Cattman VQ30 headers installed on my VQ35
11-23-2003, 02:57 PM
#1
Cattman VQ30 headers installed on my VQ35
I purchased a set of Cattman VQ30 headers to see if they would fit on my car. When they arrived I first bolted them upto the VQ35 I had sitting on the motor stand. The fitment was very good so last night I proceeded to mount them on the car. Some of the minor problems I ran into were the fact that the VQ30 headers has an EGR fitting so I managed to plug that up and the O2 sensors were not in the ideal location for this application. I had to extend the wires for the rear primary O2 and I am using the secondary O2 for the front. I will rewire the thing later to use both primary O2s.
Another small issue was the front motor mount bolt. I had to back the thing out quite a bit so that it would not hit the front header. This is an easy fix and all I will need to do is trim the end of the bolt and perhaps shim it with a few washers. The last real problem I had was getting all the header bolts torqued down. With new pipes running in different directions it was a PITA to get the sockets onto some bolts with the socket wrench. I would recommend using a 6 point 14mm instead of the 12 point socket I used. A 6 point socket would make things look a little cleaner in the end.
Sound:
The harmonics of this thing is vastly different than the WSP Y pipe with hollow precat setup that I had. I was always disappointed in the bad harmonics of the unequal length Y pipe and to add to that I have been trying to chase down a front exhaust manifold leak since I installed the new engine. The Cattman header allows the VQ to sound as it should because of it's equal length Y pipe. There is somewhat of a raspy sound coming from the front of the car now and I am not sure if that is normal or I have more adjustments I can make but under WOT all you can hear is a well tuned VQ song. At a normal idle the front of the car sounds as if it has the stock manifolds on it but the stock exhaust that I have is noticeably louder but not by much on the outside. It is more audible on the inside of the car. The majority of the interior idle sound could be coming from my hollow OE cat. I will attend to this later.
Quality:
The visible quality of these headers seems to be top notch and especially compared to the photos I have seen of the Stealin headers. You can tell these are hand crafted and look more to be a work of art than a header. I am thoroughly pleased with the quality of this header.
Power:
I am sure this is the part where many of you are going to turn up the heat. For now you must settle for my butt dyno impression which I do not like to give. Because of my many trips to the 'humblemaker' I know the butt dyno can be quite deceiving. However in this instance I don't think my butt dyno is influenced much by sound because keep in mind I have been driving around with a front manifold exhaust leak for the past two months. And if anything this setup is more quiet and ear pleasing. I do plan to make a trip to the roller soon but the problem will still be that I do not have a baseline graph of this specific engine. Therefore I will not be able to give anyone exact data on it's performance even after I dyno. The best we will be able to do is compare my end result dyno to the countless other baselines we have and perhaps compare to the Stealin header dynos which we all know have been disappointing.
Conclusion:
This is a project that I took upon myself to try with absolutely no influence from anyone else. And it is exactly that, a project. Those of you who are open minded and willing to contribute to this thread on an intelligent level are most welcome to post your thoughts and comments. I did not attempt this project to please the haters. I did this because I wanted to give it a try and help add more data to the Maxima.org community. Constructive criticism is welcome but flames and haters are not.
Pictures will be available the next time I put my car on the lift. That will probably be soon this week. I do not currently have a set time to dyno the car. I need to solve the O2 issue first.
So lets begin.
Matthew
Another small issue was the front motor mount bolt. I had to back the thing out quite a bit so that it would not hit the front header. This is an easy fix and all I will need to do is trim the end of the bolt and perhaps shim it with a few washers. The last real problem I had was getting all the header bolts torqued down. With new pipes running in different directions it was a PITA to get the sockets onto some bolts with the socket wrench. I would recommend using a 6 point 14mm instead of the 12 point socket I used. A 6 point socket would make things look a little cleaner in the end.
