Sorry you're not satisfied with the new sound. The invidia is well made, but it is fairly tame. Certainly nowhere close to straight pipes in volume.

If you don't care about rasp, then you can get a set of regular non resonated test pipes. Resonated test pipes will be a little quieter and slightly less raspy. ART pipes seem to eliminate rasp the most.

I'm not sure if you want to go this route, but when I switched my invidia that was previously on my Z over to my G, it is about 6 inches shorter, so I drove it to my local muffler shop to have some extensions made but it was disconnected right before the rear muffler section. It was MUCH louder during that short drive. You could always delete the invidia muffler section and you might get the sound you want. If you want to test it, remove the rear section and take it for a short drive.

 

Yeah, it's not that I hate the sound, I can tell I'd like it but there's just not quite enough of it there for me, especially in the lower gears. This information helps me out, tonight I might try a muffler delete and see how I like it. So what do you replace that section with? Just straight pipes?

 

i say save a bit and get art pipes, expensive but you will love them.

 

I think I will inevitably need them, I believe I simply underestimated how loud a straight piped Z is compared to stock, and I've gotten used to it.Just to make sure I'm looking at the correct thing, this is what I would be needing? vvv

https://www.importtuned.com/7436-mot...z_03_06_vq35de

 

that would be them, and that is actually a really good price

 

Okay awesome, I think I'm going to pull the trigger. I've seen a few videos and I think that's more so the sound I was going for. The journey continues

 

the journey never ends..... make sure to soak those bolts over a couple of days. you will need a long, like 2 ft long extension to get a couple of bolts from the engine bay. i have see a guy get it from underneath before, but most common to hit it from above

 

Hahaha, that's scarily accurate.. Always one more thing. :/

Just to get an idea, how long did it take you to install the ART pipes? I assume it's less time than the entire exhaust itself was... hopefully.

 

It all depends on how badly the bolts are seized. I used this write-up: https://my350z.com/forum/intake-exha...ation-diy.html

As mentioned before, mine was very easy, but I soaked everything in PB blaster overnight and zero rust.

To answer your other question about the rear muffler delete, yeah - you would essentially remove that section and just get some pipes fabbed up to run straight out where the tips go. It's a little ricey, but it's your Z, so do what you like.

 

it is all going to depend on how long it takes you to get three bolts off of the header, and two on the exhaust. it was like 7 years ago when i did it, so i cant remember exactly, but it was pretty quick

 

I second a good pre-soaking and make sure you have a good set of half inch extensions, wobbles, and U-joints to help get in there, use 6 point not 12 point to help avoid rounding, etc...

 

Okay gotcha, definitely going to soak it then! And I'll keep those tips in mind, I actually just pulled the trigger on the art pipes, they're in stock so they should ship right away. Very excited

 

I have mine paired with some cheapo reasonated test pipes from Topspeed motorsports. The Gemini is a tame exhaust but it keeps true to the OEM tone, just a bit more deeper (thats why I like it i guess). I like how mine is set up with the reasonated test pipes. I think since you are running stock cats right now, pairing them with ART pipes will absolutely change the tone of the system.

What made you hop on with the invidia gemini vs something else?

 

Well, the original reason I wanted an exhaust was because eventually I'm planning on getting a popcorn/crackle tune. I was debating between a few, mainly invdia's N1 and Gemini, and although I wanted something audible that I can rev and hear some deep rumble/feedback from, I still wanted to be able to cruise at reasonable levels. This is a pretty specific request but it's what I was going for. From the videos I envisioned a little more roar/rumble from the exhaust and maybe even a few crackles with the exhaust itself because I thought I had seen videos with just the exhaust that gave a crisp rumble but there is pretty much zero rumble with it currently. I did hear someone saying that the exhaust does change tone a little after driving with it for a little while so maybe I'll be impressed but as of now I definitely need some extra sound which hopefully I'll get with the dnyo art pipes.

I guess videos can be deceiving, especially when directly behind the exhaust but we'll see if I can make it sound how I want.

 

eh if you were closer I'd show you how it sounds in person and under load. crackle tunes I think might work better with the less restricted exhaust system (gemini does have that OEM style muffler @ the rear.

 

So you wouldn't recommend doing a crackle tune with this exhaust? Even with art pipes?

 

If you want decel pops and gurgles, get a corvette.

Just sayin

 

Internet videos are tough to gauge the sound. It's inevitable that if you want a louder exhaust sound, you're going to likely going to get more drone, but I think Motordyne nailed with with their design. Little to no drone at cruising highway speeds. I made this video last weekend to show some "real world" driving and the sound of the Motordyne TDX2. I probably shouldn't be posting this since you just got the Invidia, but maybe it will help others. Hopefully, you won't get buyer's remorse!

 

I did a quick search and saw its $1,700 and was about to say I don't have that kind of money but I realized I've spent pretty much the same amount on gemini and art pipes.. 😅 Worst case scenario I'll resell the parts and lose a few hundred dollars if I'm not satisfied with art pipes, but that does sound nice. I think from the videos I've heard the art pipes will turn it into what I want, only one way to find out though.

 

Butt wait Trav, if he gets that fashionable Rice Krispies tune (you know, snap, crackle, pop!), the pipes will carbon coat faster with runoff fuel! Win win!!

Imagine how much faster they’d coat with another faux performance tune. Flame map that suckuh!! 🙃