This is part1. I hope to update in a week or so with a supplemental review.

I bought Zimbo's Stillen first generation sedan exhaust. I took last Friday off from work, and drove from Birmingham to Raleigh, picked it up in a borrowed pick up truck, and drove back home the same day. We left at 7AM central, and got back at 4AM central, Saturday morning. It was a long-*** trip, but with the price on the exhaust, I couldn't pass it up.

I got the exhaust installed on Saturday. It sounds absolutely beautiful. Combined with the crawford cats, it's got a very deep tone. Under WOT, it screams. My buddy with his SRT4 was duly impressed, as was a coworker with a 2000 Mustang GT with exhaust. There's a bit of drone at 2k rpms when the car's under load. Also, the exhaust is a bit loud at 3k rpms under load, which happens to be my cruising rpm on the interstate. Regardless, I like it. But Cheryl doesn't. Oh well. What's funny is that I took my car in last week to have some rattles look at, and I've created a new one with the exhaust. There's now a buzz coming from the driver's side seat belt where it mounts in the b pillar.

The funny thing is, regardless of how loud it is, the VQ takes over above 4k rpms. And that's just with the ztube and k&n, which didn't change my intake noise/volume at all. Must be the revup. When parked side-by-side to Cheryl's car, my car is much louder inside the cabin at idle(without my exhaust). We've both noticed the same thing under acceleration. Odd.

As for gains, I can't feel a difference. I didn't notice any loss, but I can't feel any gains either, anywhere in the rpm band. Honestly, I didn't get the exhaust for performance gains, I wanted it's sound. But I'm starting to think that I am just inherently unable to gauge a mod's effectiveness by feel alone. As an example, it rained here Monday, all day long. On the way home, on three separate occasions, the rear-end would break loose on me. Nothing special, right? Well, not quite. All three times, it was on level ground, in a straight line, when I was around 3500rpms in second gear, and I applied extremely moderate throttle. It's never happened before though. So, despite my inability to "feel" anything, I can observe a gain.

Now for the MREV. Cheryl bought it for me for Christmas, but I didn't get the "plus" option. I debated on installing it, and chose to send it back out to Tony to have it machined. I got it back Friday(while I was in N.C.), and I installed it yesterday afternoon. It took me about an hour and a half just to get the damned upper collector off, because three of the four hose clamps were damned near unreachable. It took me forever to worry them to a position that I could get a good grip on them with pliars. After I got the upper collector off, it took me and my friend maybe an hour to get the lower collector removed, the iso gasket put into place, the lower collector swapped, the spacer installed, and the upper collector put back into place. If I could have removed the upper collector with less difficulty, it would have taken us less than 2 hours total.

I got in and cranked the car, when I was greeted with all the stupid lights and limp mode. I shut down, and my heart skipped a beat, thinking I might have left a hose disconnected. I removed the ztube, and realized I had forgotten to reattach the MAF to the throttle body assembly. I reconnected, reattached the ztube, and tried again. This time everything ran fine, except for the SES light that is now present(due to my tripping the codes because of the MAF issue).

I took it out for a couple of WOT 1st and 2nd redline runs. I was a little disappointed, because again I couldn't feel a bit of difference. Throttle response has been greatly improved, and the exhaust tone deepened just a bit more, but I couldn't "feel" any difference in acceleration. To tell you how bad my butt-dyno is, although I couldn't feel a difference, my friend (the srt4 guy) said it was a marked improvement. In fact, he said after the exhaust and the mrev, the car is a completely different car than just a few days ago.

I was hoping I could play around with it on the way to work today, but due to traffic, I don't think I exceeded 3k rpms the whole way, and I never got a chance to really apply much throttle. Here's to rush-hour traffic.

So, initial impressions on both the exhaust and the mrev. Performance wise, I can't feel crap. However, other people, in my car, can tell a difference. Weird huh? I don't have any reason to think I am the only person with the MREV to *not* see the gains every one else has seen. I just need to get it back on the dyno, but that's not gonna happen anytime soon.