Sound:
The harmonics of this thing is vastly different than the WSP Y pipe with hollow precat setup that I had. I was always disappointed in the bad harmonics of the unequal length Y pipe and to add to that I have been trying to chase down a front exhaust manifold leak since I installed the new engine. The Cattman header allows the VQ to sound as it should because of it's equal length Y pipe. There is somewhat of a raspy sound coming from the front of the car now and I am not sure if that is normal or I have more adjustments I can make but under WOT all you can hear is a well tuned VQ song. At a normal idle the front of the car sounds as if it has the stock manifolds on it but the stock exhaust that I have is noticeably louder but not by much on the outside. It is more audible on the inside of the car. The majority of the interior idle sound could be coming from my hollow OE cat. I will attend to this later.
Quality:
The visible quality of these headers seems to be top notch and especially compared to the photos I have seen of the Stealin headers. You can tell these are hand crafted and look more to be a work of art than a header. I am thoroughly pleased with the quality of this header.
Power:
I am sure this is the part where many of you are going to turn up the heat. For now you must settle for my butt dyno impression which I do not like to give. Because of my many trips to the 'humblemaker' I know the butt dyno can be quite deceiving. However in this instance I don't think my butt dyno is influenced much by sound because keep in mind I have been driving around with a front manifold exhaust leak for the past two months. And if anything this setup is more quiet and ear pleasing. I do plan to make a trip to the roller soon but the problem will still be that I do not have a baseline graph of this specific engine. Therefore I will not be able to give anyone exact data on it's performance even after I dyno. The best we will be able to do is compare my end result dyno to the countless other baselines we have and perhaps compare to the Stealin header dynos which we all know have been disappointing.
Conclusion:
This is a project that I took upon myself to try with absolutely no influence from anyone else. And it is exactly that, a project. Those of you who are open minded and willing to contribute to this thread on an intelligent level are most welcome to post your thoughts and comments. I did not attempt this project to please the haters. I did this because I wanted to give it a try and help add more data to the Maxima.org community. Constructive criticism is welcome but flames and haters are not.
Pictures will be available the next time I put my car on the lift. That will probably be soon this week. I do not currently have a set time to dyno the car. I need to solve the O2 issue first.
So lets begin.
Matthew
11-23-2003, 04:40 PM
#6
Wild at Hurt
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 580
SR2ODEN,
You are an org. hero. I fantisized about the same thing knowing it would work.
You had the stones to do it. Thought that from the begining all Cattman would have to do is report the 02's and he would have a nice product for the VQ35.
Do you think the headers themselves are making more noise or is it some of the other surgery you have done to your exhaust system? Some cars have a nice almost musical howl on full song. Is that what you are describing?
How much weight was saved would you guess.
A most sincere thank you for sharing.
You are an org. hero. I fantisized about the same thing knowing it would work.
You had the stones to do it. Thought that from the begining all Cattman would have to do is report the 02's and he would have a nice product for the VQ35.
Do you think the headers themselves are making more noise or is it some of the other surgery you have done to your exhaust system? Some cars have a nice almost musical howl on full song. Is that what you are describing?
How much weight was saved would you guess.
A most sincere thank you for sharing.
11-23-2003, 04:46 PM
#7
Oh hi....
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 751
This takes some serious *****. Congrats. I'm very curious as to how this all turns out. A very interesting idea. If this were to work possibly Cattman could make the changes, lord knows there are people chomping at the bit for some effective headers.
11-23-2003, 04:47 PM
#8
Thanks for proving my point that these could bolt up to the VQ35. I had made a post about this awhile back and was told this wouldn't work. Hope all turns out good once you dyno and hope you gain HP instead of losing HP like the stealing headers. Congrats to you in taking the time to try this out.
