So I ordered a kensei catback exhaust from ebay last week. I've owned a couple ebay catbacks on my old 240's, so keeping with tradition I purchased yet another one for the max. This one in particular sparked my interest at $125 shipped. The seller was "kenseitool" and shipping was moderately fast considering it was free shipping. So I waited and it came in on Thursday afternoon.

Packaging:

The box was kinda in rough shape, with an exhaust hanger poking out of one side, yet not damaged. Opening the box I found the exhaust wrapped in foam sheets and wrapped in tape. Not a scratch was found on any of the pieces.

Quality:

Well, I have seen a lot better. I know this whole setup was only $125 shipped, but damn. The stainless steel is mandrel bent but it really thin gauge. The welding is terrible. I have ~15-20hrs weld experience and could have done a lot better job than this. Every flange is warped to some degree so the need for the included gaskets is a MUST! The bolts and nuts provided are crap. Simply put. Because the flanges are so warped, you have to tighten down the bolts hardcore to make a good seal and these bolts DO NOT hold up. 5 out of the 6 bolts are now stripped and were done so during installation. I work at an auto dealership so finding descent sets of nuts and bolts wasn't an issue and worked out a lot better.

Fitment:

HORRIBLE! As said earlier, the flanges are warped, causing a small fitment issue. The position of one of the flanges is so that it will hit the fuel tank and part of the rear suspension. The crappy muffler hangers if they can be called that are a little out of place, making it hard to even hang the exhaust. Due to the whole setup being misaligned slighty, the muffler hangs about 1-2" below the rear bumper and ~2" to the left. Thankfully, once again for working at the car dealership, we have cutoff tools and a MIG welder, so I was able to fix the fitment problem almost completely.

Sound:

Deep and beautiful! I love the deep, throaty tone this setup produces. Later on I will take a video outside and inside to demonstrate.


So yea, for $125 plus a little work and this isn't a bad system. Most people don't have access to the same tools (cutoffs, welders, AND lifts) at their disposal, and for that I would NOT recommend this to the average user. For me I would give this 3 out of 5, for you 2 out of 5. I would say shell out another $50 and get a better exhaust from another ebay seller aka ebstores

 

Any pics of the exhaust, is it the normal Cannon Style ones.....

 

Yea, it's the ricer style cannon...

 

I got mine from the same guy for $175 shipped a while back and had none of those issues aside from the muffler fitment. Mine also sits low but that'll be fixed when I swap mufflers.

 

One can't really complain if they go cheap and has the know how to fix it! I'll probably do some eBay headers for $125 real soon!

 

Nope, cant complain at all really

Pix and vidz to come hopefully later today. Should be a descent day for pix as it is raining lol

 

*note* these pictures/vids are after the fitment adjusting.





*videos recorded on medium quality using torque for android. Re-encoded using handbrake

Outside car


Inside car (sorry about the noise from the rain)

 

Vidz and pix are up.

 

i got this same exhaust but probably not from the same seller. theyre all pretty much the same on ebay i feel. i had 0 issues tho. all my welds were relatively clean, flanges were straight, and everything fit fine except for like most said, the tip sits a little low. but if i messed with it i bet i could get it to sit a lot closer to the bumper. but it looks fine to me. they just rust quickly.

 

Nice HUD! Sounds not bad at all! Not as loud as I thought it would be! My 2.5" with a Cattman 22" resonator and flowmaster 40 is slightly quieter!

 

I have same exhaust from same seller. Let me ask you this, the pipe that goes from the cat and has the resonator, was this pipe too small in length?

I tried to install mine last night and the first pipe was to short to sink in where the heat shield is. I have to take to a muffler shop to have a special piece made for it.

Car has original cat and all. So just wondering if you had same issues.

 

since you have a '99. it's probably extended from the S pipe not from the cat.

 

Yeah, thats what I mean. I wish I would have taken a pic last night. I will though this weekend when I get it all fixed.

 

mine was short but I also had this as part of my exhaust


but it wasn't a problem since I also custom made a y pipe/cat section

 

never understood why people waste on ebay exhausts

 

beacause its cheap and actually sounds decent?

 

Ding ding ding ding ding.

 

Had I known they sounded so good before I started piecing mine together a few months back, I would of bought the complete Ebay cat-back as well just done the same Cattman Y, Magnaflow resonator and thunderbolt high flow cat same as I did and saved some money on the cat-back section. It sounds pretty damn good for $100 bucks. Good review

 

I also just recently bought an eBay exhaust special (watomiracing) due to my current exhaust falling apart completely. But let me tell you, the exhaust is pretty damn good!

The welds on all the piping are real clean, fitment was PERFECT! Didn't have to do any adjustments to the positioning on the muffler or anything else, sits great.

