Underbody Piping.

[ogz007]

Hello fellas,

I need someones opinion on this one..

I had a look at my underbody piping a month ago during a minor service and found that the Flexi Joint/pipe has been scraped pretty good. The metal mesh stitching has been scraped good that the rings have now been exposed and slighty scratched... but good thing is that there is no leak to it...... as yet. (ive only had the car for 5 months and i hardly scrape it.. hell i dont know what the previous owner in japan did to it..)

so i had a look at ebay for some pipes and found this Y pipes. now, my question is.. is this the right and perfect ones that i need if i go ahead and change the current pipe on my ride?..

wont be to short wont be to long?... everything is stock on my exhaust system, i failed to take photos and measure when i had the chance to.. so forgive me on this one... i just thought to ask some experts out there as i cant wait til my next service to have a look at it..

anyway appreciate your help and thanks in advance.

[blinko]

what kind of car..?

what kind of pipe..?

[ogz007]

V35 Coupe, Y pipe. as per image shown.

Thnx

[n15m0]

probably scraped by forklifts while transporting the car.

[rs73]

or when loading /unloading from the ship ramp or getting onto the towtruck to compliance shop etc... many things can happen...

[53XYN]

if its for the 350Z VQ35DE then you will need to get exhust shop to extend it by 80mm as iam running cat back twin 350z exhaust , 350 ones are 80mm shorter then ours

[ogz007]

oh i see.. thanks for the info guys.. yeh i read about extensions for this things... hmm might get Hi-Tech Mufflers Sydney to check it out..see what they can do about it.. thanks again!

[BLISTC]

yeh that is the lowest point in the car

mine scrapes it when going over speed bumps

but its not that bad yet its only got little scrape marks right now

[scathing]

yeh i read about extensions for this things... hmm might get Hi-Tech Mufflers Sydney to check it out..

If you're going to HiTech anyway, why not get one of their Y pipes?

Their bends are a lot more gentle:

And you can get them to make an extender that turns the 2 pipes into a single, and mate up with your single mid pipe.

[ogz007]

sweet.. thanks scathing.. looks kinda better in a way. do you know around how much it would cost me to do this with Hi-Tech? i just want to replace this particular pipe and not the entire exhaust. (i do not like it loud)

Also, by looking at the picutre, the flexi joint doesnt necessarily need to be there?.. just out of curiosity..

Thanks mate for the info.

[scathing]

The flex joint isn't mandatory, but it is recommended.

I cracked my exhaust in 3 places (exit flanges for the cat, and the mid muffler) when I slid off the track at Wakefield, and bashed the exhaust on a ripple strip. I'm not sure if flex piping would have saved it, but it wouldn't have hurt either.

As for cost, no idea. The pipe isn't exactly complex, and the extension won't be that hard either.

[Stephen Thorpe]

The flex joint isn't mandatory, but it is recommended.

I cracked my exhaust in 3 places (exit flanges for the cat, and the mid muffler) when I slid off the track at Wakefield, and bashed the exhaust on a ripple strip. I'm not sure if flex piping would have saved it, but it wouldn't have hurt either.

As for cost, no idea. The pipe isn't exactly complex, and the extension won't be that hard either.

At least you were trying...

As for Flex pipes, most muffler places would be able to fit them, different sizes are available.

[scathing]

Simplest solution would be to get flanges welded onto a flex pipe, and use the result as the extension piping to make the Z exhaust fit on a V35.

[scathing]

i just want to replace this particular pipe and not the entire exhaust. (i do not like it loud)

To give you some food for thought, a good catback exhaust does not make the car loud.

When I put my HiTech on and left the rest stock, my car sounded as quiet as stock up until 3000RPM. I picked up a bit of volume and a more growly note higher than that, but it wasn't noisy. Your only problem is that it dones between 1900-2200RPM, which is 60km/hr in 6th gear. Drive at 70 around town, and you'll be fine (although cops may not feel the same way).

If you can afford a Fujitsubo Legalis-R, it has the same RPM attributes with a slightly more aggressive note up top.....and no drone. Definitely worth the money if you can afford it.

The APS exhaust is about as quiet (its noise legal with the turbo kit, not sure if it is without the turbines providing an extra muffler), but a true dual isn't the best option for a NA road car.

If the HiTech and Fujitsubo aren't noise legal, they're close enough (and look stock enough) that no cop would give you a hard time over it. Just don't do extractors and high flow cats, and you'll be fine.

The difference in peak power output between the exhausts I mentioned above, and the noisy ones, on an otherwise stock car is sweet FA, so you're not really losing out either. I'd just avoid the true dual ones, so you don't lose midrange torque for practically no gain up top.

[ogz007]

Thanks for the tips Scathing. learnt something new.

ill visit HiTech soon in the next week or so and see what they say in terms of that middle pipe. if they offer me something outstanding with the exhaust i might consider..but we will see first and let you know the offer.

now all i want to find out is the $$$ figure. but should be okay.

Thanks again man..

[Stephen Thorpe]

To give you some food for thought, a good catback exhaust does not make the car loud.

When I put my HiTech on and left the rest stock, my car sounded as quiet as stock up until 3000RPM. I picked up a bit of volume and a more growly note higher than that, but it wasn't noisy. Your only problem is that it dones between 1900-2200RPM, which is 60km/hr in 6th gear. Drive at 70 around town, and you'll be fine (although cops may not feel the same way).

If you can afford a Fujitsubo Legalis-R, it has the same RPM attributes with a slightly more aggressive note up top.....and no drone. Definitely worth the money if you can afford it.

The APS exhaust is about as quiet (its noise legal with the turbo kit, not sure if it is without the turbines providing an extra muffler), but a true dual isn't the best option for a NA road car.

If the HiTech and Fujitsubo aren't noise legal, they're close enough (and look stock enough) that no cop would give you a hard time over it. Just don't do extractors and high flow cats, and you'll be fine.

The difference in peak power output between the exhausts I mentioned above, and the noisy ones, on an otherwise stock car is sweet FA, so you're not really losing out either. I'd just avoid the true dual ones, so you don't lose midrange torque for practically no gain up top.

Can you please provide more explanation on the above statement?

[dannyw]

can someone provide some suggestion on HKS legamax and Kakimoto 06&R catback? Similar price range like Fujitsubo, but which better??

or even Borla, which isnt loud, but sound better (a little louder, deep) than stock?

arrggg, too much choices..

[scathing]

Can you please provide more explanation on the above statement?

Too much cross sectional area. You're basically running an exhaust too big for the engine (and, before some bright spark chimes in, that doesn't mean it has "too little backpressure").

I've run my car back to back with another owner when our only powertrain mods were the catbacks. His APS true dual pulled 2rwkW more than mine, but had lost a noticable amount in the midrange. You could feel it on the road, as well.

The HiTech guys tested several exhausts of differing shapes and sizes (they had access to Nathan Pilkington's grey import GT-P 350Z) and settled on the design they have - 2.5" Y pipe into a single 2.5" mid pipe - as the best "total area under the curve" option.

Of course, if you use the APS exhaust the way it was intended (i.e. with their twin turbo kit) then it works a lot better than an exhaust that goes into a single pipe.