11-23-2003, 06:46 PM
#12
i just wanted to give a heads up after riding in sr's car. headers look very nice and i love the sound they give off. at idle, you cant hear anything different. there is a different tone at startup but only like the effect of removing the exhaust resonator in a stock car.
ive driven in matt's car a few times so i have a decent feel for how it performs and i feel through my butt dyno that they do make power. car feels to pull harder after 3k. i know this is all objectional but remember its just my opinion. hopefully the dyno will prove all this as compared to other's baseline. all in all, i was very impressed. great job matt.
ive driven in matt's car a few times so i have a decent feel for how it performs and i feel through my butt dyno that they do make power. car feels to pull harder after 3k. i know this is all objectional but remember its just my opinion. hopefully the dyno will prove all this as compared to other's baseline. all in all, i was very impressed. great job matt.
11-24-2003, 05:25 AM
#15
Thanks for the encouraging words guys!
As I said I don't like to give butt dyno results but after driving for almost 2 days I must say I would be truly amazed if these things do not show a decent gain on the dyno. The car feels different through the midrange. Half throttle response at 4k takes some getting used to because the thing feels like it's making boost or something there. The car is kinda lurchy now like it wants to just run away. Much more so than it was. Usually by now any mod (gains) that I would have done would have gone away by now but this feels better all the time and it's not going away. I am hoping that it isn't related to the O2 sensors that I do not have plugged up. Perhaps the ECU doesn't have enough data to tune out my new found gains. At this point I am not sure but the one thing I know for certain is that this is by far the best bolt on mod I have ever done, aside from Nitrous. But once again I caution that a trip to the dyno could still prove me wrong. Or right
.
MyownNismo : You're welcome. I somehow missed (or forgot) seeing the part where you were told that. Those of us who suspected these things would fit are certainly proven right on that point.
There is one more thing I want to disclose about this project. When I had the idea to do this I approached Brian Catts and we came to an agreement. I won't disclose the details of what the deal was but I want you guys to know that the whole thing is positive for all of us. I am not being influenced in any way to make these positive comments. And again this whole thing was my doing so do not assume that any of this is some sales tactic, please. Brian is just as stoked as you guys at knowing that these headers fit our cars and I am certain he is now taking steps to see what is involved in making the kit a 100% fit.
If any of you guys want to send some positive email to him I bet he would love to hear your thoughts and comments. I just ask that everyone be positive and respectful to him because the more good words he hears form us the better our chances are of getting products.
As I said I don't like to give butt dyno results but after driving for almost 2 days I must say I would be truly amazed if these things do not show a decent gain on the dyno. The car feels different through the midrange. Half throttle response at 4k takes some getting used to because the thing feels like it's making boost or something there. The car is kinda lurchy now like it wants to just run away. Much more so than it was. Usually by now any mod (gains) that I would have done would have gone away by now but this feels better all the time and it's not going away. I am hoping that it isn't related to the O2 sensors that I do not have plugged up. Perhaps the ECU doesn't have enough data to tune out my new found gains. At this point I am not sure but the one thing I know for certain is that this is by far the best bolt on mod I have ever done, aside from Nitrous. But once again I caution that a trip to the dyno could still prove me wrong. Or right
.MyownNismo : You're welcome. I somehow missed (or forgot) seeing the part where you were told that. Those of us who suspected these things would fit are certainly proven right on that point.
There is one more thing I want to disclose about this project. When I had the idea to do this I approached Brian Catts and we came to an agreement. I won't disclose the details of what the deal was but I want you guys to know that the whole thing is positive for all of us. I am not being influenced in any way to make these positive comments. And again this whole thing was my doing so do not assume that any of this is some sales tactic, please. Brian is just as stoked as you guys at knowing that these headers fit our cars and I am certain he is now taking steps to see what is involved in making the kit a 100% fit.
If any of you guys want to send some positive email to him I bet he would love to hear your thoughts and comments. I just ask that everyone be positive and respectful to him because the more good words he hears form us the better our chances are of getting products.
11-24-2003, 06:55 AM
#17
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,144
now all you need are some forged pistons and a forged crank. No but really i think the abilities that you possess are very admirable. I congradulate you on the headers. I think that you should try running Nitrous again but make sure your engine is bullet proof first(i.e. piston and crank).
