I've only ordered from budget oncec (my b-pipe) and I got the woman receptionist that someone else mentioned in this thread. EXTREMELY friendly and she kinda had a sexy voice too, lol. I also have sent Jeff numerous e-mails (both before AND after receiving the product) and many times Jeff has responded to me within hours! Some e-mails were questions about his products and others were just general exhaust questions and each time the quickness in his responses made me feel as if I was a real priority to him which is why I will definitely be ordering my y-pipe from them this month. Also did I mention they gave me an extra $10 off only because my b-pipe shipped out 1-2 days later than they said it would? I didn't notice the pipe shipped out late, but when I received it it had a note on it that read "$10 discount for delay in shipping." You really can't beat their customer service (at least from my experience) and I have a feeling maybe part of the reason it took Jeff so long to accomodate you is because everyone can have different opinions as to what is a quality made product and what is junk. Hell I think we all know Crystlers are some of the crappiest POS cars you could ever buy yet I'm sure there are some people out there who think they're great (those poor souls). So all I'm trying to say is maybe Jeff assumed there was nothing wrong with the pipe and that you were maybe perceiving a sloppy weld for a defect, etc... and while no one should ever assume things I know probably all of us are guilty of it. Just my 2 cents sorry for being so wordy!

 

I've worked together with Jeff when he was trying to develop a muffler for the fourth gen. Lent him my car for mock-ups and tested out 2 or 3 different mufflers...still have one on my car. He is a good guy, straight up. He is old school tho. Computers aren't his thing, and he doesn't respond to e-mails well. He's a great guy in person, but since it's a little hard for our American friends to drop by the shop, 1-800 is the next best thing. If he's there, he'll talk to you. He's a racer tho, and a fabricator, not a PR guy, so don't expect him to sweet talk you. In the end, he will take care of you tho, just may take a little time. His main buisness is a muffler shop...performance was just on the side. Performance is getting to be a large part of his buisness now, but all in all, he still is running a muffler shop, not just a performance shop.

 

are you on tmec?

 

yes sir. same alias.

 

damn, maybe i should have claimed an exhaust leak when i first got mine and gotten it for free! haha/ j/k, Good stuff. Enjoy it!

 

O.k., here is the final conclusion to my little story. On June 15th, I took my (free) Y-pipe to a muffler shop and had the leak welded and the rough inner walls smoothed out a bit. That was $10.

I finally got around to installing it on 06-23. I will tell you my experience. While I got the pipe for free and I may or may not have a right to complain, I am not really posting here to complain. I am simply posting to tell you guys how it went. You guys can form your own opinions from what I say. So hold the "You got it for free, stop compaining".

After going through the typical struggles, I got the old pipe off. I was ready to install the new Budget/LSS Y. Of course this is after I ran to Lowe's because my bolt's nuts were lost in transit.

I go to install the gaskets. Well, while Cattman sends you genuine Nissan gaskets, Budget does not. I did not like the cardboard gasket provided by Budget (vs. the O.E.M. aluminum 'fan' style gasket) not to mention it was damaged in transit. I decided to just reused my old one. Now for the right bank, the gasket provided by Budget was fine. It fit right in the circle 'home'. As for the left bank, the gasket provided by Budget was not the right size! The diameter was too big. It was loose and sloppy on the pipe. I had to re-use my stock gasket which fit fine.

I go to fit the Y in place and to be honest with you guys, fitment was not very good. By comparison when I placed the Cattman up, it fit perfect at all 3 connection points, flush faces, no gaps (even before any bolts/nuts were in). The Budget had gaps at all three connection points. The best I could do was 'split the difference' among the three connections and just start driving the nuts/bolts in slowly while rotating frequently. While it bothered me to do this, I will say that everything did eventually 'suck up' and connect flush with no gaps at all three points.

The problem, however, is that because the poor fitment tweeked my cat-back so much, my exhaust tip is totally tweeked. It got forced way too low so I have a big gap between the tip and rear bumper cover and the tip is not centered.

Now for the sound, which is the main thing I was fearing and thus the reason I was hesitant to order a Budget in the first place (because I already new Cattman sounded great) is fine! No problems at all. A slight change in pitch at idle (not louder, not worse, just slightly different). At normal driving speeds, it sounds 100% stock. At WOT, it increases in volume maybe 5-10%, but it is by no means an unpleasant sound.

As for butt-dyno? I am the wrong person to ask. The only mod I have ever done where I actually felt anything was the supercharger.

Well, that's that. Thanks for letting me ramble. I will now let this thread fade to black..............