I find it odd that nobody here has mentioned the Borla True-Dual exhaust!
I've had mine for almost 2 years and love it. Last summer's Dyno shootout proved +8HP and +3 lb ft to the wheels.

Sound is slightly louder than stock, but with a deeper V8 exotic growl.

Looks similar to stock but with larger diameter tips, Cost is between $600- $800 depending on the reseller.

 

Cant tell you for sure about the HKS but most aftermarket exhausts are bolt-on meaning you can do it yourself.

The stock system does NOT unbolt easily. The stock Y pipe is bolted onto the cats at 90lb of torque which means you will need a breaker bar on your wrench and your foot to kick it loose.

If you have a lift it will make life easier. I did mine using 2 rhino ramps, i think about 12" high + a sloped driveway, which made for some good ground clearance.

The install takes 2 people and about 2-3 hours depending on how good you are with this stuff.

 

Best overall exhaust IMO is the stocker with aftermarket y-pipe and proper reducer cone. Same power gains as full aftermarket systems at a fraction of the cost and sounds great too

 

HKS exhaust is a bolt on MOD. I installed it with the help of my friend. It took us around 2-3 hours with setting up the car to uninstalling/installing of the exhaust, and I don't suggest you do it by yourself. It would be great if you had a lift .

Some parts of the stock exhaust was easy to uninstall and some parts was a b!tch. The Mid section bolts that connects to the CATS were kind of rusted and hell off a b!tch to take off since there weren't too much leverage for unbolting, but the rest were pretty easy. If you do get the HKS exhaust, let me know and I'll try to give you a step-by-step walk through. One more thing, the instructions from HKS sucked.

 

find a couple of g35drivers in your area with the top 3 choices.. and the mods you have/expect to get. Headers/hi-flow will change your sound, should add/delete in the future.

Get a real world feel, then decide.

 

Cool, thanks for the info guys. I would love to be able to install the exhaust myself, the only problem is the lift, don't have one. Looks like I will have to go buy some ramps or just pay to get it installed.

One more question: When you guys had a shop install your exhaust, did you keep the stock exhaust? I was thinking I should keep it incase I wanted to go back to stock or put it back on the car when I sell it.

Thanks again.

 

So what did you decide on????????

 

Well, I haven't decided yet. I have narrowed it down to the Stillen, HKS Hi-Power Ti and the Borla is still on the back of my mind. I am leaning towards Stillen though with a close second behind with the HKS.

 

Im between HKS, Fuji, and now the Borla after Rami mentioned it. Need a deep, tuned sound - no raspy

 

The Borla is DEFINITELY a deep tuned sound, not raspy or ricey sounding at all! I've had mine for about 2 months now and I love it. Like someone else mentioned it almost makes the car sound somewhat like a V8 musclecar, and it keeps just enough of the original G35 stock *gurgle* when you let off the throttle to let you know that it's still a G. It's definitely one of the meanest sounding exhausts I have heard, and it's right in the middle of the road - not too quiet or too loud.

As for the install that someone asked about - I could not get my stock bolts off, and I tried for at least 2-3 hours using a friend's lift and air tools. So I finally took it into a shop and they actually had to drill out a few of the bolts because they were so rusty & corroded! I couldn't believe this since it's only a 2003 and it has only spent maybe 2 months of light use in the snow, and since then it has been down here in AZ with no snow and very little rain. I would hate to see what those bolts would look like on a car that has spent a few winters in the snow!! So if you can get the bolts off yourself then it's an easy install, you just need to get itthe new exhaust all lined up correctly and then bolt it in place.

 

Out of curiousity, did you have to remove or bend any of the heat shielding at the rear of the car when you installed the HKS? The shop that installed mine said that they had to, so I'm wondering how bad/dangerous it is to run without a complete heat shield (came from the passenger side very near the can of the exhaust).

 

I put a stillen on yesterday - total of 120 minutes by myself, and a good 30 minutes of that was jacking it up, and working a cramped space (I need to clean my garage).

Based on what i have seen in dyno's the stillen is by far the best for power improvement, it is also one of the most exspensive. Several mags that did testing and dyno gave it the thumbs up as most power (twice what many systems offered) and best noise ratings (over all)

It is louder than stock, obviously, and more a bass sound.

 

Also worth mentioning that the Stillen is heavier than stock, by far. The Borla is a lighter than stock system, and sounds great (have heard it on someone else's G). Anyone have exact stats on the stock weight? I think the Borla is about 10 + punds lighter than stock...anyone know weight diff with the HKS?

 

RamboRami: a note from an old guy - the best way to loosen bolts/nuts like that is a box end wrench and a 2 or 3 lb hammer.... you tap at the wrench like an impact driver.

Having your car up on jacks, lifts and putting a long bar and kicking could end up really bad !!!!

Of course, I just use an air impact and it it wasn't bad at all


I would guess (I haven't verified) that the stillen is a tad heavier than stock, but I am not worried about 5 or 10lbs. It is all stainless, and lifetime warranty.

There is of course a lot of personal preference involved in exhuasts....
tone, sound level, power increase, etc.

I went with Stillen in great part due to the reviews that gave it a hands down winner for added power. i figured If I was going to listen to any more noise, I wanted all the power I could get.

Now I think the G badly needs a lot of sound proofing and sound damping work, I thought this prior to the exhuast, and I sure think so now.

 

IIRC, the HKS saves about the same... 10 pounds, but I'm not sure. Carrying the stock exhaust and storing it in my attic sure made it seem heavier than the HKS... especially the muffler "unit".

Took a few pics today.