I'll try to update in a few days after everything works itself out.

 

my exact experience with stillen. that drone in the b-pillar drove me nuts, as did the drone under 3k under load. don't take any road trips with people who like to *talk* - as opposed to listening to loud music.

 

The buzz in the pillar appeared in mine when I put on the Stillen HiFlow AirBox. Then it got much worse when I put on the Coupe Mid-pipe. Any idea how to remove the pillar and get to the buzzing parts?

 

how long have you been driving it, did you reset the ECU just to clear everything you had? at first my first few run were a disappointment, then after 10 mins of really driving it hard then I start to feel the difference. I don't know about other people saying after about a month that it should be much better. For me after a month I got use to it that it felt slow again. but you should feel the difference.

 

Trey,

The Stillen sounds exactly like the Borla I had installed for about 3 days. It was quite a bit louder than stock below 3,000rpms especially under part-throttle. At cruise the system was completely docile. Above 5000rpms, all I could hear was the VQ induction noise. For a multitude of reasons (many that you listed), I removed it and sold it. After it was removed, I realized it's not really the setup I wanted for my G35. If I had a 350Z, I would have kept it.

As for the MREV, I'm surprised you can't feel a difference because according to the dynos, you should be able to feel a good surge of power in the 2500-5000rpms range. I installed my MD 5/16" spacer last weekend and even my highly critical butt dyno felt a pleasing difference. The 5th to 3rd downshift on the highway is met with a healthier shove in the backside and a deeper induction growl. I suggest that Cheryl get the spacer because it's a great mod with absolutely no compromises. I'm surprised you had such trouble with the manifold hose clamps. Mine came off easily with a set of needle nose pliers on the clamp. Did you do the ISO thermal gasket on the TB too? Is that where the hang up was? I didn't buy any of the Iso stuff so maybe that's why I didn't have any problems. BTW, I suggest checking the torque specs on the 6 center manifold bolts too. They have a tendency to loosen if they're not torqued enough and could potentially create a small vacuum leak. I've found ~75 in/lbs is the key.

Hopefully we'll get to meet up at Steele in the Spring. I bought a house in Alpharetta, GA a couple weeks ago and we'll be there on March 2nd.

 

I would be very interested in seeing your dyno numbers when you have an opportunity.

 

^^^ +1

I would also. Ever since I got the MREV with stock rubber I was able to break the back end loose in 1st and 2nd just flooring it. Now with my new 275s in the rear its been much harder too in 1st, but never 2nd. Now I installed my Stillen CAI and the ECU adjusted, I can brake the tires loose flooring it in 2nd!!! Which is wild for 275s! Can't wait to get my Gen1 Stillen Exhaust which I have made a deal with a guy on here.

 

Well, guys, dynos around here run $55, so pony up.

 

I've been swooning over this exhaust for a while, mainly from word of mouth because there is a dearth of modded sedans in the Birmingham area. I'd venture to say that I'm the most modded sedan in the city, and probably the only one with exhaust work. Regardless, I'm pleased with the exhaust. At this point, I wouldn't even mind if it were louder. I've never had a sporty car before, so I'm going through the same phase that all my friends did back in highschool with the loud exhausts on mustangs and camaros.

I can feel a difference now. I'll describe it in more detail in a few posts down...

Cheryl has the 5/16's spacer on now. We put it on a few weeks ago. We were fortunate enough to get it used from a guy that was moving up to the 1/2 spacer. So I've done that part of the install before. The difficulty on my manifold was the hose that connects to the bottom of the throttle body, and the coolant hose that connects below the throttle body. That second hose runs underneath the MAF cabling, to a copper tube running horizontally along the driver's side. It was so difficult to reach the hose clamp that I disconnected it from the copper tubing, and threaded it back out from underneath th MAF cabling, rather than disconnecting it from the throttle body.

I didn't buy the copper option for the mrev, just the standard CCV option. That part is still unopened in the packaging.

As for the torquing, I plan on checking them again this weekend. I checked Cheryl's last night, and they were all fine. We don't have a torque wrench, so we hand tightened with a 10mm nut driver.

