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Final torquing of all the hardware bringing the exhaust system into its final position. Fitment underneath the rear sway bar and around the differential housing was precise yet still tight as to not hang too low.
The ARK Design muffler section looking much lighter and aggressive compared to the original “lunch box”. The extra space frees up a good amount of room that could potentially be used for a differential cooler setup. (hint hint).
The view from the back of the car makes it obvious the exhaust is upgraded, but not so radical that it would attract a bunch of unwanted attention.
Howard strapping the Z back down for dyno pulls with the new system. A few runs were done initially to make sure everything was installed correctly and not causing any strange rattling or rubbing.
Once we verified everything was good to go, the power runs began. The tone was improved without being over the top in volume. It was great to hear the Z have a exhaust note to match the rest of its sporty setup.
After several runs to get a consistent output, the gains throughout the torque band are apparent. A solid 4-7 pound feet of torque improvement across the already wide power band. Also the top end improvement of 5-9 horsepower in the upper RPM range will help on track. This is respectable considering nothing else was changed and the stock ECU tune wasn't setup around the new system. I'm sure once we do more power parts and have the ECU tuned in conjunction with the modifications, the Ark Design Super Flow exhaust with be a good contributing part of the whole power package.After a few days of street driving, Overall I'm impressed with the ARK Design exhaust. The muscular note from inside the cabin is great with both the windows up or down. While just cruising on the freeway or in stop and go city traffic, the system doesn't scream “pull me over!”. The under chassis clearance is also good even over speed bumps, steep driveways, and dips. With a high flow cat or long tube header upgrade, the volume will no doubt increase. But paired with the stock cats the combination is not so loud as to get you in trouble. Next weekend I'll be on track at Willow Springs International Raceway to test the ARK Design unit under track conditions. But seeing that it made more power and is lighter overall, I'm sure the the car will perform better than the stock setup.
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