My Kakumei Y-Pipe Review

G

gchristopher9

Member
Just got through installing my Kakumei y-pipe I ordered from eBay, and let everyone know what I thought. I don't have any pictures, as I'm sure everyone has seen them on another thread. I just wanted to post my review and advice for anyone planning on attempting this on their own. The pipe itself fit absolutely perfect, like a glove. The one mistake i made was in the front by the cats. The two bolts closest to the middle of the car were able to be turned off with a 14mm socket. The two on the outtermost parts weren't as friendly, so my friend and i cut them off. after they were cut we realized they were welded in from the other side, and we weren't going to be able to just hammer them out. we then had to grind them flush and drill holes in order to run our own bolts though. this was quite the pain in the ass, but once it was done the y-pipe was on in 15 minutes. if your vehicle is newer, or you live in a more undercarriage friendly region of the country, you should be able to just turn the nuts off, and reuse the factory studs. The studs on the rear part of the y-pipe are welded to the stock y, so its easy enough to bolt right up to the midpipe through the factory holes. The bolts supplied by kakumei were a little to big for the factory holes, but we had some spares handy that worked just fine. the sound is a bit louder, and definitely noticeable behind the vehicle. in cabin noise seems to be the same, and it will probably be a few days before i make any performance conclusions. overall i am very happy with this purchase, as I am now ready to bolt up the nismo setup from the midpipe back. wish me luck in finding it!

i also put my grounding kit in today, and stripped the first couple threads out of the front right engine cover mounting hole. gotta try to run a tap through it and see if that works. also, i need to find a longer bolt for the connection at the left front of the plenum. mine wasn't long enough to put 3 ring terminals on. Does anyone know what thread i need? i will also be paying attention to this in the next few days to see if there is any noticeable difference. Thats all i got, more than willing to field questions on the kakumei y-pipe if anyone has any.

oh yea, and the VQ35 sounds insane with nothing after the cats! you know i had to fire it up once the old y was out of there! lol
 
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Nice review. i will probably be picking up a Kakumei y-pipe when i decide to get my nismo exhaust (or mod the nismo y-pipe somehow). the only thing that turns me off is the price itself for the y-pipe which is quite steep. its more than i paid for my test-pipes and the gains probably wont be anywhere near it.
 
gchristopher9 said:
Just got through installing my Kakumei y-pipe I ordered from eBay, and let everyone know what I thought. I don't have any pictures, as I'm sure everyone has seen them on another thread. I just wanted to post my review and advice for anyone planning on attempting this on their own. The pipe itself fit absolutely perfect, like a glove. The one mistake i made was in the front by the cats. The two bolts closest to the middle of the car were able to be turned off with a 14mm socket. The two on the outtermost parts weren't as friendly, so my friend and i cut them off. after they were cut we realized they were welded in from the other side, and we weren't going to be able to just hammer them out. we then had to grind them flush and drill holes in order to run our own bolts though. this was quite the pain in the ass, but once it was done the y-pipe was on in 15 minutes. if your vehicle is newer, or you live in a more undercarriage friendly region of the country, you should be able to just turn the nuts off, and reuse the factory studs. The studs on the rear part of the y-pipe are welded to the stock y, so its easy enough to bolt right up to the midpipe through the factory holes. The bolts supplied by kakumei were a little to big for the factory holes, but we had some spares handy that worked just fine. the sound is a bit louder, and definitely noticeable behind the vehicle. in cabin noise seems to be the same, and it will probably be a few days before i make any performance conclusions. overall i am very happy with this purchase, as I am now ready to bolt up the nismo setup from the midpipe back. wish me luck in finding it!

i also put my grounding kit in today, and stripped the first couple threads out of the front right engine cover mounting hole. gotta try to run a tap through it and see if that works. also, i need to find a longer bolt for the connection at the left front of the plenum. mine wasn't long enough to put 3 ring terminals on. Does anyone know what thread i need? i will also be paying attention to this in the next few days to see if there is any noticeable difference. Thats all i got, more than willing to field questions on the kakumei y-pipe if anyone has any.

oh yea, and the VQ35 sounds insane with nothing after the cats! you know i had to fire it up once the old y was out of there! lol
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Good to hear that you're enjoying the Y-Pipe. It was one of my first mods and I really liked the change in exhast note it gave. A little throatier but not to much. They really do bolt right up as you said, and I ende up keeping the stock bolts on the OEM cats as well. I didnt have an issue with the bolts they supplied not fitting though.

