse now is i'm having exhaust leaks at the slip joints. I have no idea why the hell this happening. Is anyone else having exhaust leaks at the slip joints? Not only can I hear the leak, i can hear a rasp at around 2000 rpm now, which i'm assuming is a result from the leak. At one of the rear slip joints, there's even water that straight up drips from teh slip joint. I've been under the car, the slip joints look tight, I can't see any visible gaps... wth is going on?

If nobody else is having these issues, maybe I just have a random bad Stillen product. If that's the case, Josh, is it possible to get an exchange on this unit with one of your newer ones? I'm not trying to make any money off you guys, I'm not trying to get free parts, etc. All I'm trying to do is make this exhaust work properly... I'm just getting really frustrated here.

tru_Asiatik

i installed my stillen intake earlier(took me bout 2 1/2 hours or so)
i hear hissing after i rev it(not sure if its the intake sucking in air)
also exhaust started backfiring a little afte high revs @4k
is that norm?

tomorrow im getting my Berks HFC and stillen exhaust installed by amplified motorsports
we shall se if i face these problems everyone is having
update tomorow

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axio

tru Asiatik, I think the hiss from the intakes is normal. As for the backfire, I can't really tell you because I installed all pieces at the same time.

Good luck on the exhaust. PLEASE let me know, esp about the slip joint leakage.

DannyGT

::::raises hand::::

I am experiencing the same thing...I have already spoken to Josh & Kyle and am in the works of trying a couple of last attempts at making this work...

To ADD to your problem (which I am experiencing all of them) when I finally got to clear the X area, the rear section - mainly where the two slip joint pipes bend upward to affix to the muffler - it began hitting against that black triangle brace!

This really sucks! It has me cringe when I drive the car! Whats worse is that 2k-3k hiss/rasp/rattle - whatever you want to call it is EXTREMELY audible from the outside and makes the car sound so ghetto!

Now, to be fair, both Josh and Kyle have been working with me to try and resolve this and once I try these new gaskets + following the instructions to the TEE - I will find out whether or not this works...

BTW - I see you have the Berk HFCs and I am sure your hearing the same exact sound as RCZ's sound in the video he just posted. I am using the test pipes and although the noise, according to my exhaust guy, is only audible (you can damn near FEEL it in the pipe) on the right side of the exhaust somewhere between the right-test pipe and the X joint. Its where the slip joint is on the right-hand side...So it has stumped us all.

I wasnt going to post this video but I think its OK now since I been working with Stillen and hopefully someone either knows what it is, or better yet, if we figure it out, it will save someone time and money to resolve/prevent it frm happening to them!

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Performance GTM Stage 1 SC, GTM Res.Test Pipes, Invidia Gemini Exhaust, GTM HD Oil Cooler
Wheels & Suspension AME Tracer TM02's 19x9.5F 19x10.5R w/ 265x35F & 305x30R, Hotchkis Sways, BC (BR) Racing Coilovers (Car Sold)

axio

Danny, thanks for posting that. My car sounds exactly the same. I've had both my wife and my boss hit he gas as i'm laying down near the car, and i've felt the leak with my hand where the passenger-side slip joint on the Y-pipe is. I THINK that's where that ghetto hiss/rattle/rasp is coming from.

DannyGT

I'm telling you it's not like I'm dreaming it up... We had the car on a lift and the mechanic was like "I put my hands and ear up against the left side and can't hear/feel it at all the way I do right around that slip joint".

It's really got me bummed. Might try the resonTed test pipes from GTM incase it's the test pipes fault!

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Performance GTM Stage 1 SC, GTM Res.Test Pipes, Invidia Gemini Exhaust, GTM HD Oil Cooler
Wheels & Suspension AME Tracer TM02's 19x9.5F 19x10.5R w/ 265x35F & 305x30R, Hotchkis Sways, BC (BR) Racing Coilovers (Car Sold)

travisjb

for whatever reason, mine doesn't do that at all... i've got stillen HFCs though, so maybe that has something to do with it ?

wstar

Re: the Stillen exhaust fitment...

Really, as many problems as I had, I think Stillen is right that this is a matter of just knowing how to do the install perfect, rather than a true parts/fitment defect. I think they're just overestimating how easily everyone else in the world will figure out how to make it work.

As others have noted, this is not a question of simple up/down adjustment of the main length of the exhaust. If you just push the whole thing up or down, you'll either hit the crossmember below, or hit the rear suspension stuff above in the rear. The trick is to adjust the angle of the exhaust. You want to raise the front a little while keeping the back down. The slipjoints in the rear help with this, so be sure you've got those loose, maybe bang on them a bit with a hammer as you're adjusting to make sure they slip into place (while also jacking up the exhaust from the little crossbar on the front Y-pipe section). I'm pretty sure it can be done, maybe it's just a little too tricky for most of us. I ended up having my guy heat the pipe just forward of the big center gasket and put a little kink there, but it was probably possible to get it to fit without doing that.

As for the slip-joints: they're there for fitment issues, to get the lengths right, which in turn gets the angle right. Once you get everything fitting perfectly though, I would weld them if I were you. That's what I did anyways.

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DannyGT

I agree and disagree...

It's still just way to much to do to get something this simple to fit. Also I have been meaning to mention this but you can actually see that when the two Y pipes meet to create the X the piping before it actually angles down. Why ???? I mean there is literally 1.5-2 inches of space above that area why force it to be such a tight fit with so much room. That's the part that really bothers me...

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Performance GTM Stage 1 SC, GTM Res.Test Pipes, Invidia Gemini Exhaust, GTM HD Oil Cooler
Wheels & Suspension AME Tracer TM02's 19x9.5F 19x10.5R w/ 265x35F & 305x30R, Hotchkis Sways, BC (BR) Racing Coilovers (Car Sold)

tru_Asiatik

ok just got my stillen exhaust and berks HFC installed by amplified motorsports thanks LOU tell jet thanks on working on my ride

ok
Stillen exhaust - same with everyone piping was sitting on top of the cross member(followed the intructions by the book) we clamp the rubber hangers loosened everything
best we can do was maybe 1mm off the crossmember*barely any clearance
i can hear it rattle when im gunning it 5k and up

i also have the hiss between those low 2k-3k revs and when cruising and slowing down
its kinda annoying maybe josh and kyle could elaborate what the cause of it is

sounds like a leak but when i put my hand in the joint i dont hear anything
i would post a vid but dannygt's video is exactly what i hear
did stillen have a fix for it?

berks HFC- i guess its doing what its suppose to do lol...no CEL/SES also...so far


other than that love the sound cant elaborate on performance yet we shall see when i take the car to the track

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Stillen G3 CAI*Stillen CBE*Berk's HFC*Eibach Prokit*Hotchkis Sways*ichiba 15/20mm spacers*? Oil cooler*Stillen Pulley*Stillen Headers

CBRich

Josh, I understand your position with the exhaust but if no one but Stillen can install them correctly shouldn't that indicate that something is amiss? I'm wondering how many of these recent installs are the updated version. Hopefully we can get some information about those.

spiderman

Josh/Kyle - I just got my Stillen Catback Exhaust delivered along with the CAI's. They are still in the box. I'm a bit troubled about all the problems everyone is having and not sure if I should go ahead with the exhaust install. Seems like after following instructions, there are still issues. I don't want to waste time (and money) if there's still a problem. Should I send them back and wait for a fix???

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