sergofast

iTrader: (22)

Let me clarify. I thought that you said you had a banging and I was saying I would try out these poly mounts and give you feedback on the results. I just ordered my exhaust and am waiting on it to get here along with the mounts. It was cattmans last 3" for the 4th gen

Right now I dont have an exhaust at all... (ran over an extension ladder that fell off a truck at 70 mph) does one hell of a number to your b pipe lol

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

It wasn't the anti-seize, I am having a clearance issue for some reason. the o2 sensor actually broke and one of the wires tore off do to little clearance and banging I assume.

Need to order a new one but my problem is how do I make up the clearance for the new o2 sensor? I need to post a pic of what I found tomorrow.

schmellyfart

iTrader: (46)

Wow, I thought my o2 sensor was close to the heatshield.

On another note, my exhaust hasn't been banging on the trailing arm since I installed my headers.

NmexMAX

iTrader: (22)

What kinda MMI's do you have? ETL?

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

[QUOTE=schmellyfart;7977088] Wow, I thought my o2 sensor was close to the heatshield.

On another note, my exhaust hasn't been banging on the trailing arm since I installed my headers. As you can see the sensor is broken and the black wire tore off. I don't know how to fix this, any ideas fellas? Maybe If I cut the or trim that area near the sensor if even possible.

I cant even understand why Im having this problem it should bolt up with no clearance issues btw I had vibration in the beginning not banging, now I see where it was coming from and it makes sense. Once that sensor broke my vibration went away.

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

No one else is having this problem with the o2 sensor? To bad they don't make any that are in a 90 degree angle. Anyone have any Ideas on how I can fix this?

JDMStanced

Single exhaust

Flava_24/7

iTrader: (46)

Relocate the sensor, get stiffer hangers, remove the heatsheild.

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

It's very close on my car, but no issues (even with the heat shield in place) FWIW, I have all the heat shields removed on both of my Max's. I'd start there, then maybe take a hammer or small sledge hammer and put a small dent in that area for additional clearance if needed.

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

Im planning on doing a Turbo, you think the heat from the hotter turbo gases would damage anything since the heat shields would be removed? Denting around that small area is a good Idea. I wasn't sure If I should start trying to dent the area where the sensor is touching, I can toy around with that as well.

A friend of mine said I could have a new bong welded on to have the sensor angled away from the area its hitting. But Then I would have to bring it to a shop which I was trying to stay away from.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Plug the existing hole (12 0'clock) and drill a new hole and weld in a new O2 bung @ 9 or 10 O'clock.....

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

Thanks for the tip. I'll check around before the cat again and see if anything else is causing my clearance issue. I wanted to avoid having a new bong welded on, if I have no other choice thats what I'll have done.

cardana24

iTrader: (81)

wow, that is wierd, mine is not even close to pointing "up" like that. I guess you could also have a different flange put on the exit of your cat if you have any room to move the B pipe to give the O2 sensor a better angle. I have my stock after cat 02 sensor, and my wideband sensor side by side and they are not really even close to hitting the floor of the car.

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

mine isn't pointing up lol thats just a weird position I was in while I took the picture. My o2 sensor is actually in the 9 o clock position.

maxboy325

iTrader: (35)

Did you guys ever find a fix or just dealing with the banging.

cardana24

iTrader: (81)

I can't speak for everyone, but mine does not bang, I am not using any special hangers either. My full exhaust set up is: obx v2 headers, magnaflow high flow bolt on cat, cattman 3" catback.

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Sounds familiar....

Exact same setup here but I used a cut up bushing somewhere (can't remember) to help with the banging, been fine ever since.

Cattman

iTrader: (77)

That solution would be proper installation. All the cars are the same, and all of the exhausts are the same. If these guys can install the part without banging, then anyone can.

Brian

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Aw man, here I am thinking that I'm some sort of rocket surgeon or something :

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

Sorry Brian, but I respectfully disagree with you. My 3" exhaust bangs on both of my Maximas, even with new stiff hangars. And guess who installed my 3" on my 98 Maxima?? Your guy Scott, the fabricator. And considering my car was the actual ginuea pig for making the 3" exhaust, I find your above post extremely off base.

Please do not throw out blanket statements such as it's "user error" when clearly you have not read and/or addressed all the comments regarding fitment in this thread (and other recent threads). I personally take offense to that comment. Also, how many of your 3" catbacks have you installed? inspected? I bet I have installed/inspected more than yourself. I can assure you, that at least in my situation, it's not a case of poor installation.

