salmonslayer

Hello,

After 10+ years of owning and driving trucks, I traded my 13 F150 for my new to me 2012 G37s. I work sales and just needed something better for daily driving. I did own a G20 back in college but was nothing compared to this G37.

I was heavily shopping and looking at A4, 335i, Maxima, is350 and Q50. Wife had a B7 A4 before and it was fantastic, very reliable but I read and researched the new direct injection 2.0 TSI had carbon build up issues. 335i is a beast when it works but a couple of my co-workers advised me to pass on used ones because they've had some expensive repaid bills. IS350 interior was way too small for my kids car seat and I just hate the new styling of the front and the rear tail lights.

Was going to lease a Q50, interior was nice and full of technology but something about the driving feel was lacking to me. So, I got a smoking deal on my car, 30k miles for $22k. I looked at the g37xs but it didn't have the same driving feel of the rwd S.

So, here's my question for you all. I have been research and from what I have read HFC is the best horsepower bolt on but I am confused on what to buy? The FI is the one I think I want because its resonated and will keep rasp/hiss sound down but then I have to get custom mounting done because it doesn't have mounting brackets? wondering if I got a brand that was not resonated and had mounting brackets if I wrapped it with header wrap would that keep rasp down? If all this is too complicated I'll just do some CAI. I cannot do full CBE because I need to keep exterior sound low, not professional for my job to have a honda like loud racer...

Thanks in advance.

ay37

First off, congrats on the new ride. The g37 knows how to put a smile on one's face, that's for sure. Lots of fun factor there.

Secondly, go ahead and contact FI via phone or email and ask them about mounting to factory pipes. I say that because when I ordered my FI HFC, the salesman asked me what size I would be mounting to. This leaves me to believe that they can tailor the HFC to your existing setup. Not 100% on that, but again, it leads me to believe that. They can probably sell you a reducer adapter. Although, most muffler shops or mechanic shops should be able to handle doing just that also.

Any plans to upgrade to a full cat back exhaust at any point?

P.S. There's not TOO much you can do to notice a huge performance increase with these cars until you get it tuned. The HFC will most certainly help, but don't expect it to blow you away. I did just about every bolt on mod except for throttle bodies before I got mine dyno-tuned and noticed a very nice improvement after the tune. Prior to the tune, my bolt on's consisted of HFC, Invidia cat back exhaust, Motordyne intake manifold, and Takeda cold air intake system, and with those bolt on's, my car still wasn't that much quicker over factory. After the tune, I did finally notice a significant improvement, as I gained about 22 horsepower. That is definitely noticeable. It does kinda suck how little you can do to a NA v6 to gain power without adding a supercharger or turbo charger. Unlike many NA v8's that can take bolt on's nicely to feel the power difference. And for what it's worth, mine is a 12 g37 also, but it's an x, so I'm not necessarily comparing apples to apples, but the platform seems to be consistent across the other models in terms of adding power and feeling a noticeable difference.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Good advice there^^^
Welcome to the site, think you made a well educated purchase, congrats on the ride & also for doing your homework

If you live where they don't have emission checks you might look into Motordyne ART pipes, will give you some nice gains and are well resonated, would be a nice setup w/ a quality cat back exhaust. Might also look into Rochesters epic build thread, he's running a full FI Resonated HFC + catback system and he had some custom brackets fab'd. It's a huge thread so G/L finding the proper info. Might be best to shoot Rochester a PM, he's a good dude and will help you out.
https://www.myg37.com/forums/build-t...r-s-new-g.html
FWIW I'm thinking about running a Fast Intentions Resonated Test pipe into an X pipe then into my Top Speed Y back exhaust, just trying to come up w/ the best plan w/ a local exhaust shop.

G/L w/ whatever you decide, and let us know what path you take.
Brad

salmonslayer

hey great info from both of you, thanks!

The G is certainty a great sedan, I just got back from a 100 mile trip and I surley enjoy the power as is but like everyone else, a little more would be great. I don't see myself ever getting an exhaust system, from what I understand the stock exhaust flows pretty good. I may just do the Tanabe axle back for slight sound improvement but I know there will be very marginal if any HP gains.

I'm creating a wish list now; new 19 wheels, tint windows, eibach springs, cold air intake and HFC. After the cai and hfc, I'll get the tune, but if tuning a fully stock car will get me some decent gains then I might just do that instead of bolt ons.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Might look at Tein Basis Coilovers, they go for around $600 and you can set the exact height you want and won't be a compromised spring/oem shock setup.
Here's some info if you're interested
TEIN.com: STREET BASIS - PRODUCTS
And a couple guys that have them
https://www.myg37.com/forums/brakes-...alignment.html
https://www.myg37.com/forums/brakes-...ni-shocks.html
As far as tuning, pretty maxed-out in stock form, but a couple bolt ons and the tune will make a nice difference, and didn't mention if you have a 6MT or AT, but if you have an AT a tune has shown some improvement in shift points and overall performance.
HTHs and enjoy that G!

