New Z & having fun so far

[TwinZurbo]

Bought my Z a couple months ago and had some feelings. Bought my Mustang GT couple weeks ago and helped give me perspective.

It's been a great car, wife loves to drive it too. I love the fit and finish of the body. The Mustang GT's all seem to have some slightly askew bodywork but A+ to Ford for active Exhaust being a $1200 option.

My likely mod list as of today:
Z1 touring exhaust w/ a resonated Y-Pipe
AAM resonated LDP
Oil catch can
Ecutek
Tires

Iffy on:
CAI
HX / intercooler
Sway bars

My questions at the moment:
Has anyone heard a deeper tone exhaust system yet? Most of the ones I'm hearing off Youtube are raspy or obnoxious. The Z1 touring exhaust seems to be a good fit for me, but it's near the cost of an active system at $1900

Lower DP's.. specifically referring to tone and cats. Is using a free flow lower DP going to throw a CEL? (AMS LDP for $400 vs. MaPerf w/ cat for $1000 vs. AAM w/ resonator $600) Honestly shopping for exhaust parts without knowing how it'll sound is discouraging.

Are 275 Michelin's sufficient for the rear?

My challenges so far:
Went to the dealer to have the active noise enhancement and cancelation disabled. They told me "can't do it, Nissan said so." I sent them a pic of it from these forums and now they want to charge me $80 to change it.

 

[Jah_Happy]

Go AWE exhaust and Ams lower downpipes. Thats the setup im running and it sounds mean as hell. No CELs or issues.

 

[bpeckham]

My challenges so far:
Went to the dealer to have the active noise enhancement and cancelation disabled. They told me "can't do it, Nissan said so." I sent them a pic of it from these forums and now they want to charge me $80 to change it.

Gah! That sucks. It's silly that the end user can't do this, especially on a car on which so many love modify the exhaust.

 

[TwinZurbo]

Go AWE exhaust and Ams lower downpipes. Thats the setup im running and it sounds mean as hell. No CELs or issues.

Happen to have a good sound clip? Track or Touring?

The downpipes from AMS seem to have the fancy GESi cat (spikes price 4x) or are just straight race pipes.
This is how I ended up on my previous comment...
AMS LDP for $400 vs. MaPerf w/ cat for $1000 vs. AAM w/ resonator $600
MaPerformance have the stage 1 vs 2 Gesi so you don't pay for more than you need. So that kinda rules out the AMS LDP.. I'm not paying the extra $600 for a fancier Gesi. But if those race LDP's aren't raspy or obnoxious.. why not?

 

[MattJ2020]

Keep us posted!

 

[TwinZurbo]

Went back to the dealer today. They happily turned off the sound enhancement and noise cancelation for $80.
I honestly think the fake noise made a better car sound.. but it's more pleasing to hear the car's noises instead.
I'm super excited to try out some exhaust options now. Love this car.

 

[KCZ]

I'm still waiting for Borla to release their system. Their system for the 350 was nice and deep, and not raspy or drone-y at all.

 

[TKAZ]

Went to the dealer to have the active noise enhancement and cancelation disabled. They told me "can't do it, Nissan said so." I sent them a pic of it from these forums and now they want to charge me $80 to change it.

"What a coincidence! My fee for teaching you that it can be done is also $80!"

 

[Mr&Mrs]

Glad you are enjoying the Z. I agree with @Jah_Happy on the exhaust setup you are looking for. I wanted a bit higher pitch under load, so I went a different route, but respect AWE's system and what it offers. I have full down pipes with a race cat and no CEL's so you should be fine. From my understanding it has to do with the position of the O2 sensor and any downpipe with it in a long elbow seem to be fine.

The dealer who disabled my noise maker/reducer started out with, we cant do it, to, we can do it for 160.00, to doing it for 50.00. It does a great job of making the factory exhaust seem to have a good note to it. So after getting it turned off most people will want to upgrade.

I would absolutely get sway bars at the least if you enjoy a stiffer more responsive drive.

 

[TwinZurbo]

Glad you are enjoying the Z. I agree with @Jah_Happy on the exhaust setup you are looking for. I wanted a bit higher pitch under load, so I went a different route, but respect AWE's system and what it offers. I have full down pipes with a race cat and no CEL's so you should be fine. From my understanding it has to do with the position of the O2 sensor and any downpipe with it in a long elbow seem to be fine.

The dealer who disabled my noise maker/reducer started out with, we cant do it, to, we can do it for 160.00, to doing it for 50.00. It does a great job of making the factory exhaust seem to have a good note to it. So after getting it turned off most people will want to upgrade.

I would absolutely get sway bars at the least if you enjoy a stiffer more responsive drive.

