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Do you want to make a noticeable "seat of your pants" difference by swapping out your exhaust or are you satisfied with the look and sound difference or do you wish to have both ??? I only ask because I wanted all 3. Everyone told me "adding headers is where you make power" and I wanted power and I live in a non-auto inspection state, meaning "pussies" aren't a real issue so I went without and didn't see the reason to drop up to 1200.00 additional dollars on high flow pussies. I wasn't wanting a valved system myself so I put the extra money into headers. I ordered an Apexi Ni catback exhaust as I happen to really love the look of the four individual "sport bike" looking polished stainless steel mufflers with the dual tips and their exhaust is built with a rarely seen today "H pipe" vs the much more common "X pipe". That's not saying one is superior to the other. It all depends on what you want, more low end power vs high end power and what sound you prefer, if that is important to you. I've had both on different cars than my RCF and I prefer the sound the H pipe offers over the X. As I said, neither is necessarily superior to the other, it all depends on what you want and prefer. Anyway, I live in cold, snowy, Minnesota where my RCF is only on the road for 4 months, maybe a little longer depending on weather, each year. So I ordered the Apexi N1 cat back exhaust with resonators and a set of PPE Equal Length Headers ceramic coated silver. I went with resonators for a few reasons, as they sell it with or without. It was only around 100 bucks with resonators. If you purchase the exhaust without and you find you're getting annoying highway dronning, they're were like 400 bucks to purchase separately. Their was no performance gain without the resonators and it was only a 3 DB sound difference between with or without. I believe with was 96 DB and without was 99 DB. I've had cars without resonators drone and it sucks in my opinion so I figured I'll order it with. If I'm unhappy with the sound or sound volume, I can cut them out and have a foot of stainless pipe welded in their place. If I go without and I hate it, I have to drop around 4 times the price buying them separately and still have to cut and weld. The Apexi exhaust arrived in May. My PPE Headers weren't shipping until July 4th. Originally I planned on installing them together at the same time waiting until July but it's so darn easy to install them I put them on in my garage in just a couple of hours. It is a beautiful Japanese exhaust and all the TIG welds look like they belong in a museum. Just a real quality product and they fit perfectly everywhere. I had absolutely zero issues installing them. I'll be happy to post photos if anyone is interested. So I install the Apexi and start my car. It sounded really good. I took it for a drive and I can't say I noticed any "seat of the pants" difference, but it did sound really nice. I myself was hoping it would be a little louder. If anyone wants a much better sounding exhaust for their RCF but doesn't want to be announcing to your neighbors each time you're heading out, the Apexi is very nice. It let's everyone know "that ain't a V6 under the hood". It's got a muscle car sound and I'm 57, so I used to drive 70's Trans AM (boy do I wish I held on to my 77, 79, and 81) and I like it. I just was hoping it would be louder. I thought about cutting out the resonators but I wanted to wait until the header's were installed prior to doing this. I never had a single CEL come on with the Apexi exhaust in case anyone was wondering. My headers arrived right on time July 5th and I thought my buddy would install them in his shop but he told me "headers ??? Nope. Not interested. I'll most likely lose my *** on the job. Headers tend to have leaks and it's a full 8 hour job for a professional shop to install them. If they leak, you got to do it all over again and I really won't take on that risk". Okkkkkk. Welp, that was my plan and now it's not. So I decided that I'd do the install in my garage but with my work schedule, being out of town 4 - 5 days each and every week, I knew if I started the install in Mid July I most likely wouldn't finish until late August as I didn't have the time. With Minnesota summers short, I decided to do the install of the header's over the winter when the car in off the road sitting in the garage for 6+ months and that's what I did. I drove it the entire season with the full Apexi exhaust and I installed the header's over the winter. They're not easy to install with the car off the ground 2 feet and laying on your back, but it can be done. I did it completely by myself in my garage taking my time and making sure everything was perfect. Every bolt torqued to Lexus Spec'd and new stock Lexus exhaust gaskets (which are excellent) replaced. So moment of truth: everything is on, and I start it. My wife will tell you I had a permanent huge smile etched on my face for months after this. The difference in both the sound and the sound volume was tremendous. It exceeded my expectations. It sounds freaking awesome. Now on cold starts inside my garage, my neighbors dogs all start to bark and everyone on my boujee block knows whose car that is as it's pretty loud, but sounds incredible. Now I was told "headers are where you make power" and I expected a slight difference, but that first drive I took was a road I take everyday and when I made a left turn onto this Hwy a just gave the pedal a tap, nothing large, and the rear end came right around and now that huge smile I was already wearing turned into laughter as my stock car never came around like that with just a slight tap of the pedal. I noticed the revs came up much quicker and there was a significant "seat of your pants" feel along with tire spin and chirps in 1st, 2nd, and into 3rd gear. I absolutely LOVE the car this way and I have guys stopping and asking me about it all the time because it sounds like a vette. I realize alot of people won't be able to or want to install headers but they do make a difference on this car. Unfortunately they're expensive and once installed you will have the CEL light come on though that was a fairly easy fix and cheap as hell too. I have no issues with the CEL light coming on.
