Hi everyone - recently joined the site as it seems to have a large member population (judging by the for sale section anyway!).

I bought my 350Z a couple of weeks ago - a black 2006 grand touring. Enjoying it so far!

I've changed a couple of things on it - antenna and clear reflectors for the front. Now wrestling with an exhaust - spent a while deciding on cheap eBay no-name vs branded from the classifieds here. EBay so cheap that I ended up giving that a go, but one tailpipe doesn't line up!

Oh, I also just moved to the US (about 1 month ago) so still figuring out things here - I'm from the UK.

 

Welcome!
We all learn the hard way on buying stuff on e-bay.Don't get me wrong,there are
many quality items.You just have to be careful.When the deal is too good to be true,
it usually is...The shiny exhaust systems at 400 bucks...?when a name system that looks the same sells for $1,400---should make you wonder.There are some areas that
you could go cheap.Exhaust is not one of them.
Buy quality,in the long run you never go wrong.

 

Yeah that was my worry with the exhaust before I bought it, or that it would lose power! I'm going to speak to the company tomorrow and will then know what options are open to me. Luckily these copy exhausts are really are cheap!

Long term I will definitely have a proper branded exhaust, it's just how I get there...

 

Welcome to the board! What part of Cali are you in?

I def agree with Jcity, pay a little more to do it right the first time!

<---Owner of a GReddy EVO II for ~2 years and owned the Z for 2yrs 8months

 

Ebay is the enemy. buy authentic japanese. happy modding

 

only cheap ebay exhaust i have heard good reviews on is the godspeed one. i honestly couldnt tell you anything on it as far as longterm use. myself i would just save for a quality system. dont have one on my z yet but learned a cheap one on my eclipse didnt hold up once i installed the turbo.

 

I'm in the orange county area, about 1hr from LA.

I've heard of the Godspeed exhaust, it seems like there is that category of cheap but branded exhausts as well - I've seen brands of M2, OBX, etc which have their own web sites (I've just never heard of the brands). M2 is the same price as the unbranded ones, for a true dual!

It really depends on the conversation I have with the company tomorrow to be honest. If they offer a full refund then a proper branded exhaust is on the table again (I quite like that ark one in the classifieds - is that a decent brand as I've not heard of that before?). However if all they will do is some form of exchange or upgrade then I will try that first. I currently have a single-piped version which they might want to swap directly, alternatively they also do a (true dual) hks copy for ~$90 more which I may ask to change to (assuming no refunds). They are close-ish to me so hoping to just drive up and sort it out one way or the other.
The ones other possible outcome is that they tell me to sod off...then, I may just be p*ssed off enough to buy that ark one

 

Take it to any muffler shop and have them adjust it. They'll just make some cuts and weld it back to fit. Shouldn't cost much at all.

 

I already tried getting someone to bend it (it looked like it was the right length just not the right angle). They messed it up and although it now sits in the bumper cut out ok, it's about 2 inches further in than the other tailpipe

They didn't do any cutting and replacing of pipework though. At that point I just thought I'd speak to the exhaust company, make them sort it out...the more I try to fix it the less my chances of getting the company to take it back/sort it out (or so I figured)...

 

Welcome and congratulations.

 

Thanks! And an update - I just agreed to buy an exhaust from a member on here, he's local so hopefully picking it up tomorrow. It's a proper branded exhaust I'll say no more until I've actually got it in my hands, don't want to count my chickens etc etc...

 

A GReddy evo 2 now sits on the car that was a whole lot of fun I had with the evap relocation! Think I did it right though (no instructions). I have standard cats but was still surprised to see (hear) it wasn't that loud. Probably a good thing though!

 

Copycat!!!!! It is one of the best sounding exhausts though so I don't blame you. Mine is still better tho, I got a teeeny secret to mine8)

 

do tell?

 

Nope I will NOT tell you......................










I will show you
Make sure to follow the directions, there's about 23 seconds of just waiting in one of the vids...

http://youtu.be/hvQ9t-JsuUE

http://youtu.be/sLtp2-FJegA

 

Nice sound! So to make sure I have the correct UK-USA translation/understanding - the resonator is the centre muffler under the car? You had them replaced with straight pipes or something?

 

I wil NEVER tell.....



Yea, I have straight pipes instead

 

How long til you loose the Pommy lilt and pick up the American twang.

Did you have a Z back in Pomland?

 

Hah, I don't think I will, too old! I think you need to be a bit younger to properly take on an accent...mine's too established. Besides, people love it

I didn't have a Z before...at least not this kind of Z. I had a 2.8 Z3 quite a few (8) years back, they're actually quite similar. In between, I had no cars of any interest - I had (motor)bikes and by the time I thought about getting a decent car again, it was too close to our planned move here to be worth it.

 

Americans always seem to love a different accent.

When's a Z not a Z, when it's a BMW. Well not in our world anyway.
Enjoy the Zeeeee.