InterlagosFiyah

I can't find much detailed information online about installing this exhaust, it's going to be delivered this Wednesday and I was originally going to have a shop install it for me but they are scheduled out for a month and I would prefer to not wait that long...
Has anyone installed this exhaust before, it's a Invidia 350z Gemini Rolled Titanium Tips Cat-Back Exhaust System. Just curious if this a job you think I can do in an evening with help or not, my friend has a lift that I can use, or should I wait for the shop to do it,
any input is welcomed, thanks.

MicVelo

Depends on you. Not much to create any real difficulty other than muscling (or occasionally bending) the hangers into place on the donuts. Might prove to be more difficult freeing up aged bolts at the catalysts. Soak first, impact wrench later.

InterlagosFiyah

Okay cool, thanks for the response. So no real special machinery knowledge is required, I guess, It's just a catback exhaust, so I figured it couldn't require that much disassembly since not everything needs to come off and it's not like you can really accidentally destroy the exhaust or anything..

travlee

iTrader: (8)

my nephew and i installed it on my car in about 2 hours with lots of beer breaks.

InterlagosFiyah

That's exactly what I wanted to hear! I don't drink but that helps pad some time onto the process for things that'll probably take me a little longer to figure out lol. Thanks for the response

Heel Til I Die

iTrader: (2)

Very easy. If you can turn a wrench, you can absolutely do it yourself. As mentioned, penetrating oil and an impact will make it go quickly. If you don't have that, then a good breaker bar will help if the bolts are seized.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

the pipe on the passenger side can be installed backwards...be careful on that one

here was my old car with the gemini and art pipes.... good combo

InterlagosFiyah

I really like that sound, do you know how much of a difference the art pipes make? since at least as of now it's just the exhaust, does it sound fairly similar i'm assuming?

Heel Til I Die

iTrader: (2)

IMO, ART pipes dramatically change the sound. The Invidia Gemini with stock cats is fairly tame and a little more pronounced over stock. Typically, people go with this option to accent the VQ sound and liven it up a little bit. I have it on my daily driver G which is pretty close to stock. I wanted my Z to be loud at WOT, so I went with the Motordyne TDX2, but it's not for everyone.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

exactly.... here is art and tdx2

InterlagosFiyah

Yeah, this is my daily, so I don't really want a super obnoxious sound, I had straight piped it and deleted the cat, which was a good volume for me however I wasn't a fan of the raspy can sound in lower gears & high RPMs. I was going for more of a close to stock but deeper rumble sound. If I would want to install art pipes after the exhaust is that more work than doing it all at once? Or is it completely separate from dissembling the catback part of the exhaust?

Heel Til I Die

iTrader: (2)

My experience replacing the stock cats was fairly atypical compared to others. There are a lot of horror stories about removing them, but mine was really easy with the right combination of wobble sockets and extensions. Of course, I soaked all the cat bolts in PB blaster overnight and my car has lived in the south its entire life.

You can definitely do the cat back now and then replace the cats later on. No need to remove the exhaust to put on some ART pipes or HFCs.

InterlagosFiyah

Thank you very much for the concise answers, I appreciate it, I'm fairly new to car scene so some of these questions may seem stupid, as of now I'm planning on installing the catback tomorrow night, I'll take before and after recordings and see if I'm content with the sound, again thanks a lot for the help, and for putting me at ease about the process!

Heel Til I Die

iTrader: (2)

Anytime! We all started out at some point in our lives without any knowledge of any of this, so I'm glad it's helped you. I think you'll like the Invidia for your needs. It's subtle and not obnoxious. If you do change the cats in the future, it will change the overall sound as well. ART pipes seem to be the best test pipes with little to no rasp. Resonated HFCs won't have any rasp, but won't be as loud as test pipes if you're concerned with sound.

Bak3rme

iTrader: (1)

I have same exhaust, it sounds great even new out of the box. If there is minimal rust underneath the car and somewhat low miles, it could be walk in the park. If its rusted to crapperines and lots of miles it can take more time. The only thing you are fighting are rusted bolts. Everything else is just plug and play with adjustments. if you have access to a lift it will help, but can also be done in the driveway on jackstands. Be careful with jackstands there was a recall recently with harbor freight stands then they recalled again past few days. If you have the OEM exhaust on still, getting the rear axle back can be somewhat of a pain with the hangers and all if you haven't removed them before.

Really depends on how much patience you have and if you are a type of person to give up easily or do you think clearly and power through.

good luck. exhaust will sound great!

InterlagosFiyah

Funny, right before you posted this my friend that's going to be helping me said the only thing he's scared might give us trouble is rust. The car does have a decent amount of miles on it, around 130k however I do think it was kept in fairly good condition. The owners before me had it garage kept and I do as well, but I have never looked underneath for rust so it is a possibility.. They do have a very nice lift we'll be using so that will definitely make things nicer. I guess there's nothing you can really do to prepare for rusted bolts.. I have a heatgun I could use, not sure how much that will help though.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

PB Blaster and overnight soaking will be your friend

InterlagosFiyah

​​​​​​Sooo we got the exhaust installed tonight and everything went well but I'm going to be honest it's a little quieter than I expected. I guess since my car was straight piped it was pretty loud but I thought it would be a pretty close volume to that just a little deeper. But compared to videos I heard there's really not any rumble whatsoever. The one passenger pipe someone mentioned can be installed wrong, and we did have trouble getting that to line up, could that potentially affect sound if we don't have that installed properly? I'm guessing no. I do like the sound but it's much quieter than I wanted, and revving doesn't seem to really affect the tone at all. What test pipes or combination would you recommend to give the biggest sound boost?? A little rasp doesn't bother me, I was just a little disappointed that there's not a little more kick.
​​​​​​

travlee

iTrader: (8)

Art pipes....but give the exhaust some time, the tone will change when everything gets coated in carbon

InterlagosFiyah

Okay, I'll give it some time, it might grow on me, but yeah it didn't have as much of a growl as some of the ones that I saw online. I guess videos can also be deceiving sometimes, but I'll let it break in a little I might end up going with pipes though. Are art pipes louder than the berk pipes?