Stillen Headers
 

I just ordered a set from my stillen dealer in Canada. I have seen pictures of the header not lining up with the exhaust. Several people have installed the cats, headers and exhaust. I have the berk cats, stillen CBE, and the headers , Should be here in a week or too.
" Josh " how bad is the alignment ? and is there a modification that will make them fit better, or has the issue been resolved.

Thanks.

2theextreme has that setup and it needed a custom fitment job.
Stillen CBE + Berk HFC + Stillen Headers

Umm... and I was just about to order some headers while my engine was out.

2theex should be chiming in soon

You may want to visit semtex's DIY Header Install thread:

http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...tallation.html

About halfway down the page the photos semtex posted are identical to the issue I had....it looked to be off by few inches. There is a solution to the issue in his thread.

The solution that Altered Atmosphere did and I agreed on, was to cut about 1 to 2 inches off my Berk HFC's. So far I've not seen or smelled any problems. I was back at Altered last Friday and they put the car on the lift and said they didn't see any leaks or any problems where they had welded things together.

did they weld the HFC to the catback or is there still flanges with bolts??

Did the cut and re-weld? After reading the thread, it may be that AAM cut the thickness of the flange down an inch

It looked like this on Altered's lift:

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

I believe they did the first thing you mentioned.....welded the HFC to the catback.

Maybe I won't be getting stillen headers

Tony's right, the fitment of the Stillen headers caused the High Flow Cats to sit too low to bolt to the exhaust rear section. But we actually didn't weld the HFC directly to the catback. What happens is the Exhaust Manifold collector is a bit too long, and this causes everything behind it to sit lower. So it for us, it was either try to force the rear section of the exhaust and the cat to fit together, or modify the HFC itself. We didn't want to force the parts to fit, because it would put too much stress on the exhaust components, and we could almost guarantee that the exhaust would crack when heat and hanging weight was put through it.

So we had to modify the cat to line all of the components up correctly, and after we made those changes, the exhaust fit perfectly, with no leaks or any issues.

So while my engine is out I want to replace the headers, but from reading this thread stillen doesn't seem to be the choice. Are there any other headers out yet?

Tony from FI has mentioned a long tube prototype is a possibility, but nothing is final. Of course, true long tubes would eliminate your Berk HFC's.

Yeah, Tony said probably in 2 months, which my engine will be done by then. Oh well.

longtubes??? INnnnnnnteresting.

Yep...longtubes.

wow, those oughta give the Z a little extra juice!

+1 and one hell of a sound! when they're available...my berk test pipes are for sale!

I got my Z in April and had the Stillen exhaust installed within weeks. This week I had the headers and HFC installed. The installer said he had to adjust the exhaust but not a big deal. I like Stillen stuff and would recommend the whole Headers, HFC, CBE trio. Course since I am picking it up tomorrow I may have a different tune BUT I really hope to be saying something like "death to EVOs" or bye bye German guy. The installer mentioned the alignment but the exhaust was installed with the original cats and Stillen, I would assume, designed their 3 parts to fit together 100% and the exhaust to fix with OEM also but maybe not the exact same. Josh, please send me the check we agreed on. (note to all, that was a joke).

Not exactly sure what to think about the whole thing as I did Gen 3 intake, headers and exhaust having some issues with fit. (already had the high flow cats) Called Josh up at Stillen personally as the exhaust clearance was extremely tight and one side sat lower than the other. He said they were out testing a GT-R and someone would get back. No one did.

Last weekend I had Cobb in Plano Tx dyno/tune the car. IF......If the dyno's are the same, the car only picked up 16 hp from the intake, headers and exhaust over the stock arrangement with high flow cats. Even more disappointing was the car gained zero from the tune. This still has me extremely puzzled. The air/flow ration changed but the power output didn't. Even Cobb is mystified but we did have an issue of the intake temps ranging between 106-108 and the car perhaps didn't like the hot air. Dunno??

When the weather cools some here in Dallas I'm taking the car back to the original shop where I have the dyno baseline for retuning and better comparison. Also looking forward to the cam software but so far I'm not exactly jumping for joy with either the fit quality or the real world gains.

Hoping for a little luck, but I'm currently confused like a big dog.

Today the stillen exhaust and berk cats were intalled. It bolted up perfectly except that the exhaust was too close to the cross member. It just cleared it. Not wanting to stress the welds on the exhaust we put a washer under the cross member by the exhaust set up on both sides of it. No clearence problems at all now.
The headers have been sent out to be coated and the installer sees the problem coming with the allignment. He will be modifing the cats in the next few weeks.
The car sounds much better , not that much louder that before, Has a nice sound to it.
As usuall the car ran terrible driving home (ecu has to learn, it idles a little lower) .
i punched it a few times and it broke the tires free. I will run it for a week and then get it dynoed. Base 266. g3 intake 285.6, cats the exhaust ( hoping for 315.) Time will tell. It feels a lot stronger.
There appears to be a whistling niose when i punch the throttle in nutreal as the revs come down. Everthing is tight. I think that its is coming from the intake ot behind the drivers seat.
Installion reveiw intake (need lots of work)
exhaust crossmember issue
changing the diff to 4.08's ( no problems )
cobb axcess port ( pulling out what ever hair i have left on my head )
headers === ( stay tuned )
The 350 with the stillen exhaust is louder than the 370 with stillen exhaust and berk cats.
12's in the 1/4 mile here we come.

Spent the afternoon yesterday at a muffler shop whom I'm friends with. Even with the washer trick, you could hear the exhaust clunk at times. Thinking it was the slip fit/clamps doing it, had them weld all of them. Before that they heated the brackets, bending them so the exhaust sits a tad higher. The muffler shop also thought the exhaust was cheesy and I still need a few washers for it to clear.

The real cure is the Y-Pipe section needs to be cut, shortened and the exhaust moved forward slightly. The diameter of the Y-pipe being close to the brace is what is causing the issue. (not really...poor fit/design) This dawned on me on the way home and I'll probably take the car back and give it another try.

Very disappointed that Stillen has not taken ownership of the issue and offered solutions.

Why doesn't stillen fix this?

My feeling exactly.

After 4 rounds of close hand to hand fighting, I'm finally claiming a victory. No more clang, clang, rattle, rattle.

Went back to the muffler shop again today and I was wrong about cutting and moving the Y-pipe back a bit. After further close inspection, the exhaust was manufactured lop-sided and one side of the rear Y-pipe is lower than the other sitting about the same height as the large tube. Knew it was canted a bit when I first installed it, just didn't realize how lopsided it was and moving it forward wouldn't help.

Another fix solved the problem..... put my JIC Y-Pipe back on, cut the rear Y-pipe in half just after the flange, jacked it up higher and re-welded it back into the proper place where it should have been in the beginning.

The moral of the story is take your car to a good muffler shop and get it over with in round 1. I doubt you need to heat and bend the hangers, just cut the front of the Y-pipe in half, jack it up some more and have them weld it in place higher. Then weld the slip joints solid and throw away those tacky U bolts. Might be a nice and honest gesture to send Stillen the bill.

Why the JIC Y-pipe? I already had it, much higher quality and it has flex joints.

fi long tube headers ftw ;)