By "there" do you mean Steele, or your new house? Good luck with the move.

 

I got to drive at lunch, and I could notice a more pronounced gain than last night. Then on the way home from work, I got to exercise it a bit more, and I can definitely feel a difference now.

It's not so much that I can just break the tires loose at will. But when I was getting on the interstate, I redlined first, then slammed second, and when I came out of the clutch, the tires just spun and spun for at least 20 feet. It was quite cool really.

I've never done a reset, either on my car or Cheryl's car, ever. I didn't do one after the exhaust install, nor last night. Having installed the exhaust, and the MREV in a span of 200 miles, I imagine the ECU's all jacked up. In the time between installing the exhaust and the mrev, I really didn't have much of an opportunity to run the car very hard, so I'm sure it's still adapting to the exhaust anyway. It will all work itself out over the next couple of weeks.

If I recall, Russ was quite enthusiastic when he first got the MREV installed. But just a few days later, I remember him stating "I have *got* to get this thing dyno'd", implying that performance had been improved beyond initial install. Am I correct Russ?

 

The house. I may try to venture out to Steele or Silver Dollar near Macon, GA towards the end of March.

 

Yes you are correct. The initial impression was noticeable but it took a few days for the ECU to learn again. But I also did a ECU reset when I installed it. I now have the STILLEN CAI and did a ECU reset. The first night my car felt bad after the install. Felt weak. The next day it started to gain some more power and the intake got much louder. After putting about 100-150 miles on the car I believe the ECU has learned it. Because now the car pulls ugly. I mean when I got my new tires with 275s in the rear it was very hard for me to break loose the tail. Now after the intake, 1st gear breaks them loose again, and 2nd as well when hitting 4krpms. My 1st Gen Stillen is on its way soon from a guy I bought it from on here. So I will then give my impressions on it as well.

 

Wanted to give you guys an update.

Late last week I could start to feel a difference. While I must admit that I'm not able to feel the same gains as everyone else has reported, gains are there. I really don't feel any difference in torque below 3.5krpms, the lower gears come alive around 4k rpms. I'm sure it's killing my gas mileage, but I find myself dragging out the revs just to hit the sweet spot. However, I really can't tell much of a difference in 4th or 5th gear. Oddly, however, I can tell a difference in 6th at around 3k rpms(my cruising speed on the interstate). While my car has always been torquey enough to pass without downshifting(albeit slowly), I can now do so with more confidence.

Sadly, however, I can't break loose my rear tires by simply mashing the accelerator like some have reported. Time to dyno I guess.

Having said all that, I had the greatest appreciation for the gains today, in an odd situation. I drove to lunch today(like everyday), except today I had 3 passengers. One guy is about 6'1", 225. Another is 6'5" at about 310, and he sat in the backseat. The last guy is about 6', and roughly 290. Big guys. So I had an extra 825 pounds in the car than I'm used to, roughly 600 over the rear axle. Coming back from lunch I "exercised" the mrev on a back road, and I was blown away. In the past, with the same passengers, the car would be understandably anemic. However, today, it was as torquey as ever. I'm sure it didn't accelerate at the same rate had I been alone, but it was a huge difference from just a week ago. I was quite literally blown away, as were my passengers. In the past, when I would do a quick 1/2 shift, it would just bog, with no complaint from the rear tires. Today, I chirped them. They didn't spin freely, but a chirp nonetheless.

 

6'5" 310, and he sat in the back!

Oh, wait, you have a sedan, thats okay, then...

On a on-topic note, I have not been able to "feel" any of my mods, except maybe the UD pulley, and I have a decent number of mods, including the MREV. My butt-dyno is terrible at sensing things. On the other hand, I know my car is faster based on some other things, so no worries.

Dave

 

Back in last summer when I first installed the Stillen catback and Motordyne spacer (i wish i had a MT, so i can go for MREV), Oh God, I loved the setup and the extra pull that it gave!

Hope you will enjoy your setup Trey