CRiME

iTrader: (2)

Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the site. If you'd like a CBE that won't wake the neighborhood, check out the invidia q300. I was also looking for a 'quiet' setup. Searched around this site and found that the q300 would suit my needs. My car is an xS, so it required modification to fit the AWD platform (thanks for your thread and pictures, v1mirage). Being that you have an S, you won't have to do any modification. I was a little nervous about the actual sound level, as I had not heard it in person, but I took a chance on it and I was sold from the first startup. I love the tone and even with my Berk HFC's it is still tasteful.

The Berk HFC's do have some rasp to them (this was apparent even with the stock catback), which is most noticeable upon hard acceleration. There is also the "deceleration hiss". Some people don't mind the rasp; I will say that it is not terrible, but it is a bit too much for my taste. I've ordered a set of FI RHFC's that supposedly quell most of that. I should have those at the end of the month and I will report back on the differences that I find.

salmonslayer

My car is the automatic, wifey can't drive a manual so we had to get the auto even though she will rarely drive it.

I read Rochesters build thread and dang his car is sweet. he had to get custom mount for his FI hfc.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

No, that's not right. Nobody made me do it, just seemed like a good idea.

https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...tions-hfc.html

I had the FI RHFC on the OEM catback for a little over a year. Added vibration from the bracket-less cats was actually mitigated somewhat by removing the big rubber vibration dampers hanging off the mid-pipes. If you customize a connecting bracket, all the better.

The cats are a genuine power mod. It's not huge, but it certainly is noticeable. The resonated cats matched to the OEM catback resulted in only a subtle increase in exhaust noise. You will notice it, but few other people will. Personally, I don't think header wrap will do a single thing to reduce rasp in a non-resonated cat. But I also think your concerns about rasp with non-resonated cats is only relevant if you replace the entire catback. The OEM pipes in the Sedan really tamps things down.

Consider the ARK resonated cats. The Helholtz resonators will be an amazing sound, but muted with the OEM catback, so you'll get power and a beautiful noise, but not crazy noise. The downside to the ARK cats is the cost, the lack of supporting brackets, and the risk of an O2 Sensor code since the bungs are so shallow. IIRC, there was a guy (Albert) at last year's meet-up, who had a full ARK exhaust. He was getting the CEL with his ARK cats, which was only resolved after getting tuned. I think he could have resolved it with extenders, but IDK really.

Actually... I just checked, and ARK is having a direct sale right now. Resonated Cats for your car at $644. Hmm. Not bad.

Nissan 350Z, 370Z and Infiniti G37 Coupe/Sedan | R-Spec High Flow Cats 2007-ON | 3.5L, 3.7L

Baby Jumpman

iTrader: (18)

Since you have the sport be sure to make sure the calipers clear your new wheels. Also look into camber kits since they might be necessary with your eibach drop.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

IIRC those ARKs only fit the 6MT as they won't clear the larger AT body

salmonslayer

Wow those ARK look great. The website says its for manual only. I have a automatic. So, you're saying non resonated style HFC such as Berk doesn't have much rasp sound with OEM exhaust?

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Those resonators don't fit in the 7AT? I didn't know that. Oh well, GTK and I'll just file that bit of info away in my head.

Bummer.

That was the opinion I came to before upgrading my exhaust. I bought the resonated cats from FI to future-proof against rasp in an eventual cat-back. If I knew for sure that I would never ever replace the catback, then I probably would have bought the Berks.

Honestly, OP, if you're predisposed to purchase high-flow cats, then you're only one rationalization away from replacing the catback as well. If not right away (because $$), then eventually. The OEM catback really is an unimpressive POS.

salmonslayer

I know what you're saying about a new exhaust system but I have to keep exterior noise down, wife hates it and I just have to keep a business professional profile for my car. I meet clients daily and its just part of the game... My wife would be ok if my sedan sounded like a stock coupe. I once had a supercharged RSX, added catback and race headers at a later time after the SC, it was so loud but power was awesome. She hated it.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Sounds like you're pretty solid on that.

OK then... Berk cats today, plus a Tanabe Medalion axle-back later.

Searching for this video, and I found it in an old thread where I wandered in as a knowitall noob, having just bought my car, and not appreciating that our exhaust manifolds were actually headers. Three years later, and I'm still embarrassed about being a jerk. Anyway, this is a great comparison video:

VIVID

iTrader: (12)

I'm always struck at how the Ark cats appear like they could have a couple of other purposes.

Sean