If you recall, both of my cars have nothing but Cattman products on it. Those who do not have banging issues appear to not have full Cattman products, but rather have put different Company products together, which luckily for them, appears to pull the b-pipe closer to the gas tank where it should be.

See posts #414 and #430 for reference. Thank you.

sergofast

iTrader: (22)

You might want to try some of the poly exhaust hangers for a Subaru. I tried two different sizes and found the proper size to be the extra long ones. I havent had one problem with banging since installing them. I have the 3" cattman exhaust, his "fastcat", and a budget y-pipe.

Ill check to see about the exact size hanger I purchased and edit with a link in a little while.

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

I also have all Cattman, from the headers back and I had some banging from my 3" from the heat shield above the muffler. I was able to bend up the heat shield enough to stop the banging so that problem is gone now. The other problem I had which I spoke with Brian about and he did offer to have it corrected but I had to send out my resonator to him, which would have cost me two weeks down time at the least on a daily driver. Not good.

On to the problem.. for some reason the rear O2 sensor in the resonator had no clearance and It got destroyed / crushed. I posted pics of this and I also emailed pictures to Brian which he never commented on. To address the issue, I had to have a shop weld a bong a bit lower in the resonator for clearance of new sensor and for it to not bang on anything. This problem cost me an additional $240 for a new sensor and labor to have a new bong welded on. I honestly feel out of all the bunch here that have had issues, mine was the worst as far as I know.

I don't think anyone else had clearance issues with their 02 sensor, just myself. I know I didn't install anything wrong because the exhaust only bolts on one way so its a no brianer for anyone with some mechanical knowledge.


I feel Brian should have at least covered the cost for the new bong. That would have been great customer service (wishful thinking). In addition, let me also remind you guys about the preference of the exhaust tip being flush with the bumper, recessed, or protruding. Its all a matter of preference, Yes I know, however, On my 2.5" Cattman, my exhaust tip protruded about 1" or so. I wanted the same on the 3" Cattman and when I installed mine, the tip was a bit recessed with the bumper as opposed to Wizards

I was really disappointed about this and I stressed that issue before I purchased and went on with the purchase since the Wizards final fittment protruded a bit and the tip was perfectly extended past his rear bumper. As a result, I had to purchase blank flanges from Brian for an other 50 bucks and again, I feel those should have been given to me at no cost. Once I installed the blank flanges the tip was exactly where I wanted it. The performance of the exhaust is great and I no loner have any issues but again it cost me an additional $290 just to have the issues I had resolved. This is my feedback and experience with this 3" Cattman exhaust... just an FYI for all.


Lenny

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

Lenny. I know you've expressed your concerns in the past sporadically here and in other threads. I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to put all your thoughts/experience all down again in one post.

I didn't have any issues with the O2 sensor, but it was extremely close and almost a problem for me.

How about a few final pics of your tip placement? I'd like to see what it looks like now that you've added the blank flanges.



Besides the really bad banging, I'm also slightly dissapointed with the non resonated muffler tip (and thin walled too), and the shortened resonator section compared to the older 2.5" system. I can live with these things, but can not tolerate the banging as it's totally unacceptable, and was totally avoidable to begin with.

Plenty more to add, but I'll save that for later.

VQ'rInWLA

iTrader: (83)

Sell it to me then James! Better yet Ill trade you the custom 3 I just had done

Cattman

iTrader: (77)

Every exhaust system we make is the same, built on rigid fixtures that do not allow a variance. There is only one size and it fits great on almost every car its installed on. OTOH, not every car, nor is every installation the same, and we cannot control for that. With a 3" exhaust, there's no room for error. Our design and fabrication is not responsible for the costs that maxprivate had to cover.

If the O2 sensor was too close on the car, and that was apparent, the bung should have been moved before the sensor was damaged. That's just a matter of using good sense, and its not our fault.

There are indeed two ways to install the resonator and I would also raise the possibility that it was upside down, which throws everything off slightly, but of course I do not know that was the case.

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

When I installed the exhaust the sensor was not hitting anything, close yes, but not hitting. The sensor had to have broken after driving around a bit. I'm not trying to win an argument of some 4th gens varying in exhaust dimensions, they may. However, remember, I was the one who dedicated my time into this thread to help start this entire project on the Org, NYC maximas, helping your company gain the business and profit of the 4th gen 3" exhaust. I should have at least been given the blank flanges as a Courtesy to correct my tip placement issue so it would terminate where it was designed to be. And that's extending past the rear bumper, I'm sure the Wizard would agree to this.

If you had covered the blank flanges for me, that would have been great customer service and made me feel as a valued customer. Rather than saying quote " customize the exhaust to my liking". That's exactly what a business man would say that's trying to cover their as#.

ptatohed

iTrader: (12)

Brian, with all due respect, it seems as though the alignment of your 3" exhaust isn't ideal. Per this pic by The Wizard, it's apparent that the alignment of the exhaust should be +/- 1" more toward the driver's side. Perhaps you should make this change in your design and offer the few customers who are experiencing banging problems a free exchange. Especially Wiz and maxp who were the early pioneers of this 3" project and helped make it a go in the first place. I think it's the right thing to do.

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

I think everyone's fitment is off... Mine is short (I like that aspect of it, I like it A lot!) but I do not like how it trys to work itself back towards the driver side of the car, I used one new rubber hanger from Napa on the right side so it sits in the middle because the old bushings are more forgiving than the new one, just have to keep buying one new hanger whenever time passes and down the road it starts to sit towards the driver side again....

Again, Each 4th gen is VERY OLD and mass produced, I highly doubt every single one is the same just like how Cattman said, for me it was an easy fix and LUCKY that I like how far inset the tip sits (Doesn't stick out at all looking from the top down).

Cattman

iTrader: (77)

Let me be frank. We'd welcome the demand to make this catback again in a 2.5" version, but I do not expect that we'll ever make this 3" design again. We lost money on it the first time after amortizing the development costs and I have no intention of losing more.

Free replacement would fit under "nice" (just like time travel or the immediate rapture of every teaparty member in the US), but I think that suggestion is way over the top as far as what is required to be "right" for parts produced well over a year ago, and it certainly doesn't fit under "possible".

Flava_24/7

iTrader: (46)

I honestly I dont think a free replacements is the right thing to do. Of couse a perfect fitment would be ideal but being off just slightly really isnt that bad, especially when the issues can be fixed by a local exhaust shop.
Even my custom 3" that was built on the car had some banging issues that I had to go back and have corrected.
I think everyone is aware that aftermarket parts dont always fit perfectly, I think everyone just expected it since it was coming from Cattman. However I think everyone kind of forgot also that this was still a newly designed part which usually will have some issues to work out.
Look at the multiple designs of the Cattman headers.

mista0406

iTrader: (22)

I totally agree with you Flav, not every chassis is on point 100%. I think people on here expected a perfect fitment for each, but this is not possible by any means. Just bring it to an exhaust shop near you and get the minor issue tweaked/fixed. /end

sergofast

iTrader: (22)

Hey Hey....dont start going political...some of us here might fight on those words

btw....Im glad I got the last 3" exhaust from you...i love it! Even with the complaints and fitment issues in the end Im glad that there are people like you making custom parts for our aging cars... Even if your not conservative lol jk

Cattman

iTrader: (77)

I mean no offense, but please don't assume that wishing the tea party would fade away as quickly as it was ginned up means that I'm a liberal. I'm actually quite conservative, with a particular passion for our 2nd amendment rights.

My family have been Republicans for several generations. I simply don't believe that the positions and tactics the teabaggers embrace are good for our democracy and many solid conservatives feel the same way. We feel like the Koch brothers and others of their ilk have hijacked our party, now we have no home, and a lot of us are very unhappy about it.

Moving on, let me say that your support for our products and the role that Cattman Performance has played in the Maxima community over the last 14years is genuinely appreciated. I cannot emphasize that enough.

Brian

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

In the first post you claim that all cars are the same. In the following post, you state that not every car is the same. Which is it Brian? You’re contradicting yourself. Really, it’s a rhetorical question, as I know where you stand on this as you’ve conveyed your point of view on more than one occasion.

No room for error, eh? Then please explain to me why the B-pipe wasn’t fabricated from scratch the day I was there for prototyping, but rather the fabricator showed up with the B-pipe already done. It wouldn’t have mattered if the alignment was ultimately checked and fixed as necessary, but the alignment wasn’t checked and was ultimately overlooked.

As I mentioned before in another thread (see link below), Scott (the fabricator) showed up with the B-pipe pretty much done. It was not fabricated that day, as I had expected; and this is the part where the fabricator dropped the ball. Pretty much all his time was spent checking and calc'ing clearances over the axle, as that seemed to be his biggest concern. This is mostly likely because he forgot how 4th gen's have quit a bit of clearance over the axle, where 5th gens are really tricky and need very precise placement. He also hung the muffler, fabbed up some piping for it, fabbed the tip, and looked at tip placement. Tip placement was the only thing I added my .02 cents on, as I felt it wasn't my job nor my place to get under the car, inspect his work and tell him what to do and not do. Tip placement is subjective, so I felt ok to speak up and try to imagine what I would like and the masses as well.

Overall, the "prototyping" was very short. I speculate (key word speculate) that Scott used his jig for the 2.5" system and simply made a 3" version of the B-pipe. This would explain why the 2.5" system bangs a little bit, and the 3" system more so, since after all it's 1/4 inch closer to the trailing arm.

Once a real 3" system was fabricated, I offered to go back for test fitting, but Cattman felt confident that the design was solid and said no thanks to my offer. Cattman dropped the ball right here. The batch of 10 systems was then made and distributed to us.



Excerpt taken from the other thread I linked…

I couldn’t agree more with you on this as all of your comments are spot on. I strongly feel Cattman dropped the ball right here…


Last but not least, here’s another tid bit of information that I’ve been withholding, partly due to me being naive thinking that everything would work out in the end and stiffer hangars would resolve my issue, and partly because I figured if there was a serious problem that needed addressing, that Cattman would step up to the plate and take care of it.

I was concerned about tip placement of the final product after seeing it installed on two of your guy’s cars. For some reason, I thought those individuals did have full Cattman products. I panicked and immediately PM’d Cattman, who understood my concerns and authorized for me to go back and have the 3” exhaust installed by the original fabricator simply to check for final tip placement. Little did I know, those individuals did not have full Cattman products, hence the discrepancy with tip placement. I panicked and jumped the gun for nothing. Anyway, back to the main point here…when I went back to have the 3” exhaust installed for the sole purpose of checking tip placement, the fabricator only then realized and saw just how close the B-pipe was/is to the trailing arm. He acknowledged and saw how easily it bangs (considering it’s only ¼” away from the trailing arm) as he shook the exhaust and proceeded to put zipties around my OEM hangars in an attempt to tighten things up. He then advised that I purchase the stiffest hangars I could get my hands on. Additionally, he whipped out a little notebook and proceeded to draw a little diagram of the exhaust, with minor notes, arrows, and numbers. He did not say what he was doing, but my hunch says he was making notes to himself on what minor tweaks he would make to the jig so that the next batch of 3” exhausts would come out better. I was pissed, but bit my tongue and smiled, hoping that everything would work out in the end. Boy was I wrong, and that’s where we stand today.








I agree it’s not good, but Brian did offer to have it corrected. He can’t control that it’s your daily driver and your car would have down time unfortunately. I do agree that your problem shouldn’t even had occurred in the first place though.

Exactly! It only bolts up one way, and is quite straight forward, even for a monkey. When Brian starts blaming it on “improper installation” that really boils my blood as he is clearly dodging the real issue, poor (or lack thereof) design and execution. Notice how he didn’t address my point of how his fabricator Scott installed my 3” exhaust, yet it should be considered poor installation, right? Hmmm…….

If your tip is indeed at the very same location as mine with the $50 blank flanges installed, then I whole heartedly agree with you that Brian should have provided those to you on his dime, especially since you kicked off the group deal and helped rally the buyers together; and you have all Cattman products from the headers back as I do. What he said was wrong.

Thanks for your input Ptatohed. I couldn’t agree more with you and don’t understand why so many people disagree with what you are saying. In a perfect world, I was hoping Brian would offer me two new B-pipes, for many reasons which I described in great detail at the beginning of the post. Plan B I would have hoped Brian would have offered for me to go back to the exhaust shop and have both B-pipes cut and rewelded so that the exhaust is going down the middle of the exhaust tunnel like it should be. If nothing else, as Plan C, I would have at least expected Brian to man up, admit the goof up, and apologize to the org. Unfortunately, none of things have happened. Instead, Brian has chosen to take the easy way out and say things like “poor installation”, or “every car is different”, or “personal preference” etc etc and does nothing to satisfy his customers.

Lost money? Please explain how. Because it surely wasn’t from R&D, since there was very little research from what I’ve seen, and it appears very little design/fabrication went into this as well from your following posts with the key points bolded. Not to mention that we got smaller resonators compared to the 2.5” version, a cheaper thin walled exhaust tip, and an exhaust tip that is non-resonated compared to the 2.5” version. These things appear to be cost cutting measures to me…



I will say, I was pissed when you posted this. It’s customary that the early adopters get the best deal, then the price usually goes up slightly. If you were really losing money on this batch, then technically you would losing even more money ($36) at this newly discounted price. Surely, this isn’t the case.