11-24-2003, 07:25 AM
#18
The crank is already forged. And now that I have solved the exhaust leak problem and fixed another clunking issue that turned out to be the right side motor mount it is time to hook everything back up. Now all I really need is a B pipe to replace the stock crap.
11-24-2003, 07:32 AM
#19
I knew nothing about this 
Anyway they have a hollow sound and through the stock muffler it almost sounded like the 350z exhaust note. Im curious to bolt up my HKS to see how loud these suckers will be.
More flow =
Higher Rev limiter = 100 more whp on top of higher rev limiter and more flow =
Anyway they have a hollow sound and through the stock muffler it almost sounded like the 350z exhaust note. Im curious to bolt up my HKS to see how loud these suckers will be.
More flow =
Higher Rev limiter = 100 more whp on top of higher rev limiter and more flow =
11-24-2003, 08:36 AM
#20
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,144
i meant the JP crank (i think that is the manufacture). what is that crank made out of.
also are you keeping the 100 shot of Nitrous and was it wet of direct port. i also cant remember what made your engine detonate. was it the fuel running to lean or to much nitrous.. you said that you got gready and didnt finish the proper install of the nitrous. what was it that you were missing...sorry for all the questions.
also are you keeping the 100 shot of Nitrous and was it wet of direct port. i also cant remember what made your engine detonate. was it the fuel running to lean or to much nitrous.. you said that you got gready and didnt finish the proper install of the nitrous. what was it that you were missing...sorry for all the questions.
11-24-2003, 10:59 AM
#21
Supporting Maxima.org Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 1,815
Matt,
Did the Y line right up to the Cat or did it need some tweaking?
When you say the o2's aren't in an ideal locaton are they much further down the pipes? Also when you saying that you are using the secondary in the front are you using that o2 connected in the primary location and plugged up in the primaries socket or just using it as it sould be and not using a primary at all? If I got this all wrong please clarify.
Did this throw a code right off the bat? I know it's not hook up right but I was just wondering... When you redo the o2's are you going to install the 02 secondaries after the main cat?
Lastly do you think you could do a hard run and pull a plug to see if it looks like it's real rich or not.
Great job BTW. I had a feeling these would fit too, Glad to see Brian hooked you up to give it a shot.
Thanks for doing this and sharing the info this could be real good for all of us 5.5genners.
Did the Y line right up to the Cat or did it need some tweaking?
When you say the o2's aren't in an ideal locaton are they much further down the pipes? Also when you saying that you are using the secondary in the front are you using that o2 connected in the primary location and plugged up in the primaries socket or just using it as it sould be and not using a primary at all? If I got this all wrong please clarify.
Did this throw a code right off the bat? I know it's not hook up right but I was just wondering... When you redo the o2's are you going to install the 02 secondaries after the main cat?
Lastly do you think you could do a hard run and pull a plug to see if it looks like it's real rich or not.
Great job BTW. I had a feeling these would fit too, Glad to see Brian hooked you up to give it a shot.
Thanks for doing this and sharing the info this could be real good for all of us 5.5genners.
11-24-2003, 11:44 AM
#22
Hey Matt, I am happy to hear you got these guys to fit onto your car, I was afraid they would not (after my experience with the 00 Y-pipe ordeal). The noise you hear sounds famaliar with my experience with cough cough headers. I think the flex joint is a bit to stiff on these, you can always relace it. Take a picture of the black paint and nice shiny chrome, it will be gone in a few days
11-24-2003, 12:49 PM
#23
Originally Posted by emax02
Hey Matt, I am happy to hear you got these guys to fit onto your car, I was afraid they would not (after my experience with the 00 Y-pipe ordeal). The noise you hear sounds famaliar with my experience with cough cough headers. I think the flex joint is a bit to stiff on these, you can always relace it. Take a picture of the black paint and nice shiny chrome, it will be gone in a few days
Send me an IM biotch, I want to talk.
