Unfortunatly it needs to be tig welded which is expensive. I found a friend of mine that can do it for pretty cheap though. I checked before i found him and it was 160.00 to fix it.

 

please bear my ignorance, what is tic-welded? and you can only use this to fix the leakage?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIG_welding

 

Looking at that design. It isn't well thought out. If they put the flex section on the long part of the pipes it would have prevented that area to crack. There is a lot of stress in that area that it did crack by how long the pipes are.

 

You get what you pay for I guess-although my cheapo ebay test-pipes didnt crack in over 2.5 years. Sorry to hear that all those things cracked though that really blows, Id try to get it replaced by the manufacturer.

 

No way that should of cracked right through the center of the weld. It should be stronger than the parent metal. So, to speed up production they most likely took a wet rag to the tubes so the fabricator wouldn't burn himself. AND made the welds brittle in the process.

 

I agree. The welds is where it all fractured.

 

^^Hey DayblueZ,

How's your new Fuji-Y-pipe and APS Test pipes holding up??? Cuz my cheapo test pipe, y-pipe and mid-pipe cracked up just like those in your pictures.

I'm thinking about going back with stock y-pipe & mid-pipe but install a new set of high flow cats instead for long term reliability.....

 

I am begining to think that the oem cat brace IS necesary. I think the fact that too many of the components just hang there without it and the fact that it is not there to prevent an inordinate amount of twist on acceleration is causing these issues.

I have the same issues with my exhaust. It is constantly loosening bolts, blowing gaskets and leaking at every joint. I have had the mid-pipe crack at the welds as well.

My setup is Helix cats, Gruppe-S Y-pipe, and Fuji Legalis-R exhaust. Everything but the Helix cats are coming out tomorrow in favor of a Borla TD exhaust. Next steps is finding new cats that utilize the oem brace.

If I continue having issues in this regard, I am going back to stock!

 

i've read that using the oem cat brace is actually what causes cats to crack - hence why people like crawford and kinetix stopped manufacturing them with the brace attachment.

 

are you sure? since I was thinking that the brace could help eliminate the amount of engine movement being translated to the catback?

 

I hate the idea of going back to stock tho...then i can't hear those wonderful loud raspy noise anymo.

 

Mine is fine so far. I didn't have the brace and they cracked. So now i have the brace and i'll have to wait and see. I don't see how it would make them crack since it is a more stable system now. But, then again, everything is welded with that thin A$$ machine tig welding instead of a good ole valley weld.

 

Same thing happend to my Nismo y-pipe and mid-pipe with headers and high flow cats. Got it welded again and it seems to be fine now, but i havent been under the car all winter so who knows for sure. Hope to find out this weekend before my first auto-x of the season.

 

Someone else posted this info-

"Make sure you get the Crawford cats that have the re-inforced bend at the bottom or they may crack after a while (my original ones cracked in about 1 1/2 years). This was directly due to the Nismo exhaust "pulling up" on the cat pipe end."

 

My gruppe-s y-pipe cracked like 2 weeks after I bought it.. my car just kept getting louder and ricey sounding until i took a look. The entire section on one side under the flex sheared apart.. cheaply made.. you get what you pay for.. no offense but Megan Racing is not known for their quality either..

(note: i cut the mesh to look underneath at the broken flex)


I currently have the UR Y pipe (more like a V pipe).. been on there for about a year now.. no problems..



--mike

 

There is a reason the Nissan engineers placed a flex-brace in that exact location. It allows the exhaust system to flex, but eliminates a majority of the hanging weight between the engine block and B-pipe hanger. My Helix HFCs did not come with this brace, so I rigged something up for myself the day I installed them. I've inspected the welds and joints and everything looks fine a Year later. This spring I'm going inspect the joints and welds again and replace the rubber connection on my HFCs bracket with a solid bar. I feel the rubber bushings on the U-brace do their job and the rubber piece on my brackets is just overkill. The addition of this rigid piece will strengthen the overall system that much more. I'm definitely do this before the Nismo exhaust goes on in a month or so.

I bought the U-bolt with rubber connector and perfed bar at Pep Boys...



GL,
Zquicksilver

 

this just goes to show that the fact remains true: you get what you pay for.

everyone says "oh the welds look good" on the cheap parts.

those welds looked beautiful. Didn't stop it from cracking.


they really need to have hangers welded on!

 

just have everything rewelded, it should even be stronger then before.

 

I guess aftermarket parts wasn't suppose to last as long as stock parts. Oh well, just got keep on buyin 'em after they crack.