Hey everybody,

I just got my G35c a few weeks ago. I ordered the Z-tube/POP charger combo, clear corners, and the aluminum pedals yesterday. Now I'm thinking about headers and/or exhaust, and I would like to get some suggestions on each, and if I only do one, which I should do. I'm looking at the Stillen exhaust kit. It's running about $1216.00 from performance parts, and says it produces 13-15 RWHP. I was also looking at the Nismo exhaust, but it only says +6 HP gain. It's also about $300 cheaper, which I would hope would come close to the install price. Or I could go headers first, but I really don't know if that's the best thing to do. I don't feel like I have enough money to do them both right now. Let me know what you guys recommend.

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2004 G35 Coupe - AutoMagic - Black Obsidian / Willow - Premium Pkg

 

Maniac:
For my penny's worth of thoughts, I would go with the catback exhaust first. The additional hp from that mod is much higher than the headers, and the install cost on the headers is high (about 6 hours versus 1 hour for the cat back).
I think you should expect that certain claims about hp gains for a particular mod are to be taken with a bit of caution. Any of the really good makers of components will try to be accurate, but there is marketing fluff as well. The Nismo is a great set up, and designed and built by the folks that did the car. Something to think about. The Stillen sounds great, nice deep tone. The Borla is nice, so is Greddy and Fujitsubo. Stillen is HEAVY. For some folks that trade off is not material. I went with Borla, and like it, and it is 12 pounds lighter than stock.
The head manifold is very good stock on this car. I would not expect more than a couple of hp gain from an aftermarket upgrade. High flow cats for the money should release a lot more hp, and give some sound mellowness that is very pleasing as well. I got practically no additional gain from the headers...until the RT cats went on, then it was a big jump.

So, while the choice of the catback is wide open, and you should do some research on what you get and what you think you want in terms of price, weight, sound, power etc, my thought would be to not do the headers now, and to do the high flow cats and a Nismo or Borla. For about the same as a Stillen, a little more, you get more hp, more sound richness, drop weight, and good value.
Have fun!!!!

Cpe 6MT/Aero/Prem/ATI/RT cats/Borla hdrs-catbcks/Nismo flywhl-cltch/TS-ECU/Tein flex EDFC/Stillen sways

 

I'm actually thinking of getting RT Cats even before an exhaust, because I'm not sure if I will be going FI or not.

thou be careful, because RT Cats with certain exhaust will give you a really loud and raspy sound.

Eagle1: do you think Fujitsubo is good enough for a turbo setup?

 

I've found little, if any exhaust clips out there. I'm looking for a deeper, less raspy tone, that also passes the wife test.

The G35 is loud stock, which is fine, I'm looking for something that isn't Honda fart can loud, but more refined and matching to what one would expect from a higher end car company.

Are there any out there like that? And are there any sound clips? Why don't the distributors have more information on them - drive by clips, in the cabin clips while driving, etc.?

thanks,

 

Thanks Eagle. I have decided to go with the Borla. Got it for $729 shipped. How much do you anticipate the install on this to be?

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2004 G35 Coupe - AutoMagic - Black Obsidian / Willow - Premium Pkg

 

Sorry I missed this one.

I have the G headers for $795.

www.brmusa.com

 

g35maniac... I would guesstimate installation to run you about $80 considering it'll porobably take 1.5 hours at ~$50-60/hr. If you're into doing it yourself, I would say go that route...it isnt too bad although a lift would be alot easier on you.

 

For what it's worth... I too looked into going the Stillen Exhaust route, but there were 2 reasons why I did not purchase it.

(1) Up to ~3800 rpm, the Stillen Exhaust LOSES hp/torque. Your car will be slightly slower on take off. (Those pesky 2004 TL's will love you). Once you get past this rpm range you start to GAIN hp/torque very slowly until the mid 4K range. Then the hp/torque kicks in to about 8-rwhp if I remember correctly (TL guy starts to get worried now).

This is not good for me, because when I want to "get on it" I'm usually not at mid 4K rpms. This would actually be hurting my daily driving performance.

(2) The Nismo Exhaust does NOT lose horse power in the lower RPM range and gains ~70% as much as the Stillen as early as the low to mid 3K rpm range. Nismo is also a considerable amount lighter than Stillen as well (some 20+ lbs). This was a better choice for me, but I was unhappy where the exhaust tips ended up relative to rear diffuser. (This lead me into Fujitsubo and for my own reasons I've decided to put this exhaust "on hold" for now).

I decided to forego the whole exhaust replacement idea and for ~$1120.00 (including shipping, insurance, etc...) buy/install the Z-Tube, JWT Popcharger, RT High Flow Cats and JIC Y-Pipe. From many hours of internet research, I feel that this is freeing up a pretty good amount air flow on the intake and outlet of our cars. Next thing will be headers and some sort of ECU modification. FYI, (Jason with Performance Nissan sells the RT High Flow Cats for $500 even. Avalon Racing sells the JIC Y-Pipe for $420 shipped.) These were the best prices I could find and I spent several hours looking.

This is only what I did, and I have not installed the cats or y-pipe yet (just ordered 2 days ago) however, since you are considering spending ~$1200 I thought you might want to consider this option as well. From my reading, I'm expecting a 2x gain in hp/torque from these mods over what I would expect to get w/ the Stillen Exhaust alone.

This is just my opinion and you're mileage may vary. Good Luck w/ your modding!

2004 Infiniti G35C-6MT
LR | Willow | Premium | Aero | Splash | BSM
30% Lumar Tint | Invinca Shield (C-Bra)
Z-Tube | JWT Pop Charger
RT Cats & JIC Y-Pipe(on order)

 

Just one little problem with with using the Jic Y-pipe that way. The Jic Y-pipe, like the Nismo exhaust, use's a 80mm collector and is ment to hook up to a system down stream that is like wise 80mm. Problem is the oem system is 65mm. So, when you bolt it up to your 65mm system, their's about a 1/4" high ridge that abruptly block's flow. Here's what I mean, I happen to have a Y-collector that has a 80mm pipe and a 65mm flange bolted to it.


Now, look inside the pipe and see that lip in the flow path at the flange, it would not exist if the flange was 80mm, this will severly disrupt flow and cost you gains from the expensive stuff upstream, their is a simple solution.


www.burnsstainless.com/Transitions/transitions.html
The simple solution is to buy a simple transition tube and have it welded onto the oem down pipe. That way you will smoothly blend the 80mm tube down to the oem 65mm pipe diameter Part number RD-250 would be perfect, shop will just have to do a little fidgeting on the large end, something a good shop does all day.

"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt