Pfadt Tri-Y "No HF Cats" 2013 SS install/review...

[Deezee]

Apaex customer service review - 10+

First let me give a big thanks to Apex (Victoria) for getting them out to me! I had a handfull of issues with these getting to me and it was Apex's great customer service that saved the day! My hat is off to you guys, and I will be shopping there much more in the future!

Pfadt customer service review 8 out of 10. Ill explain..

The exact dates dont really matter here, but I was "told" by Apex that my headers would ship Tuesday of a couple weeks ago and that was the direct word from Pfadt. Well tuesday came, and no tracking #? So Apex called, and was told "sorry, there were issues, and Friday now". Well Friday comes, and no tracking #? Apex called them again friday and was told "were builing his set now, and it will ship today!" COB friday, still no info? So "I" called them on Monday and spoke with Kevin. (He seemed a little standoffish but I let it go) He told me "there were issues, we're building you a set now, it will go out today!" I asked him "Well are you planning on expressing it to me now?" He asked me "where are you located?" I told him, and he relpied "No, it will be 3 day." Less than excited about this delay AGAIN with no real explination I call Victoria back at Apex again. She then informed me that my set had shipped that Friday TO THEM! And it would be to Apex the next day. I then got an email from Eric at Pfadt explaining the same situation Apex had told me. They wanted to know if i wanted the set they were building, or the set inbound to apex, and to let apex know. I told Apex that I needed them NOW, and I had been very clear about my time line due to work when we orginally talked to Pfadt to order. Victoria at Apex was VERY understanding, and we agreed that express shipping was fair after so many "mix ups" on Pfadts end. After she spoke to them, they refused to pay to over night my headers to me ($385), and 3 day shipping was the best they would to. This is where Apex stepped up and handled the issue by PAYING THE DIFFERENCE ($215) THEMSELVES! The set being built at Pfadt was at my door step the next morning. I had missed my time off work install window, but THAT is customer service!!

The two things that wouldve gotten Pfadt customer service a 10 to me is

1.) Just tell me what the delays were. Its human to make mistakes, but dont be affraid to man up to them! I feel that by telling me time and time again "there were issues" just upsets customers more!

2.) When you "promise" a ship date not once, but twice, and the second falls through as well, its time for "extra action" imo! Had I been informed sooner on the issues, or if it were just ONE date being pushed back i wouldve been ok.

I will say though that their products speak for themselves, and I will buy from them again. I will be very cautious on timelines and know what questions to ask if I have shipping issues. I feel they did do a lot to help! But they owe Apex $215!

Now for the install/review!

Pfadt Tri-Y header Quality 10!!

Simply put these are some of the nicest headers Ive ever seen! You can see the hard work and attention to detalail they put into them. It may have been a little longer wait than expected, but worth it once they got here!

Quick shot before install


Pfadt Tri-Y header Fit 9.5 out of 10!!

Let me start by saying that I had LG Super Pro 1 7/8's on my C6 vette, and the fit on these was MILES ahead, but did need a "little" adjusting. Might only be on the 13's? Im not sure, but it was minor and detailed later with pics.

Install on these was a breeze! Once I found some free time I threw the car up on a lift and began taking all the stock stuff out. I think it took me and a buddy 3-4hrs start to finish? Taking our time and bsing a lot. (Side note: I found it easy to remove the bolt from the steering shaft if you undo the one plastic clip in the drivers side wheel well, and just push the rubber piece aside. I forgot to get a pic, but its DIRECTLY inline with the bolt head with the steering wheel straight. )

I had ZERO issues with with the steering shaft rubbing or touching, though the lower rubber boot is close. I dont see it being an issue though. You can see my clearances in these pics.

Steering shaft


Boot


Now the place I DID have an issue is on the passengers side header, where it passes the starter. It made VERY obvious contact with the heat shield! This was an easy if with a large flat head and about 3 seconds of prying to bend it off the header! The issue I COULDNT fix was the header makes contact with one of the tiny (5/32???) bolts that holds the heat shield on the starter. I didnt see it until after it was tight and I had 2 options.

1.) Drop the header off again and remove the heat shield. (I "think" there are only 2 bolts in it so taking the one wasnt a good idea.)
2.) Just leave it making contact. (Thats what I did)

Ive seen issues on other cars with heat from headers killing starters so I decided to just leave it. Its up aginst it pretty hard so I cant see it even vibrating. I did my best to get pics.

Heat shield contact


Angle 2


Quick bend


Angle 2


Starter heat shield screw (pic from front facing rear)


Other than that one small issue the install was great! I am VERY happy with the headers so far and given the chance would have picked them again over any set out there!

One final instal note I should mention is that the CATLESS mid pipes DO NOT have rear O2 bungs, they are just straight pipes! I have seen this done both ways over the years, and I prefer this way! One less hole to leak. I plan on turning off the rear O2's with the tune soon so I just removed them from the car completely! After a few miles i pulled the codes with my scan tool just to be SURE they were all rear O2 related and they were.

One last pic from the bottom


THE SOUND!!

OMG!!! I feel that this may be the PERFECT set up for a DD car like mine! At first start it BARKS, and you know its not stock! Once it settles at idle it sounds "almost" stock. As soon as you roll on though, there comes that V8 BOOM! Partial throttle 2-3k is loud, but not TOO loud. Perfect is a hard thing to say, but to me it is close! I need to throw a Night Fury cam at it, then I can say for sure. I may end up tossing some noweeds on it just for fun/wow factor, but for DD its pretty close to perfect as is! My vette was a little much for DD sound wise, and Im MUCH happier with the Pfadts/no cats/NPP setup! I can promise you that i will never put the NPP fuse back in OR use a M2W! I would like to be able to open it to STUPID loud like the vette though from time to time!

