ccclxxz PM'd me recommending that I just space off the rear hanger mounts from the body a bit at the back of the car with washers to get the tips fitting tight. Tested this by simply loosening the mounting bolts so that the hangers fell down a little (the bolts screw up through the hanger mounts into the underside of the car) and this seems to solve the tip fitment issue without causing any problems anywhere else under the car, and it's simple, so I think I'm gonna go with that solution.

Work is in my way this morning though, and I'm waiting to get an email back from FI themselves first just in case they have anything to say on the matter. Once those two things are outta the way, I'll probably put the car down, warm up it up, and take it for an easy drive over to the hardware store and back to get washers, and then fix this up and continue with the warm-up / break-in / testing early in the afternoon.

Edit: FI concurs, so this should all be sorted out easily this afternoon.

All sorted out now. Each of the rear exhaust hangers (there are two of them) is bolted to the body with 3 bolts, for a total of 6. Added 3x 5/16" plain old washers to each bolt, and now everything fits well.

I'm not inclined to pass any final judgment on the exhaust yet, based on the fact that I've been happy the first day and then sad within a few days several times on catback issues in the past, as problems sometimes don't really become obvious at first.

But that aside, initial impressions:

So far the first drives have gone well, and nothing's wrong. Compared to the previous setup (Stillen's CBE) the volume is a bit louder overall, and the tone slightly deeper. There's a little bit more low-frequency drone in the cabin than before too at low RPMs, but with the windows up it doesn't seem like it will be enough to be annoying on the highway. The main reason I even noticed it is that the change I keep putting in the center cupholder was vibrating along with it and making noise, which didn't happen much before. I guess this will help keep me from leaving junk laying around in the car :)

I haven't gone over about 4.5K rpms or done any WOT driving yet, as I'm letting everything burn in a little first before I blast too much pressure through it. Based on the tone changes from idle up to 4.5K though, something tells me this thing is going to sound insanely good in the upper ranges.

Videos will probably happen Saturday.

I can tell you that above 4K RPMs at full throttle it sounds simply awesome...very exotic...almost like a Lambo!

Hey wstar, remember this pic from my header installation DIY thread, showing how the CBE doesn't line up with the HFCs after I installed the Stillen headers?

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

Do you think it's possible that you had that issue with the tips being too high because of this (considering you have the same headers/HFC setup)? What I'm envisioning is that the flange of the CBE came down in order to meet up with the HFC flange, which in turn tipped the rear of the exhaust upwards, thus making the tips touch (or almost touch) the rear valence. Does that make sense?

Yeah I remember that pic. Given your pic, the issue I just had with my exhaust tips, and the issues we all had with the Stillen CBE (it was low in the center and hitting the crossmember, but I think for the same reasons - it's just affected differently because it hangs differently), I'm pretty damn sure that Stillen Headers + Berk Cats = HFC outlets come out too low. What's not clear is which (or both) of those are at fault.

I'd say it's the headers, because I did the HFCs and CBE first, and everything lined up just fine. It wasn't until I subsequently did the headers that this alignment issue came up.

Had the same issue......but I think I may be the only one who agreed to have my HFC's shortened and welded back on. So far so good.....no issues to report and that was about 3 to 4 weeks ago.

Nice Wstar!!

so how does she sound?

She sounds great :)

I shot some interior video yesterday, although I haven't pulled it off the camera and processed it yet. I'd really like to do some driveby videos of it, if I can find a safe place to dump my camera on the side of the road in the next day or two.

I still have a couple of raspy rattly sounds inside the car from the vibrations of this exhaust. I think one is my negative battery cable and/or the plastic conduit around it in my trunk, and the other is a tiny trapped piece of glass they weren't able to remove from the passenger door when they replaced my vandalized window (the dealership showed it to me, but it really is basically, "We'd have to go to the body shop and cut your door apart to get this tiny fleck of glass out", so I said no).

So yeah, that reminds me, pull the video off the camera from yesterday :)

In-car video with the new FI catback:

[YOUTUBEHQ]TKDQF1y4nAo[/YOUTUBEHQ]

Edit: Copying my "more info" from youtube here so you don't miss it by watching it embedded:

Fast Intentions catback on a 370Z, interior driving video so people can hear how it sounds. Obviously, the audio captured by the camera isn't exactly like real life, but it's close enough. This catback has the 18" resonator and CF muffler options. This is a 7AT car with many other bolt-ons (Headers, HFCs, long-tube CAI, UD pulley, etc). Please ignore the various rattling noises, those are the camera/mount and/or some interior stuff I need to fix up from my latest projects, nothing to do with the exhaust itself. Also notice I'm missing my radar detector at the moment too, hence the low speeds and extra cautious driving :)

Love the tire squeal at 1:20 from the car in front of you.
If you want someone to hold a camera for you to do drive by sounds, I should be free on Saturday.

Sounds nice! :tup:

I won't be driving anywhere this weekend. I'm taking advantage of the 3-day weekend to make another serious attempt to quit smoking. So I'll be holed up at my girlfriend's place all weekend watching Babylon 5 DVDs and whatever else we do to keep me occupied ;). If she lets me drive anywhere Saturday I might just start ramming people off the road from the lack of nicotine :)

Note to say, stay away from you on 3 day weekends. :p
Sounds good, if you want a good place, think about a park maybe during the day when no one is there.