Falker11's 6MT Sedan
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 378
Likes: 59
From: Central Florida
Nice thread 
Looking for a review on the RJM. I am running without assist spring currently.
FYI, there's a FSM on the sedan main page. It has helped me remove my motor/trans. I'm sure it'll help with the RJM install.
Looking for a review on the RJM. I am running without assist spring currently.
FYI, there's a FSM on the sedan main page. It has helped me remove my motor/trans. I'm sure it'll help with the RJM install.
It's been a while since I checked in guys - been traveling for work way too much. However in that time my FI catback was finished, shipped and delivered...got some time on my buddies' lift today to install it.
First impressions - WOW I am very happy with it, exactly what I was looking for, great sound when you get on it but not overly loud and obnoxious. Will do a full writeup in a bit but wanted to check back in and say hi.
First impressions - WOW I am very happy with it, exactly what I was looking for, great sound when you get on it but not overly loud and obnoxious. Will do a full writeup in a bit but wanted to check back in and say hi.
Installed my FI catback with 12 inch resonators on my Sedan this past Sunday.
First things first, drove up onto my buddies’ lift then enjoyed a nice cigar while we let the car cool off.
Install was very straightforward and that’s even with my friend and I being pretty n00bish when it comes to exhaust…he’s done 1 (on his BRZ) and I’ve never done one before. The stock exhaust all came down in one piece. Removing the hangers from stock exhaust was a piece of cake with some WD40. Being up on the lift certainly made things very easy – all the bolts came off with no issues at all.
The FI catback went up: front then mufflers, then X pipe. I used the hardware that was already on the back end of the stock cat because FI didn’t provide a gasket for that connection and I didn’t have replacements. I’ll see if I have any leaks and if I do I’ll replace those gaskets. Then the mufflers went up with utilizing 2 of the 3 stock hangers. Lastly the xpipe bolted up. Everything fit great and torqued everything down front to back. Re-installed my center brace since it did just clear the bottom of the xpipe (more on this later).
Here are some photos of the finished install showing that great FI fitment:
Starting it up for the first time made me giddy. Just the right volume I was looking for. The tone is nice and deep on a cold start and the tone raises up nicely as you rev the engine. Inside the cabin with the windows closed you can definitely hear the difference under load and hard acceleration but at cruising speeds and idle you’d never know it’s aftermarket…very good! There is definitely a drone though under light acceleration in 5th and 6th gear that I’ll have to get used to or adjust my shifting patterns to compensate for.
On my drive home from my friend’s I was definitely smiling the whole way. Everything seemed to be installed correctly and sounded great.
Then I took the car out this morning to get some breakfast. I started noticing a clunking sound…it sounded like it was coming from the passenger side muffler but I wasn’t sure exactly…it’s hard to pinpoint these noises. I parked back at home and worked for the morning, hoping it was just break in from heating/cooling cycles but was pretty doubtful that was the issue. Later in the afternoon when I took my son on some errands I definitely heard it again. It seemed to happen mostly when going over bumps.
Got back up on my friend’s lift tonight and noticed the passenger rearmost muffler hanger had a bit of play to it…the bolts were nice and tight to the frame but the rubber part definitely seemed to move up and down more than the driver side one did. It would move up enough to make contact with the bottom of the car frame when I pushed it hard enough so figured this would be the issue. We uninstalled the hanger and rotated it 180 degrees to see if maybe that would make a difference…It did make the hanger have less movement upward so thought this would probably solve the issue…drove around but still heard the clunking.
Then my friend suggested removing the center brace…So I did and voila! No more clunking! I was pretty surprised this was the issue for a couple reasons. 1- it did fit under the xpipe without touching it. And when I tried to move the pipes up and down it did not appear to make contact with the brace. 2-FI install instructions say you don’t need to remove it unless you have the 2.5” piping.
Anyway this seems to have fixed the issue so I am just running without that brace for now. I did reinstall the bolts since they hold some sort of metal shield to the underside of the frame. Thinking about buying some spacers of some kind, maybe washers to move the brace down a little bit. Anyone know the purpose of this brace and if it’s worth it to figure out a way to reinstall it?