Like I said, I have a 2013, the the NPP and the fuse pulled. I did notice when the car was stock and the fuse pulled I got some slight popping on deceleration. That is still noticable as the rpms fall just below 2k, but thats how it was before, (Might be more now?) and may be corrected with the tune soon. Ill update here if it does.

Ill catch some videos soon and update them here! It sounds amazing trust me!!

Next step.... Off to see the guys at Lethal Racing for a Night Fury Cam and a Magic Tune!!

I hope they can turn this CWL off!!



(Check WARRANTY Light!!)

[62nalide]

So you had to bend it for them not to hit?

[Deezee]

Yea, the heat shield is pretty thin and just bent over. MUCH better than my last set! I had to "bend" a lot more. That was on a different car though.

[62nalide]

Oh ok, when is it going to get a dyno tune?

[litle88]

Congrats DeeZee!! Welcome to a warranty free/ do whatever the hell you want club lol!

[Deezee]

As soon as I can find time! It's a 5hr drive to lethal, then a cam install, then the tune. So ill drive out one Thursday night, let the car cool overnight, then the cam install day and tune, then drive home the day after. So it's a few day affair for me. Just need to find a hole in my schedule to fit it in. I'd guess 2-3 weeks?

[Deezee]

Originally Posted by litle88

Congrats DeeZee!! Welcome to a warranty free/ do whatever the hell you want club lol!

LMAO Thanks man! This was the last puzzle piece I needed before I was ready for the cam/tune. Just finished the CAI/scoop and VMAX Ported Tbody!

Im going to do a build thread V1 soon!

Im thinking when I get back from Cali for work (Jan through March) Ill have decided on a FI setup. I LOVED my ECS kit on the Vette, and may do it again on the SS. Im kinda waiting to see where this AGP kit goes on a few more cars. I kept my stock manifolds just in case....

[CausticGuy]

I'm sorry but I can't believe you asked for overnight shipping and let Apex eat all profit and probably take a loss on the order. Kudos to them for doing it but you even said you installed when you had time to... Delays happen and they mess things up but I wouldn't have asked Apex to take it up the tailpipe for you. Maybe a discount on another future purchase or POSSIBLY 5% off...

Congrats on the headers though.... They are beautiful!

[132SS]

I also have the dual mode exhaust with the fuse pulled. It popped alot. Now with my TSP headers and tune it pops worse when decelerating. This is in my M6 speed LS 3. Had the car tuned by a reputable shop so I'm trusting the tune was good. Thinking about either pulling the mufflers for a deeper note or putting the fuse back in.

[Deezee]

Originally Posted by CausticGuy

I'm sorry but I can't believe you asked for overnight shipping and let Apex eat all profit and probably take a loss on the order. Kudos to them for doing it but you even said you installed when you had time to... Delays happen and they mess things up but I wouldn't have asked Apex to take it up the tailpipe for you. Maybe a discount on another future purchase or POSSIBLY 5% off...

Congrats on the headers though.... They are beautiful!

I agree 100%!! None of that was Apex's fault! Pfadt should have "offered" that after the THIRD failed attempt! I was "told" by apex that they were covering the difference due to the fact that they kept giving the the dates to me. (Even though they were getting them from Pfadt.) I never "asked" for that. I commend them for doing so! But I promise you this, they will make FAR MORE back from me and the customers I send them, along with the new ones reading this now. I have NEVER seen a comapny go so far to make sure there people are taken care of!!!

[62nalide]

Originally Posted by 132SS

I also have the dual mode exhaust with the fuse pulled. It popped alot. Now with my TSP headers and tune it pops worse when decelerating. This is in my M6 speed LS 3. Had the car tuned by a reputable shop so I'm trusting the tune was good. Thinking about either pulling the mufflers for a deeper note or putting the fuse back in.

If you do pull them I'll take them mufflers off your hands if the price is right

[Deezee]

Originally Posted by 132SS

I also have the dual mode exhaust with the fuse pulled. It popped alot. Now with my TSP headers and tune it pops worse when decelerating. This is in my M6 speed LS 3. Had the car tuned by a reputable shop so I'm trusting the tune was good. Thinking about either pulling the mufflers for a deeper note or putting the fuse back in.

Mine is an LS3 also. It's not TOO bad now, but we will see after the cam and tune. I doubt ill need to change anything. I may even put a set of noweeds on it and leave them open unless I NEED to be quiet. My popping isn't very bad at all as of now though.

[Exsumis]

Glad to hear you finally got yours. I order a set with cats about a month ago from JDP and was told they were expecting them within a week. After a couple weeks went by I shot off an email and was told they should be available later that week. Then last Friday gets here and still nothing so I send another email to see what was going on and apparently Pfadt just got in a shipment of cats but no clue when they will ship. Its kind of frustrating since I was expecting them over 2 weeks ago at the latest and now it will be a good two weeks even if they did show up today that I would have time to install because of work. At least it looks like the wait is gonna be worth it though.

[Deezee]

Originally Posted by Exsumis

Glad to hear you finally got yours. I order a set with cats about a month ago from JDP and was told they were expecting them within a week. After a couple weeks went by I shot off an email and was told they should be available later that week. Then last Friday gets here and still nothing so I send another email to see what was going on and apparently Pfadt just got in a shipment of cats but no clue when they will ship. Its kind of frustrating since I was expecting them over 2 weeks ago at the latest and now it will be a good two weeks even if they did show up today that I would have time to install because of work. At least it looks like the wait is gonna be worth it though.

Yea that's rough man! I would've canceled my order by now! I was given three EXACT ship dates and if the last one had failed I would've written a "kooks headers" install thread instead now! At this point it sounds like your almost there! And they are the best I've seen! I hope you get them soon!!