I just finished painting my exhaust flat black, except the tips of course. The exhaust is well hidden now and I recommend it for anyone wary of the appearance. I anticipated doing this going into the purchase, and the results are very nice. Anyone want pics?

I'd like to see the pics............ but geeeez can't believe you friggin painted it. :eek:

I hope you used a heat resistant/durable/non flaking paint??? If not, it will look like crap once it starts burning and caking??

I can't imagine this being a good idea, but yeah :pics:

I love the polished look that stands out. I get cars coming behing me to get a better look at them.

Sure, lets see them.

oh yeah, its good stuff, VHT header paint. Ive used it many times before, no issues.

Its dark now, so ill have to wait until morning. I can get some now in the garage, but you wont get the whole effect.

In for pics. My first honda had an RSR exhaust that had the flat black muffler as well. A more conservative look.:tup:

Oh yeah, its very concealing. I got too much of the feeling that the mufflers looked like giant balls hanging from the car, like those giant cow balls rednecks hang from their trailer hitches, or looking at a big dog from behind... anyway, best I can do for now:

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...r/DSC_4614.jpg

That actually doesn't look half bad! :tup:

^me likey.

Yeah, looks pretty decent. Post some more up tomorrow of daylight shots.

for sure!

sorry for the dirty floor BTW!

not my cup of tea but looks like you did a good job of it. And if you like it then its all good.

I thought it was the other way around with regards to the smoother and deeper part.

Like that and will wait for morning pics....did you remove it for painting these? or just a spray on installed ones.

I would love to do it as cops are crazy here in this part of world

Yep, that's what Tony said before I ordered mine. I'm pretty sure he mentions the differences somewhere in this monster thread as well.

I removed them. Gotta do it right, you know. ill take pics as soon as I wake up a bit, yawn!

Here they are. As you can see, they are well hidden and the tips look like they could be stock. All in all, I am very happy with the way this turned out!

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...r/DSC_4620.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...r/DSC_4619.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...r/DSC_4618.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...r/DSC_4617.jpg

wow...not bad.....not bad at all. so i see you also painted the some or most of the piping.

+1

yeah, i painted as far back as you can see. like i said, no half *** looking job here!

Yeah, not bad at all. Partially why I went with the CF ones, so they don't stand out quite as much as the SS ones. Then again, if someone got close enough they would see they are obviously aftermarket, but I don't really care about that too much.

right. i was considering those, but at the extra expense and difference in sound, i opted to get the SS with the intention of one day painting them.

Having seen first hand the FI, SS cans on a new Anniv. 370Z I for one think they look terrific. For sure I can't see the correlation that the OP offers "I got too much of the feeling that the mufflers looked like giant balls hanging from the car, like those giant cow balls rednecks hang from their trailer hitches, or looking at a big dog from behind"... (Geeeez, where is YOUR mind OP?)

Anyway, I am 100% anti the (I'm 61 years old) ricer look on a vehicle but to me the FI cans in SS do not look ricer.

As for the OP, painting the SS cans on his white Z. Well, can't believe he did that but reality is the black under the white does go well and complies well with the look the OP wants to achieve. Granted he could have gone with the carbon fiber cans but as he mentioned he wanted the sound of the SS cans so he opted to paint. SO, seeing the OP did remove the exhaust and then paint / did the job right and it pleases him and does not detract from the Z's look I'd say you did aok, OP. 8-) Just thought though.... I spend lots of time in Florida myself. Hope that paint job holds up well to the moisture, salt, sand blasting and such. SS/no paint would have tolerated it better.... well, guess you can always repaint as needed.

It all boils down to personal preference. as far as where my mind is...? im not sure, if you see it, let me know.

btw, ive done this muffler painting before and never have flaking issues or any deterioration issues. even after years. like you said though it can always be repainted.

6spd,
I really like what you did with the painting. I'm also looking to do the same
when mine arrives in couple of weeks.
Can you tell me the exact steps you took, as far as what you used to clean and sand and which VHT paint you used.

thanks.

i was at my shop, so i used brake cleaner to clean everything and 3 coats of VHT flame proof flat black spray paint. no sanding, ive never needed to do this in all the years ive done it, many people say you have to but i dont. ive never had a problem with flaking, burning, anything doing it my way. you can sand if you want. best thing about not sanding is that if you want to revert back to polished, just strip the paint. it took about 2 1/2 hours, and that includes a very uncomfortable ride to advance auto parts to buy another can of paint, without mufflers... ouch. my brain was almost liquified.

Nice job, looks really good.

can anyone tell me how SS and CF resonators sound different?
I ordered SS but wondering if i should change it to CF...

Search in this thread, it's been discussed several times before.

Correct me if I am wrong but from what I am told and what I read up on the difference is that the CF cans will give you a little bit more of a higher pitch (more exotic) type of sound. The SS cans will give you a little bit deeper tone. What kinda sound are you going for? The overall sound will also be effected depending on if you are running stock cats, HFC, test pipes, headers etc.

I went with the 18" CF option with test pipes because I liked the idea of a more exotic sounding exhaust. I havent received it yet, I think maybe in the next 2 weeks I should be seeing it, so this is all from online clips and other peoples reviews/opinions on this subject.

^^ thx for the reply! I tried searching in this thread but gave up after 30 pages or so...

I want a more exotic sound but prefer the SS look. hmmmmmmmm

The SS exhaust is plenty exotic at high RPM, even with stock cats.

thanks,
How about curing process with the VHT paint?

Ugh holy crap I just got an estimate from HP Logic down here for the HFC and CBE + Sway Bar install and it came out to $405 in just labor! $340 without the sways. Does that seem insanely high to anyone else? Anybody near me have the tools/knowledge to do this, I'll pay you half that price lol.

HFCs can be a BITCH to install, so that might not be that bad. I am a DIYer so I'm not up and up with average labor costs, but a local Z shop here charges $99 for CBE install.

Yeah I figured it's the HFC's driving the price up. All I hear about is horror stories getting them off. I made the appointment regardless, but I budgeted for about $250 so I'm going to be quite thin on cash for the next month. :(

Also Tony as soon as you update your list this week and confirm that my shipment will be out by Friday I will just call you and pay ahead over the phone.

it dries in about 30 minutes. I painted the mufflers, let them sit for 10 minutes or so, and used the other 20 minutes to install them and align the tips. it doesnt take much for them to dry properly.

oh yeah and in case anyone missed the pics, they are back on page 252.

*shrug* From what I remember Tony telling me, the CF exhaust gives the deeper tone. I'm sure its pretty negligible either way though.

I just sent Tony an email asking him to clarify. I'll post his reply when I get it.

Cool, he should probably just update the first post with the differences.