Also the silencer that it came with actually does its job! With it the car sounds basically stock, just slightly louder. Without it sounds pretty damn mean, and not ricer like at all. Bear in mind I also have a budget y-pipe installed as well. Only issue is that it sometimes rattles a bit somewhere by the exhaust, but it could be an exhaust shield or something similar. So can't really blame the exhaust.

All in all I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's looking for a cheap replacement. I will also be swapping mufflers in the near future, so for its price, it's definitely a great buy.

Here is a link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-1999-NI...ht_5639wt_1396

Sound clip (not mine but sounds pretty much the same)

 

if sound is what your wanting, why not get a fart can from the muffler shops?

but then when i think exhaust i think performance, not sound

 

yeah and the ebay catback is 2.5" piping, not just a 4" tip. so it does give some performance gains. da fuq you talkin bout?

 

Hell I bought a full exhaust from Ebay when I had my old GSX. everything from turbo back and I still spent less than 300 on it. And got a FMIC for it as well for 170, all the piping and huge cooler. I love Ebay. lol

 

I used the Kensei exhaust as the base for my custom exhaust. I replaced the resonator with a glass pack and did a cat delete. It also first perfect, heres a picture.

 

this exhaust paired with a pr styl cai just make a satifying sound. and make the max a tad more fun to drive too performance wise for pretty damn cheap. so its whatever

 

Never understood why people spend $500+ on catback alone. Tis a mandrel bent pipe. Unless a $500 pipe is different than a $100 pipe....tisk tisk

+1

 

tip is still ricer though

 

throw a nice dual straight tip magnaflow on that mug...

 

This is for federal spec. right? aka "the extra piece" from ebay sellers...

 

uh were modding an old *** maxima here. its not like were decking out an S4 or some classy ****. **** the word rice honestly. its not 2001 anymore.

 

Hah, I'm about to order one of these, my stock exhaust on my beater broke in half and started dragging today lol. Any idea if the stock muffler flange is in about the same location? I have access to a welder so I can make it work regardless, just would like to know how off it is.

 

it shouldnt really be off at all. no welding is needed.

 

So your saying you cant make a maxima look good and have to put a 5in potato launcher tip on it? People buy the Greddy set-up or a higher end set-up because they can afford it and it sounds a million times better. Wasn't aware rice was a word that had a lifespan on it either lol

 

All the catbacks you will buy will fit right up, no worries homie

 

thats not what im saying at all dude. im saying a maxima can support a subtly goofy "ricer"ish mod because its an older plainish japanese car. high standards are great to have in the maxima but the ebay catback and intake were always something that a lot of people slacked on without too many cons.

 

Its a great sounding exhaust its just the tip is terrible IMO. And the tip is welded to the muffler itself so you cant really change it without change the muffler as a whole which would obviously completely change the tone. I would of got one if it wasn't for that, the price is def right on it

 

i have somewhat gaudy taste so, meh.

 

Greddy SP2 was and still is the best sounding Cat back I think. I always wanted a set but whenever I had extra money, my damn Amber colored friend would decide to pop up on the dash and I had to deal with that. Or something stupid like wheel bearings or control arm.

Stupid necessary integral parts going bad!

 

not worth the trouble and 5-10hp for the shorties. bargain price though.

i got the SRS exhaust nd it came with a 4.5" fart can. can't complain, my old exhaust was rusted and this was $200 shipped. gonna swap out the muffler i hate it so much.

mine needed that, i had to weld up a small section with flanges and it fixed the problem... that was the only issue with mine.

custom made mandrel bent SS304 at exhaust shop is $500 with muffler. greddy cost $600. megan racing (same style as ebay) cost $350. ebay cat back is always under $250. all of them are SS304 and mandrel bent. sure the quality's slightly worse for ebay but whatever, you can make it work.

fart can at local partsource or pep boys runs for about $80-$100 and u have to take it to a shop to weld it on for you... extra $$. might as well spend the extra $80 to have the cat back. fart cans are ugly and a magnaflow 14827 will cost $130 on ebay.

you think of performance when getting a cat back... seriously?!? enjoy the 6 hp lol
ya i REALLY hate mine but i just keep saying to myself it only cost $200 lol. it doesn't look bad if the maxima has an aggressive body kit and its slammed. hides the bigness of it.

me too. as soon as some dude replies to my pm i will ****** his axle back muffler and throw out the fartster lol.

 

i bought the pacesetter exhaust off ebay and love the sound...i didnt put the tip on so its all black and incognito. pretty dope sound too, no "rice" at all. i love the "BUMM" when i shift gears.

 

anyone painted one of these to make them last a lil longer? maybe just the muffler atleast?