Ok, ladies and gents, again, its time for another product review by the YOGURT!

Todays epispode... Testpipes... and what YOU can do to work WITH them, and not against them.

Ok, long story Short, I bought some testpipes because they were cheap enough ($95 bucks shipped to my door)

After searching and researching for sound vs performance etc.. I decided to go with the TopSpeed Resonated variety.. mostly for price..

upon recipt, the presentation of the product is pretty good.. although I think maybe more time was spent on the package design than the acutal product... que sera sera..

everything was individually wrapped as it should be... the bolts and gaskets look to be of mid quality.. nothing top notch here. .

the pipes themselves, well.. they are functional.. half the welds are horrible, and the other half are very good... so who knows whats goin on over there in china where they are made..

on to the installation.
again. after much searching... not many places have a DIY for testpipes.. (ill write one up one of these days) so I just decided to dive in.. and I must say its not a bad install at all.. you would need moderate experience for this one of youre a backyard mechanic like myself.

YOU WILL NEED NEED NEED to get yourself a 24" 3/8th extention for this.. without it it will be a major PITA.. It was 11 bucks from Autozone.. go get one, you and your hands will thank me later.

thankfully all the bolts broke loose with little to no effort thanks to the PB blaster I tossed at it...

but thats not the issue.. the issue with these testpipes, is they are so mass produced, that they are off JUST A HAIR.. so if you dont leave all the bolts loose before you sinch everything down.. youre going to have to pull out the incredible hulk gloves and really strain to get everything lined up. (im still sore)

after you get it all lined up.. initial startup was awesome.. nice grumble.. not too loud and obnoxious.. only a mild increase over stock.. you can tell its modded, but with no cat back.. people will be left to wonder what its got going on down there..

slowly in first up to 3krpm.. RRRRRRASP.. (ugh.. oh no... )
got on to an open road.. ripped though some gears, and didnt notice any rasp.. wierd..

tried it again.. at varying rpms... and sometimes the rasp is there and other times its not.. its kinda strange..

the car SCREAMs at WOT.. and acts mild at mid throttle.. not very much difference at all when cruising.
Blip the throttle to downshift/rev match.. and you get a pleasant surprise from the VQ power plant..

If I had to do this again.. I would have spent a little (notice i said a LITTLE) more on a set of resonated TP's from a little more reputable company.. but over all the install wasnt as bad as I thought it was goin to be, and If I were to do it again, I would leave all bolts loose first, then tighten everything in the correct order.

the biggest benefit for these things, is this... they weigh about 9 lbs.. where as the stock cats are about 15+ each (not official, just going by the feel of them)
there is some nice weight savings there between the cats and the bracket you can elimiate..

I think the gas mileage improved a little too... the throttle response is there for SURE..
and the HP gains? eh.. probably 8 or so.. not much..
I will tell you though.. with the VDC off, and power shifting into 2nd at 6800.. they will not just chirp, but spin pretty good...

IMO the car should have come from the factory with a spacer, testpipes, and a better air filter.. because, NOW the car is becoming a fun car to drive for sure..

the rasp is temporary, and I think once they get broken in.. it may subside... as the rasp was less frequent on the drive home.. (only logged about 30 miles so far on them)

overall.. I rate the mod a B.. if the rasp was not there A+
B for Price.. and the Knuckle banging install.. at 90 something dollars. its worth doing.. but only really if you have the time and knuckle skin to spare..

YOGURT! out..


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2003 Nissan 350Z Track Edition
Super Black
M6 w/nav
[K&N][Cooling plate][Grounding Kit][PowerLab 3/8"]
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Hey Yogurt,
Thank you for your excellent product review! Enjoy.

 

You're welcome! glad you liked it!

 

Nice write up. I'm still on the fence about them though. Thanks.

 

nice write up, please post pictures next time.

 

nice write up YOGURT!. . .keeps me thinking of getting rtp's. . .do you have a sound clip of them revving and under load?. . .sound clip would make your review complete! . . .