I would've liked to hear the engine with out it on. :laugh:
 
I too bought the Kukamei Y-pipe from Ebay. I received it in 3 days! It was exactly as advertised and was easy to install. I didn't think the price was exorbitant -$250 plus $80 shipping for a total of $330. I love it! I also installed the HKS midpipe at the same time, keeping the stock cats and muffler. I have a 2004 AWD 35.
 
jerrysanta said:
I too bought the Kukamei Y-pipe from Ebay. I received it in 3 days! It was exactly as advertised and was easy to install. I didn't think the price was exorbitant -$250 plus $80 shipping for a total of $330. I love it! I also installed the HKS midpipe at the same time, keeping the stock cats and muffler. I have a 2004 AWD 35.
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Very nice! Welcome to the scene!
 
so after driving with the y-pipe for a couple weeks, i developed a small exhaust leak. nothing major just an annoying putter that i can hear in confined spaces. jacked it up and tightened everything up again. seemed to take care of it, but a few weeks later it started again. tightened up again, and it seems to have made it worse. i used the supplied gaskets with some high temp silicon gasket sealer. a friend suggested that i go back to OEM gaskets, as the supplied ones aren't all that great. So i ordered a set of OEMs for $30 from everythinginfiniti, and they'll be in on tuesday. do you guys have any suggestions on what i may have done wrong, or can do this time around to prevent this?
 
gchristopher9 said:
so after driving with the y-pipe for a couple weeks, i developed a small exhaust leak. nothing major just an annoying putter that i can hear in confined spaces. jacked it up and tightened everything up again. seemed to take care of it, but a few weeks later it started again. tightened up again, and it seems to have made it worse. i used the supplied gaskets with some high temp silicon gasket sealer. a friend suggested that i go back to OEM gaskets, as the supplied ones aren't all that great. So i ordered a set of OEMs for $30 from everythinginfiniti, and they'll be in on tuesday. do you guys have any suggestions on what i may have done wrong, or can do this time around to prevent this?
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hmmm.... I've had mine in since October with no issues, and I used the gaskets that were provided. :confused: I hope the new ones fix it for you. I guess you should ensure that the sound is coming from the gaskets if you havent already.
 
What about getting it up a bit and brushing a soapy water mix over areas where it might be leaking?

I've never done it before, I'm just trying to think of easy ways to check.:embarrassed:
 

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Keemo said:
hmmm.... I've had mine in since October with no issues, and I used the gaskets that were provided. :confused: I hope the new ones fix it for you. I guess you should ensure that the sound is coming from the gaskets if you havent already.
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+1, forgot when I put mine on but it's been even longer. No issues with my exhaust at all which I'm very happy about. No rattles, leaks, etc.. which was surprising as my "custom" exhaust is pieced together from different manufacturers.
 
now I know the Kakumei Y pipe for fx35 will fit HKS mid-pipe for sure, but since I have RWD I should go with the 350Z pipe right? Coz it is $100 cheaper than the fx35 Y pipe.:confused:
 
gsu_dy said:
now I know the Kakumei Y pipe for fx35 will fit HKS mid-pipe for sure, but since I have RWD I should go with the 350Z pipe right? Coz it is $100 cheaper than the fx35 Y pipe.:confused:
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I did some research, g35/350z y-pipe will fit RWD FX35. One thing I can't confirm, if you need a g35 extension or not. I don't know if the g35/350z mid pipes are shorter or if the y pipes are shorter.

Looks like you have more research to do!
 
yea, for that I am not sure also, but I guess the mid-pipe is the shorter one.
Hope someone can help out.


so do I have to buy the new hanger like you did for the Kakumei Y and HKS mid setup?
 
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gsu_dy said:
yea, for that I am not sure also, but I guess the mid-pipe is the shorter one.
Hope someone can help out.


so do I have to buy the new hanger like you did for the Kakumei Y and HKS mid setup?
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Yes for a clean setup. Or else you can just have the exhaust shop add another hanger anywhere (just welded on). It just needs to be more firm.
 
Chedman13 said:
Yes for a clean setup. Or else you can just have the exhaust shop add another hanger anywhere (just welded on). It just needs to be more firm.
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thanks, I will get the hangers from ebay then. I only need 2 hangers right? and where should I put them, is it obvious to know? Coz I look at your pics and not very get where they should be put.....:embarrassed:
 
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