11-25-2003, 07:54 AM
#24
Originally Posted by maximaman777
Matt,
Did the Y line right up to the Cat or did it need some tweaking?
When you say the o2's aren't in an ideal locaton are they much further down the pipes? Also when you saying that you are using the secondary in the front are you using that o2 connected in the primary location and plugged up in the primaries socket or just using it as it sould be and not using a primary at all? If I got this all wrong please clarify.
Did this throw a code right off the bat? I know it's not hook up right but I was just wondering... When you redo the o2's are you going to install the 02 secondaries after the main cat?
Lastly do you think you could do a hard run and pull a plug to see if it looks like it's real rich or not.
Great job BTW. I had a feeling these would fit too, Glad to see Brian hooked you up to give it a shot.
Thanks for doing this and sharing the info this could be real good for all of us 5.5genners.
Did the Y line right up to the Cat or did it need some tweaking?
When you say the o2's aren't in an ideal locaton are they much further down the pipes? Also when you saying that you are using the secondary in the front are you using that o2 connected in the primary location and plugged up in the primaries socket or just using it as it sould be and not using a primary at all? If I got this all wrong please clarify.
Did this throw a code right off the bat? I know it's not hook up right but I was just wondering... When you redo the o2's are you going to install the 02 secondaries after the main cat?
Lastly do you think you could do a hard run and pull a plug to see if it looks like it's real rich or not.
Great job BTW. I had a feeling these would fit too, Glad to see Brian hooked you up to give it a shot.
Thanks for doing this and sharing the info this could be real good for all of us 5.5genners.
It lined up perfectly with the cat.
The secondary O2 is the only thing connected int he front.
The primary O2 is the onyl thing connected in the rear.
My CEL was already on but im positive it would have come on quickly anyway. It even blinks sometimes because it thinks there is a O2 failure. Ihave not scanned any codes.
When I redo the thing I will run both primary O2s int he headers and relocate the secondary O2s after the main cat.
I will get around to checking the A/F once I finally make it to the dyno. I am a little pressed for time right now from working on my car, other peoples cars and I am moving this weekend at the same time.
Juice: Yes I am pretty certain that the car is making power and as I mentioned earlier the thing is not loud IMO. I feel most of the gains in the midrange. It is more quiet than the exhaust leak, hollow precat setup I had before. Although it certainly is louder than stock. I do still have the stock catback exhaust. At idle you would think my entire exhaust is stock except for when it is at fast idle when cold.
11-25-2003, 08:55 AM
#25
Supporting Maxima.org Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 1,815
Originally Posted by SR20DEN
It lined up perfectly with the cat.
The secondary O2 is the only thing connected int he front.
The primary O2 is the onyl thing connected in the rear.
My CEL was already on but im positive it would have come on quickly anyway. It even blinks sometimes because it thinks there is a O2 failure. Ihave not scanned any codes.
When I redo the thing I will run both primary O2s int he headers and relocate the secondary O2s after the main cat.
I will get around to checking the A/F once I finally make it to the dyno. I am a little pressed for time right now from working on my car, other peoples cars and I am moving this weekend at the same time.
The secondary O2 is the only thing connected int he front.
The primary O2 is the onyl thing connected in the rear.
My CEL was already on but im positive it would have come on quickly anyway. It even blinks sometimes because it thinks there is a O2 failure. Ihave not scanned any codes.
When I redo the thing I will run both primary O2s int he headers and relocate the secondary O2s after the main cat.
I will get around to checking the A/F once I finally make it to the dyno. I am a little pressed for time right now from working on my car, other peoples cars and I am moving this weekend at the same time.
I hate moving, a little over 10 yrs ago I had to do it 3 times in 3yrs.