A higher pitch is fine at high RPM as long as there's no rasp and drone anywhere. What exhaust setup did you choose or was it custom?
I love the anti-drone on the AWE touring.. and Borla seems to make the Nismo system too and say it doesn't drone. Interestingly (and unrelated) the Nismo pipes are 2.25".. Borla chose 2.5" for their named ones.
I've seen the Nismo exhaust for about $400 more than what the AWE system costs too. I think the AWE system sounds better on Youtube.

Thanks for the +1 on sway bars.. the more I drive it the less I think I want them. I wish more of us had RZ34's to compare notes!

 

[Mr&Mrs]

A higher pitch is fine at high RPM as long as there's no rasp and drone anywhere. What exhaust setup did you choose or was it custom?
I love the anti-drone on the AWE touring.. and Borla seems to make the Nismo system too and say it doesn't drone. Interestingly (and unrelated) the Nismo pipes are 2.25".. Borla chose 2.5" for their named ones.
I've seen the Nismo exhaust for about $400 more than what the AWE system costs too. I think the AWE system sounds better on Youtube.

Thanks for the +1 on sway bars.. the more I drive it the less I think I want them. I wish more of us had RZ34's to compare notes!

I have the Z1 Q50/60 Down Pipes and BoostLogic system. I have not noticed any drone. There may be a very slight rasp at low RPMs but I can’t be sure yet. My heat shields around the turbos are still bent out from the downpipe install because I’m making sure no leaks develop before I secure them. That is causing a sound at certain RPMs. I also have a vibration I’m trying to track down from the hatch area after all the installs. Those two things could be providing a sound I’m mistaking to be the exhaust.

I can’t say for sure if sway bars alone will provide a huge difference for some people. I only drove it after sway bars with the addition of all the subframe bracing. Which provided significant body roll reduction. Only thing I can say is the Z1 bars are nearly double in size. I just don’t see how someone wouldn’t notice the benefits. That’s also why I said at a minimum though. All the items work together including coilovers.

 

[Jah_Happy]

Happen to have a good sound clip? Track or Touring?

The downpipes from AMS seem to have the fancy GESi cat (spikes price 4x) or are just straight race pipes.
This is how I ended up on my previous comment...
AMS LDP for $400 vs. MaPerf w/ cat for $1000 vs. AAM w/ resonator $600
MaPerformance have the stage 1 vs 2 Gesi so you don't pay for more than you need. So that kinda rules out the AMS LDP.. I'm not paying the extra $600 for a fancier Gesi. But if those race LDP's aren't raspy or obnoxious.. why not?

I have clips on Instagram, Touring version because the downpipes add to the loudness. Yes the AMS lower downpipes are race pipes without a cat. You wont throw a CEL because you still have the upper downpipe with cat installed. When I spoke to AMS, they told me specifically that unless you plan to make big power, there's no reason to hassle with full downpipes, especially if you're paying a shop to do it. They told me the power gain wasnt worth it. They said lower was the sweet spot. They definitely arent obnoxious or crazy loud on these cars. Im very happy with them.

 

[TwinZurbo]

I have clips on Instagram, Touring version because the downpipes add to the loudness. Yes the AMS lower downpipes are race pipes without a cat. You wont throw a CEL because you still have the upper downpipe with cat installed. When I spoke to AMS, they told me specifically that unless you plan to make big power, there's no reason to hassle with full downpipes, especially if you're paying a shop to do it. They told me the power gain wasnt worth it. They said lower was the sweet spot. They definitely arent obnoxious or crazy loud on these cars. Im very happy with them.

Super helpful sound clip! I'm super excited about getting exhaust installed..
You've essentially answered my LDP questions, much appreciated.

I have the Z1 Q50/60 Down Pipes and BoostLogic system. I have not noticed any drone. There may be a very slight rasp at low RPMs but I can’t be sure yet. My heat shields around the turbos are still bent out from the downpipe install because I’m making sure no leaks develop before I secure them. That is causing a sound at certain RPMs. I also have a vibration I’m trying to track down from the hatch area after all the installs. Those two things could be providing a sound I’m mistaking to be the exhaust.

I can’t say for sure if sway bars alone will provide a huge difference for some people. I only drove it after sway bars with the addition of all the subframe bracing. Which provided significant body roll reduction. Only thing I can say is the Z1 bars are nearly double in size. I just don’t see how someone wouldn’t notice the benefits. That’s also why I said at a minimum though. All the items work together including coilovers.

I suspect subframe bracing would be a bit of a killer for me in a daily driver.

 

[TwinZurbo]

Update: I bought the AMS Race LDP and CAI, AWE Touring CBE.
Super excited for them to show up!

Install & tune (with Ecutek) was quoted just at 2k by a shop that's already worked on the 2023 Z.

An audio buddy of mine wants to do some moving tests to capture the exhaust before/after.. hopefully that pans out and I can share here.

 

[bpeckham]

I just realized, @TwinZurbo, this would be a great personalized plate:TWNZRBO