Hi all. I'm new here, but I've been over at 6mt for a little bit. I had just posted a review of my new GReddy exhaust over there and figured ya'll over here may be interested as well.
In fact, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I really wish other people had done some similar reviews (or that I had been able to come across them if they are out there somewhere) of a few exhaust systems so I would have had more knowledge going into this and known more of what to expect with the install and the final results. Oh well. I hope this helps any of you sedan owners looking for a new exhaust.

With no further introduction then, here is what I found when I received and installed this exhaust:


Shipping:
It took a little longer for the system to ship than I expected, but when it arrived, I found the box in decent shape and the exhaust was packaged quite nicely.






Quality and Craftmanship
The only problem with the exhaust as it was shipped was a little dent on the tip of the pipe causing it to no longer form a perfect circle. In the picture, you can see the dent at about the 4:00 position, though it is really at the 10:00 position as it is installed on the car because in the picture, I had the muffler upside down.


In the above picture, you can also see the baffles in the muffler. Clearly, it is a straight through design as are the baffles in the midpipe pictured below.


For those of you who haven’t been under your cars yet, here are two pics of what the stock exhaust system looks like. Note the amount of rust on my 1.5 year old exhaust system.



Here’s a comparison of what the stock muffler looks like compared to the GReddy.





Removal of the Stock System
This went smoothly for the most part. I put some lube on the bolts and removed the nuts. Three out of four nuts on the stock system came of with next to no drama, though they were hard to turn the entire time due to the caked-on rust covering the bolts. However, this one nut turned out to be a problem. Because of the rust, you really had to turn the nuts hard in order to get them to come off. While trying to remove this one, I could fee the socket stripping the top of the nut instead of actually twisting it off of the bolt. To solve the problem, I tried torching the nut.


It still didn’t want to turn without stripping, so I grabbed this convenient tool that you pound onto the nut and then twist off with the socket wrench. Once you do this, you can’t really re-use the nut, but at least it gets the darn thing off.


The only other difficult part about removing the stock system was pulling the metal brackets on the exhaust system out from the rubber mounting hangers. I sprayed a little lube on them and worked at them for a while and they finally came off.


Installation:
Installing the system was an absolute breeze. It couldn’t have taken more than 10 minutes. However, there was one significant problem with the GReddy mounting brackets. The GReddy system had all the same hooks that would slide into the same rubber mounting hangers that the stock system slid into, except for one. The hook on the muffler of the stock system pointed straight back, but the hook on the muffler of the GReddy system pointed off to the side. In this picture, you can see, just above the tip of the muffler outlet, there is a rubber mounting hanger that the stock hook slid into. The GReddy hook can be seen farther back in the picture, pointing off to the side.


There was no way this hook would fit into that rubber hanger. Worse yet, without that final hanger, though the exhaust would still hang and probably wouldn’t be at risk of falling off, it jiggled. It looked very “rice.” That was the last thing I wanted. So, I rigged up a new hanger using a strip of conveyor belt and a bolt.


I poked a hole in the belt and then bolted it into a screw hole I tapped into the undercarriage of the car. Oddly enough, there were three screw holes right above the muffler already, but I didn’t have a screw to fit them, so I just re-tapped one of the ones that was already there so I could fit a bolt into it. Once I had mounted the final exhaust hanger, the whole system worked perfectly.




Sound:
Well, I’d have to say that the sound is about perfect. Sometimes, I wish it were a bit louder, but then I remember that it’s probably much louder behind me than it is while driving. The fact is, you can hardly hear the increase in volume while inside the car. That’s perfect. From the outside, the exhaust is noticeably louder, though probably only by a few decibels. The most significant change is the tone of the new system. It is just sexy. It sounds much more aggressive and “deep” (I never knew what that meant, til I heard it on my own car). Really, I’ll just let the video speak for itself.



Video:
In the video, I put the stock exhaust footage back to back with the GReddy footage for each specific shot.
1st shot: Cruising at 35mph in 3rd gear – Inside Car
Stock
GReddy
2nd shot: 2nd gear roll from 2k to redline – Inside Car
Stock
GReddy
3rd shot: 2nd gear roll from 2k to redline – Drive by
Stock
GReddy
4th shot: Cruising at 35mph in 3rd gear then blip a downshift to 2nd – Drive by
Stock
GReddy
5th shot: Light reving of the motor from behind
Stock
GReddy
6th shot: 6k rpm rev from behind
Stock
Greddy (I did this particular shot about a week after the install and the exhaust has broken in a little bit since then. It's gotten a bit louder)
7th shot: No muffler 4k rev

<a href=http://media.putfile.com/Stock-v-GReddy-Exhaust-Comparison>The Video on Putfile</a>

I don't really like Putfile, but streetfire was having problems uploading and Google is still "verifying" my videos. I'll post the links when Google finishes making sure I didn't upload any ****.


-Justin

 

The muffler bracket sold by everythingg35.com fits into those 3 threaded holes above the muffler. The bracket even comes with the correct bolts.

From the pics above, I can not tell if the Greddy has one or two mounting arms at the rear of the car. If it does, like the HKS, you will need one additional rubber hanger. (aprx $5)

I also recommend unbolting the front rubber hanger while still on the stock vs trying to slide it out. Then, slide it on the new muffler before you install it on the car.

 

Great write up, easy to read and informative. One thing next time is use all the same size pics!!

IMO I don't really like the single big tip canister type muffler. It reminds me when I use to mod my honda. I'm a big fan of the HKS RS, looks and sound wise.

 

Props out to you, this was an EXCELLENT post, and you did a great job with the video. Nice job, and your car looks and sounds great. I have a Stillen Gen 2 exhaust and I'm kinda jealous, I may like the sound of yours better...

 

Great thread! My Greddy just came in this week and im probably going to do the install this weekend.
Your thread did confirm my question about needing the aftermarket exhaust mounting bracket (everythingg35.com) to get the mounting correct. Not sure if I wanna rig something like you did, but at least I know this before i get under the car.

Thanks for the info!

 

So I got my Greddy on this weekend. Sounds great, looks great.

The one problem with the mounting: My friend/mechanic DID have a screw to fit those holes mentioned in g35r6's install, so I created a new bracket out of an extra one from the stock exhaust and fitted it in those holes. Perfect!

My mechanic friend loved the exhaust. When we went for the first test flight punching it on a small hill run, he said that it sounded and felt so good that he wanted to trade his BMW for a G. No lie!

 

Wow! That's impressive.

I feel a little foolish hearing that there was a mounting bracket that I should have bought instead of rigging up the conveyor belt. Oh well. I wish I knew everything, but sadly, I fall short.

Thanks to you all for the compliments. I'm glad to hear that I could be of some help. I guess the only icing on the cake for this write-up would have been if I would have taken it to a dyno shop to install the exhaust and do a before and after dyno run to see what gains, if any, you can get. Well, maybe the next person to buy this exhaust will do that.

 

Seriously, thank you very much for doing the write up. I wish more people would do the same to other exhausts, and maybe even other parts...
because noobs like me need guidance lol

 

As promised, Google Video finally verified my video so here's the higher quality one:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6941677901308917543