Not to mention I worked for NA Vanlines in my late teens. My last move I hired a local company...I hope yours goes smoothly
Do you think just switching the plug in the front to the primaries scocket would make any difference? The ECU would then think it had 2 primaries, it would still think the cats or o2's for the 2ndaries were bad. I don't know if this makes any difference or not
to that post also~
12-03-2003, 08:49 PM
#29
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 140
Originally Posted by Sizzo718
Dude I have no idea about half the things you said but you have my total support!
06-21-2006, 09:34 PM
#34
Matt why did you choose to use the 3.0 cattman headers? I thought you were already using cattman's gen II headers? I am a little beind on your setup, I didn't know you had a new motor. Are you running with stock internals? Cams? Why didn't you choose to use the hotshots? I am very pleased with my hotshots, I bought them from jeremy (studman) and he had a set of stillen 3.5L headers sitting in his garage so I had a chance to see them side by side and it's like day and night difference. The hotshots are also equal length even the Y-pipe. I too need a B-pipe my friend (probably going to go to Warpspeed), after that I will get a much needed tune with my emanage blue. I'm currently running the hotshot headers, Y-pipe (of course) with the cat and B-pipe with a frankencar rear and it sounds at most 5% louder than stock. Derrick2k2SE can attest he and I installed the headers.
06-21-2006, 09:39 PM
#35
Originally Posted by maxspeedse02
Matt why did you choose to use the 3.0 cattman headers? I thought you were already using cattman's gen II headers?
to try it. Emax tried the 3.0 fed spec stock manifold 3.0L conversion, using the 3.0L aftermarket y-pipy, so these 2 ideas 'stemmed' from each other I would like to think.All gen I 3.5L owners have to deal with the EGR.
Originally Posted by maxspeedse02
I am a little beind on your setup, I didn't know you had a new motor. Are you running with stock internals? Cams?
Originally Posted by maxspeedse02
Why didn't you choose to use the hotshots?
Originally Posted by maxspeedse02
The hotshots are also equal length even the Y-pipe
06-22-2006, 05:06 PM
#37
Please observe the original posting dates folks, of these threads I bumped yesterday. This isn't new material, I bumped it in hopes to answer many questions that people have about my setup. And hopefully it will reduce the number of people who seem to think I never contribute anything.
06-22-2006, 08:09 PM
#38
Originally Posted by SR20DEN
Please observe the original posting dates folks, of these threads I bumped yesterday. This isn't new material, I bumped it in hopes to answer many questions that people have about my setup. And hopefully it will reduce the number of people who seem to think I never contribute anything.
06-22-2006, 08:34 PM
#39
Originally Posted by SR20DEN
Please observe the original posting dates folks, of these threads I bumped yesterday. This isn't new material, I bumped it in hopes to answer many questions that people have about my setup. And hopefully it will reduce the number of people who seem to think I never contribute anything.
06-25-2006, 08:00 AM
#40
Great work Matt, Anyone who asked me about Cattman headers, I always tried to give them the best explanations I can, but it's always the price of these bangers that knocked off people's interest. I have to vouch here, we may be spending big bucks for these headers, but what we get out of these things, is relatively cheap. Like you said, Matt, the sound and performance descriptions are top notchers, I truly agree. It really takes a person to install it and drive it to realize..."oh, so that's what they are talking about."
I am glad to see you making this work on the vq35's, nice work there. You are a true contributor to the org. Keep it coming. I'm SC'ing my car at the moment, and working in the oil industry is about 3 times as busy as an year before, I wish I have the time to devote some contributions to the org, too. With our current research and improvements, VQ's are volatile and dangerous machines out there already. Love to see VQ's shun eyes off people at the track when they don't even think we are at least 14 seconds fast.
I am glad to see you making this work on the vq35's, nice work there. You are a true contributor to the org. Keep it coming. I'm SC'ing my car at the moment, and working in the oil industry is about 3 times as busy as an year before, I wish I have the time to devote some contributions to the org, too. With our current research and improvements, VQ's are volatile and dangerous machines out there already. Love to see VQ's shun eyes off people at the track when they don't even think we are at least 14 seconds fast.
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