Installed my A'pexi downpipe & catback

[Twistaye]

Alright well as I've been saying I finally made it back to North Carolina on leave to get the Eclipse ready to be shipped off! Well one of the things that needed to be replaced was the exhaust, and obviously I wasn't going to replace it with another stock exhaust. So I ordered my a'pexi n1 downpipe+catback from MAPerformance (Who did an awesome job shipping it out and gave me an awesome deal, thanks Chris!), Unfortunately I left my camera at home when I went to install the exhaust, so I dont have any install pictures, but it couldn't have been an easier install. Honestly only took us about 25 minutes. We had to cut the stock exhaust off a little before the muffler to get it out from ontop of the crossmember. We used a dremel with a 3" disc and it came off in about 45 seconds! PB blaster works AMAZINGLY on all the nuts and bolts! (Used PB Blaster the day before on all nuts/bolt) even though there were only like 5 bolts we had to take off.

I'm going to go back to the shop today and get my car on the lift and get some undercar pictures of the a'pexi exhaust. I would get side-by-side comparisons but I don't feel like taking the exhaust off the car again!

I did have one issue that we resolved really quick. I have a stock o2 housing, and I got 4 exhaust gaskets with the a'pexi unit. Unfortunately all the gaskets from the a'pexi unit were the same size and didn't fit onto my stock o2 housing. So what we did was just ordered a stock size exhaust gasket, which worked very very well!

I'll get a video clip and some pictures up very shortly of how it looks and get some pictures of the stock exhaust up to show you where we cut it.

I couldn't be more happy with the exhaust tone and power that I got from the downpipe and the exhaust. Definately worth the money. My only issue is that I can really tell how bad my clutch is slipping now !

 

[BoostedinSoFla]

By far the best exhaust for these cars. Did the job myself also and it took me about an hour (Apexi GT dp and N1 Catback). Also had to cut the old exhaust off by the axleback portion. I have some undercar pics that I can post if you want.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

How is it, exactly, that an exhaust that necks down to <2.25" in places is the best exhaust available for our cars? I'll try to find the thread where the pictures and measurements were taken.
I'm not bashing, just suggesting a slight reconsideration of the statement.

OP, I'm glad it went on easily and you had good experiences with MAP. I'm sure the parts will serve you well.

 

[BoostedinSoFla]

Well, let me rephrase my statement then. "IMO, this is the best exhaust for these cars". And please post your source of where it necks down to 2.25" in some places because I find that VERY hard to believe after installing/inspecting it.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Well it seems the information is getting more scarce as the days pass by. I was, however, able to find some corroborating information regarding:
-neckdowns to at least 2.5"
-rust holes the size of a baseball
-RRE cutting apart their N1 and tossing it in the garbage etc etc..
-2.5" inside the muffler

What I was UNABLE to find was anything regarding the resonators getting as small as 2.25". I still swear I've seen the proof, but without it I can't really going around saying that thats the case.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/bolt-tech/112566-custom-apexi-exhaust.html
Stanford's posts are of interest.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/bolt-tech/287108-sad-apexi-1g-awd-dp.html
Neckdown example. Mentions sections that are 2.25".

DSMtalk Forums - View Single Post - Almighty Apexi N1
One man's perspective. Take it with a grain of salt, but the message is there.

Apexi DP vs RRE DP - DSMtalk Forums
Source referencing RRE's disapproval, though still not able to find the original documentation.

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But anything is an improvement over stock, so If you're happy then thats all that matters. Although, it had been explained to me that an exhaust is only as good as its most narrow section.
Really do want to stress that I'm not trying to bash, after reading this thread it could be easy to see it like that. Just wanted to bring to light sides of the argument. Also, every exhaust system has its own "darkside" I'm sure.

 

[BoostedinSoFla]

What I was UNABLE to find was anything regarding the resonators getting as small as 2.25". I still swear I've seen the proof, but without it I can't really going around saying that thats the case.

Yea, I thought so. Don't really care for anything else in your post btw.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Yea, I thought so. Don't really care for anything else in your post btw.

Here's something though, it mentions a serious neckdown at the resonator.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/bolt-tech/247577-greddy-evo2-its-resonator.html

Sorry that you didn't care for my post.

EDIT:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/bolt-tech/286680-performance-loss-full-apex-i-exhaust.html
Here is a thread where I mentioned something similar about neckdowns in the past. No proof, just discussion. See post #18.

Also, both you and I were incorrect in regards to finding information corroborating 2.25" sections. In this post, today, I have some sources but my previous post indicates how the the 2.25" neckdowns are a real thing in the "Sad Apexi 1g AWD DP" thread.

Here's a moderator's dissection of an N1 system, where he found the the resonators to go as low as 2".
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/151273399-post11.html
Here is the entire thread.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/269845-2-5-opening-3-downpipe-waste.html

This has got to be the best picture around though:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/151762557-post66.html