Anyway thanks for sticking with me through the long-winded review. I am ecstatic with this exhaust now that I am clunk free! I’ll do a follow up review in time once it’s been broken in and on the car for a bit.
First things first, drove up onto my buddies’ lift then enjoyed a nice cigar while we let the car cool off.
Install was very straightforward and that’s even with my friend and I being pretty n00bish when it comes to exhaust…he’s done 1 (on his BRZ) and I’ve never done one before. The stock exhaust all came down in one piece. Removing the hangers from stock exhaust was a piece of cake with some WD40. Being up on the lift certainly made things very easy – all the bolts came off with no issues at all.
The FI catback went up: front then mufflers, then X pipe. I used the hardware that was already on the back end of the stock cat because FI didn’t provide a gasket for that connection and I didn’t have replacements. I’ll see if I have any leaks and if I do I’ll replace those gaskets. Then the mufflers went up with utilizing 2 of the 3 stock hangers. Lastly the xpipe bolted up. Everything fit great and torqued everything down front to back. Re-installed my center brace since it did just clear the bottom of the xpipe (more on this later).
Here are some photos of the finished install showing that great FI fitment:
Starting it up for the first time made me giddy. Just the right volume I was looking for. The tone is nice and deep on a cold start and the tone raises up nicely as you rev the engine. Inside the cabin with the windows closed you can definitely hear the difference under load and hard acceleration but at cruising speeds and idle you’d never know it’s aftermarket…very good! There is definitely a drone though under light acceleration in 5th and 6th gear that I’ll have to get used to or adjust my shifting patterns to compensate for.
On my drive home from my friend’s I was definitely smiling the whole way. Everything seemed to be installed correctly and sounded great.
Then I took the car out this morning to get some breakfast. I started noticing a clunking sound…it sounded like it was coming from the passenger side muffler but I wasn’t sure exactly…it’s hard to pinpoint these noises. I parked back at home and worked for the morning, hoping it was just break in from heating/cooling cycles but was pretty doubtful that was the issue. Later in the afternoon when I took my son on some errands I definitely heard it again. It seemed to happen mostly when going over bumps.
Got back up on my friend’s lift tonight and noticed the passenger rearmost muffler hanger had a bit of play to it…the bolts were nice and tight to the frame but the rubber part definitely seemed to move up and down more than the driver side one did. It would move up enough to make contact with the bottom of the car frame when I pushed it hard enough so figured this would be the issue. We uninstalled the hanger and rotated it 180 degrees to see if maybe that would make a difference…It did make the hanger have less movement upward so thought this would probably solve the issue…drove around but still heard the clunking.
Then my friend suggested removing the center brace…So I did and voila! No more clunking! I was pretty surprised this was the issue for a couple reasons. 1- it did fit under the xpipe without touching it. And when I tried to move the pipes up and down it did not appear to make contact with the brace. 2-FI install instructions say you don’t need to remove it unless you have the 2.5” piping.
Anyway this seems to have fixed the issue so I am just running without that brace for now. I did reinstall the bolts since they hold some sort of metal shield to the underside of the frame. Thinking about buying some spacers of some kind, maybe washers to move the brace down a little bit. Anyone know the purpose of this brace and if it’s worth it to figure out a way to reinstall it?
Anyway thanks for sticking with me through the long-winded review. I am ecstatic with this exhaust now that I am clunk free! I’ll do a follow up review in time once it’s been broken in and on the car for a bit.
Last edited by Falker11; Aug 9, 2015 at 10:00 AM.
Excellent post, Falker. FI always gets reviews like this, and for good reason.
That cross-member might look flimsy and pointless, but sometimes it doesn't take much material to provide adequate bracing. With the bolts loose, my mechanic bent that bar (by literally hanging from it) then tightened it back up with a pair of SS washers between the bracket and frame. It doesn't bang or hit AFAIK, although I wouldn't be surprised if it's really, really close. My pipes are 2.5".
I think you should put it back on.
That cross-member might look flimsy and pointless, but sometimes it doesn't take much material to provide adequate bracing. With the bolts loose, my mechanic bent that bar (by literally hanging from it) then tightened it back up with a pair of SS washers between the bracket and frame. It doesn't bang or hit AFAIK, although I wouldn't be surprised if it's really, really close. My pipes are 2.5".
