350Z HR Test: Medalion Touring Exhaust

11/11/2009 11:03:56 PM #

As much as I love the sound of the Medalion Touring on my '07 Z, the fitment was atrocious. This comment is not intended to bash the system or Tanabe. I've owned a Tanabe system before and was very happy with it, but this experience was far different and hopefully the issues I've experienced have been resolved, or at least Tanabe will now be aware of them.

Initially, I had installed the system with the stock y-pipe and the fitment issues were fairly obvious.

1) The forward facing hanger rod on the passenger side of the muffler section was more than 1.5" off spec extending to the outside of the car. My fabricator had to bend the rod to fit it onto the rubber hanger, but that only proved to be a temporary fix. We ultimately decided to not use this hanger all together.

2) The exhaust system was short by about 9/16", which caused it to mount slightly twisted (noticeable when looking at the exhaust tips). The exhaust sits straight when just sitting in the hangers and not bolted up.

3) The passenger side outlet just behind the exhaust tip was also rubbing against the lower corner of the EVAP canister housing, which my fabricator reshaped to gain clearance.

I was hoping that these issues would be solved by getting the matching Tanabe y-pipe, but this just made it even worse.

1) Upon initial fitting, we noticed that the y-pipe was sitting low (center pipe side), but this wasn't as glaring as...

2) The entire system now was 15/16" short. Meaning, with everything bolted up (except for the center pipe to y-pipe) and sitting in their hangers, there was a 15/16" gap!

In our attempt to resolve these issues, my fabricator re-TIG welded the upper part of the header side flanges on the y-pipe to pull the center pipe side up, this relieved mounting stress between it and the center pipe. We gained back about 1/16" in length as well. He also reattached the hanger rod on the center pipe which allowed it to slide forward just a tad, but not more than 1/8". This was the best as he could do without cutting and adding length to the center pipe, which I couldn't justify investing in. In the end, we had determined that the center pipe was the main culprit, being too short. The passenger side hanger rod on the muffler section was also poorly attached and was an issue, but it proved to not be necessary for support.

After running the exhaust for close to 10 months now, there are definite signs of exhaust leakage between the muffler section and center pipe, the location of the most strain from the center pipe being short.

Like I said at the beginning of this comment, I love the sound of the exhaust system. It growls without being obnoxious. Build quality is top notch. The only gripe is the quality control, which needs to be improved. I just wish it bolted up as perfectly as this post claims. Hopefully, Tanabe has improved the fitment of this system since I purchased mine.

At this point I'm looking for a new exhaust because I don't want to deal with a worsening exhaust leak and exhaust tips not being aligned straight.  

Jason |

10/18/2010 10:58:02 PM #

Really great post! I bookmarked it !

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