Hi all,
Sorry for the late update.
Well I got the Domin8r exhaust. It was an easy fit. I only had to modify one of the brackets which wasn't too hard. If anyone else does get this system I suggest that you buy some new exhaust hanger rubbers as the kit doesn't come with any and although my old ones looked in good condition i had a slight vibration if the vehicle wasn't sitting on flat ground.
What I did notice after the larger exhaust was fitted was that the egt's dropped by about 50 deg's centigrade but the boost was spiking at close to 30 psi and then would settle back to 18psi max. I wasn't comfortable with this spike so the next step was to install a Dawes and needle valve.
This is a simple install and at the same time I blocked the egr and put in a oil catch can.
After a little tweaking I now have the max boost set at 16 psi and the spike at the same. I adjusted the Dawes valve so the I am getting just under 5 psi at 1500 rpm. The egt's have now dropped around 100 deg's from standard.
I am every happy with the end result and now have a lot more power and am saving a little bit of fuel.
I had a weeks work in Adelaide during the Christmas holidays and thought what better way to really test all of the above than to drive from Sydney. So booked a house for the week and loaded up the wife and kids.
I only had three days to get there and left a week and a half to get back.
The first day the car ran like a dream. I was truly happy with everything as the first day was a 800 km run.
I did run into problems on the second day though going across the Hay plains with a strong head wind. The egt's were up the boost was down and then I started hitting limp mode at around 2800 rpm. I tweaked the needle and Dawes valves and this made no difference. I battled through until lunch time when we stopped at a park which kept the kids entertained while I started trouble shooting.
I checked the MAF sensor voltages and all seemed ok but to be safe I changed it over to a spare non genuine one that I carried so I could rule that out. After checking fuel, resetting the computer and everything else that I could think of I set the Dawes and needle valves back to where they should be and set off again.
I had slight improvement for a few km's and then things started getting worse. Have you ever tried passing a semi trailer while hitting limp mode not a fun experience it took me four resets to get past one of them. Luckily the roads weren't too busy.
We pulled into Mildura for the night so left the battery terminals off overnight to reset the computer.
Went for a test run in the morning and I was now hitting limp mode at 60 km/h and then every time i tried to accelerate above that. I let it hit limp mode a few times and made the decision to go to Mr Nissan for a scan before leaving town. I was hoping that some fault codes would show up.
Nothing did. And when I asked what they thought that it could be I received an I don't know. They couldn't even suggest anything. It seems that the Nissan mechanics are now technicians and if the computer doesn't tell them whats wrong then they have no idea.
I set off again battling with it until the next town where we stopped for lunch.
I had a feeling that it was something to do with the MAF sensor so bought some cleaner at the local auto shop and cleaned the old genuine MAF put it back in and took it for a test drive. I had improvement but it wasn't fixed. We were not too far from Adelaide at this stage so kept going and once there ordered a new genuine MAF sensor from Patrol a Part in Melbourne which was delivered the next day. Put it in and problem fixed.
I drove back from Adelaide to Sydney fault free and haven't had a issue since the new genuine MAF sensor went it.
What I have learnt form this experience is trust your gut feeling, don't rely on Nissan and always use genuine sensors.
A nightmare of a trip down to Adelaide but a good one back.
To get back on track I am very happy with the exhaust but strongly suggest that if you upgrade the exhaust then you should install gauges and the Dawes and needle valves.
The note out the back is deeper but not much louder. There is more power and better fuel economy.
And best of all the price was right.
Cheers.
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