I think you should put it back on.
Scheduled an appt with a shop nearby to do the RJM install. One week from today 
Guess it'll be my first non-DIY mod
Guess it'll be my first non-DIY mod
Last edited by Falker11; Jul 31, 2015 at 01:57 PM.
Your thread/review kicked my *** to get this scheduled. Had been putting it off in hopes I would find time to try the install again myself. But I'll take the path of least resistance on this one.
Well that was frustrating...
Brought my car to the shop to get the RJM installed. they kept the car for a couple hours while they checked out the instructions - and decided they weren't comfortable with the install and thought it would be well over the 2 hours timeline guidance.
At least they called me and had me come get in instead of starting something they weren't sure they could do. no charge to me of course.
So kinda back to square one on this one...anyone have a reco on a shop that has done this in the philly / se PA / NJ / DE area??
Brought my car to the shop to get the RJM installed. they kept the car for a couple hours while they checked out the instructions - and decided they weren't comfortable with the install and thought it would be well over the 2 hours timeline guidance.
At least they called me and had me come get in instead of starting something they weren't sure they could do. no charge to me of course.
So kinda back to square one on this one...anyone have a reco on a shop that has done this in the philly / se PA / NJ / DE area??
Oh man, you're zero for two. How truly disappointed you must feel.
Particularly when you keep reading me talk about how awesome this clutch pedal is. Because it is.
Sometimes it's just the little things, like the k-turns I have to do in order to use my garage. The touchy effort once required when jockeying the car around the driveway is a thing of the past. Moving around in a tight K-turn is so effortless now, without a care to jerking the car or stalling. Have you ever stalled the car just moving it a few feet, and done that with someone in the car or watching you? It's pretty embarrassing.
And 1-2-3 shifts are like butter. Did I mention that? LOL
Particularly when you keep reading me talk about how awesome this clutch pedal is. Because it is.
Sometimes it's just the little things, like the k-turns I have to do in order to use my garage. The touchy effort once required when jockeying the car around the driveway is a thing of the past. Moving around in a tight K-turn is so effortless now, without a care to jerking the car or stalling. Have you ever stalled the car just moving it a few feet, and done that with someone in the car or watching you? It's pretty embarrassing.And 1-2-3 shifts are like butter. Did I mention that? LOL
Last edited by Rochester; Aug 7, 2015 at 03:47 PM.
I don't remember from the meet-up... did you ever get the pedal installed? If not, you never asked to drive my car (or Liam's), because if you had, you would have had exactly Connor's and Pedro's reaction, with strong motivation to get it done. Guaranteed.
So what's the scoop?
So what's the scoop?
Falker11's 6MT Sedan
Well that was frustrating...
Brought my car to the shop to get the RJM installed. they kept the car for a couple hours while they checked out the instructions - and decided they weren't comfortable with the install and thought it would be well over the 2 hours timeline guidance.
At least they called me and had me come get in instead of starting something they weren't sure they could do. no charge to me of course.
So kinda back to square one on this one...anyone have a reco on a shop that has done this in the philly / se PA / NJ / DE area??
Brought my car to the shop to get the RJM installed. they kept the car for a couple hours while they checked out the instructions - and decided they weren't comfortable with the install and thought it would be well over the 2 hours timeline guidance.
At least they called me and had me come get in instead of starting something they weren't sure they could do. no charge to me of course.
So kinda back to square one on this one...anyone have a reco on a shop that has done this in the philly / se PA / NJ / DE area??
I don't remember from the meet-up... did you ever get the pedal installed? If not, you never asked to drive my car (or Liam's), because if you had, you would have had exactly Connor's and Pedro's reaction, with strong motivation to get it done. Guaranteed.
So what's the scoop?
So what's the scoop?
Also appreciate the offer to drive your car but I'm a little gun shy to drive other people's vehicles. - Long story short I ran over a raccoon in my buddies' BRZ th first week he had it - busted up his front bumper enough need a new one. Covered under inns - but just felt really bad