I ordered the stainless retro chambered catback for my SS earlier this week and got it today. I ordered a catch can a day earlier and got it fast too, which is one of the reasons I love dealing with Apex. Another reason is the price drop I got on this system. Was thinking of going to another company who had it ~$100 less. Apex is so active in this forum that I decided it was better to go with a company lots of people trust and that I already have a relationship with. To my surprise when I added it to my cart, I got a message stating I got some sort of discount which brought it to the price of the competitor.
Took a half day off work today and installed it. I have never tried exhaust before, so I took my time which took about 3 hours from the time I got out the ramps and jack stands to the time I finished and cleaned up my mess.
These things sound so good. My car performed like a lion, but had a kitten's meow. Now it has the roar to match it's performance.
I'm in my late 30's and didn't want something so loud that it was annoying to others. I am happy to say this fits the bill with the muscle car sound, but not too loud that it's annoying. Haven't had a chance to drive over 50 yet, but will be on a 45 minute trip at highway speeds, so this should be a good chance to fully test it out.
I did run into some issues installing, but I made it through OK in the end.
1. Not sure if it was Apex or Stainless, but someone wrote on the parts which was helpful except for the way they designated sides. They used left/right instead of drivers/passenger. Left right is relative on if you are standing in front or behind it, while driver side is the same regardless of where you are standing. I assumed the directions were as if you were sitting in the car, so I went with that.
2. My stock exhaust was one piece, so it's shape was constant. This kit has multiple pieces you put together, so it's easy to get them twisted to far in one direction making them hang down to low. My solution was to put a floor jack with a 2x4 pirce on top under the X part of the exhaust and lift it into place. I then loosened the 15mm bolts where needed to rotate the pieces to make them fit in place better.
3. Instructions mention using a high temp RTV in the fittings. Considering the price, it wouldn't have killed Stainless to put some in the box. I didn't have any, so I did the install without it. In all the various catback install videos, I didn't see mention of this, so I figure it will be ok. I tightened the clamps good, so I should be fine.
4. Stainless instructions were very brief about removing the old system and installing the new one. I found a great of instructions on removal
HERE which really helped a lot. Although they used a different brand to install, the instructions and pictures were good enough to supplement the Stainless manual.
5. One of the elbows pipes in the set was several inches shorter than the other. Kind of surprised me this wasn't caught. However, there is a quite a bit of overlap in all the pieces, so I was able to make it up, so the end product was the right length.
In the end, I like doing things like this and saving some money. However, I really enjoy trying something new and getting that experience.
One thing I am curious about is what all of you did with the stock exhaust. It's one long and heavy piece that I am storing in my garage for now. For those of you that did this at a shop, how did you get the stock one back home? I assume it would need to be cut up or something.