You also knew up front from our conversations that this could very well be a single run of 3” catbacks, hence why you needed a minimum to proceed, and why you didn’t go through with this a year ago when I tried to rally the troops with only 5 or so orders. If there was ever a chance for you to lose money, or even break even, then there’s no way a smart business man like yourself would have ever produced these 3” catbacks. Your business strategy has been the same for years; you only make a batch of products once you have enough committed people and their deposits, for fear of being stuck with inventory that moves too slowly for your liking.

Slightly off you say? I’m sorry, but it’s not slightly off, it’s way off. Please tell me how it’s slightly off when I have a good 3” of clearance on one side of the pipe and 1/8” to ¼” inch on the other side?? Have you seen the pictures I’ve posted?

Regarding your 3” exhaust, when you went back, did you have to pay to have it corrected? Anyway, we’re not talking about some custom one off piece, we’re taking about a product that’s supposed to be the cat’s meow since it’s made by none other than God….err I mean Cattman himself, and a product that costs a pretty penny too. We’re not talking about CM/ebay exhaust products, we’re talking about Cattman here as you’ve noted. With Cattman, I expect(ed) top quality parts, excellent fitment, and excellent customer service before and AFTER the sale.

Although I would like it to be perfect, I would at least expect a Cattman product to turn out very good; and/or get fixed at the least. There’s no reason why the alignment of the B-pipe couldn’t be a lot better at the gas tank. Shoot, I would think running a straight 3” pipe parallel to something and down the middle of a rather generous exhaust tunnel would be a heck of lot easier than getting mandrel bent pipe over the axle properly without banging issues or getting the muffler tip centered in the exhaust bumper perfectly, which ironically was done right because it was looked at/considered during the prototyping phase.

If it’s not a big deal, how about I send you the bill to have this corrected?



Move on, eh? Don’t care to make things right? If you look in this thread, some org’ers are having second thoughts after I disclosed the banging issues. It’s probably in your best interest to resolve this issue with us rather than simply “moving on”.

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...n-exhaust.html

In the end, I do appreciate the aftermarket support on a car that is now 15 years old, and I understand modding is often required on aftermarket parts, but in this case I strongly feel the final product was less than acceptable, shortcuts were taken, and Cattman has not lived up to his name/reputation. I expected a lot more from Cattman as he had the opportunity to make things right on more than one occasion.

Fauken

iTrader: (6)

how much is the full cat back system

Cattman

iTrader: (77)

Let's just cut to the chase. No time or desire to write a book. We made one batch, and the catbacks that were not purchased immediately sat on the shelf for months until the last one was sold.

If we were to make them again, I'd take all this information into account, but 1) we are not, and 2) I am not going to spend $8000 for parts and shipping and send them out free. End of story.

Move on everybody, there's nothing to see here. Subject is closed.

Mad-MAX_SE

iTrader: (2)

I was one of the first people to get one of these 3" exhausts and had absolutely no problems with mine. The tip sticks out a little bit far, but then again, i have a '95, and I expected it. The fitment is a little bit tight around my rear sway bar / trailing arm area as well. I used stock hangers and tightened pipe clamps for final fitment only at the muffler and locked the rest in place by putting clamps on the rest of the hangers only to restrict movement beyond the static hanging position. I never had any banging whatsoever including driving on some of the crappiest roads in my area.

nselca2

iTrader: (4)

That is possibly the worst way to handle business Brian. Your decision to just ignore all the problems and work your way around it is some shady *** ****, plain and simple. Even though I did not participate in this group buy, the whole situation pisses me off especially the way you're handling everything. Im new to the forum, but I saw a lot of threads about your "quality" work which swayed me towards buying a cattman header for my car. I can now honestly say that I will NEVER buy a cattman product for my car. Your attitude about the whole situation is surprising. You're trying to find any way possible to beat around the bush and come up with these stupid excuses that are not solving anything and digging yourself in a deeper hole. Funny thing is, Im sure that if you were in the situation they were in, you'd be crying for your money back or at least be asking for some type of compensation. You know you made a huge mistake on these, but dont want to admit it because you feel that it will ruin your image or then make it feel like it is on you to fix the problem. But by your actions, its obvious that you dont care to fix the problem and *feel you* have better things to do than to repair the problems the forum members are dealing with.

renots

iTrader: (5)

Wow can't believe what I'm hearin about cattmann products, I was gonna get a complete setup from headers to tip an honestly unless someone gives me one, I won't be sending my hard earned cash to a man that has no care for the people that have helped him build his company an bank account!! Man up Brian stop with the bs an fix what's wrong!! An I definitely say get a new fabricator cause apparently he doesn't care as much as you do, If he did he would've not made the b pipe before the wiz got there.