I apologize if I wasted anyone's time with this long post. I just wanted to offer another perspective and maybe it will help someone else make a decision. Feel free to hit me up. RCF Rear - Apexi Exhaust PPE Equal Length Silver Ceramic Coated Headers RCF Passengerside
Do you want to make a noticeable "seat of your pants" difference by swapping out your exhaust or are you satisfied with the look and sound difference or do you wish to have both ??? I only ask because I wanted all 3. Everyone told me "adding headers is where you make power" and I wanted power and I live in a non-auto inspection state, meaning "pussies" aren't a real issue so I went without and didn't see the reason to drop up to 1200.00 additional dollars on high flow pussies. I wasn't wanting a valved system myself so I put the extra money into headers. I ordered an Apexi Ni catback exhaust as I happen to really love the look of the four individual "sport bike" looking polished stainless steel mufflers with the dual tips and their exhaust is built with a rarely seen today "H pipe" vs the much more common "X pipe". That's not saying one is superior to the other. It all depends on what you want, more low end power vs high end power and what sound you prefer, if that is important to you. I've had both on different cars than my RCF and I prefer the sound the H pipe offers over the X. As I said, neither is necessarily superior to the other, it all depends on what you want and prefer. Anyway, I live in cold, snowy, Minnesota where my RCF is only on the road for 4 months, maybe a little longer depending on weather, each year. So I ordered the Apexi N1 cat back exhaust with resonators and a set of PPE Equal Length Headers ceramic coated silver. I went with resonators for a few reasons, as they sell it with or without. It was only around 100 bucks with resonators. If you purchase the exhaust without and you find you're getting annoying highway dronning, they're were like 400 bucks to purchase separately. Their was no performance gain without the resonators and it was only a 3 DB sound difference between with or without. I believe with was 96 DB and without was 99 DB. I've had cars without resonators drone and it sucks in my opinion so I figured I'll order it with. If I'm unhappy with the sound or sound volume, I can cut them out and have a foot of stainless pipe welded in their place. If I go without and I hate it, I have to drop around 4 times the price buying them separately and still have to cut and weld. The Apexi exhaust arrived in May. My PPE Headers weren't shipping until July 4th. Originally I planned on installing them together at the same time waiting until July but it's so darn easy to install them I put them on in my garage in just a couple of hours. It is a beautiful Japanese exhaust and all the TIG welds look like they belong in a museum. Just a real quality product and they fit perfectly everywhere. I had absolutely zero issues installing them. I'll be happy to post photos if anyone is interested. So I install the Apexi and start my car. It sounded really good. I took it for a drive and I can't say I noticed any "seat of the pants" difference, but it did sound really nice. I myself was hoping it would be a little louder. If anyone wants a much better sounding exhaust for their RCF but doesn't want to be announcing to your neighbors each time you're heading out, the Apexi is very nice. It let's everyone know "that ain't a V6 under the hood". It's got a muscle car sound and I'm 57, so I used to drive 70's Trans AM (boy do I wish I held on to my 77, 79, and 81) and I like it. I just was hoping it would be louder. I thought about cutting out the resonators but I wanted to wait until the header's were installed prior to doing this. I never had a single CEL come on with the Apexi exhaust in case anyone was wondering. My headers arrived right on time July 5th and I thought my buddy would install them in his shop but he told me "headers ??? Nope. Not interested. I'll most likely lose my *** on the job. Headers tend to have leaks and it's a full 8 hour job for a professional shop to install them. If they leak, you got to do it all over again and I really won't take on that risk". Okkkkkk. Welp, that was my plan and now it's not. So I decided that I'd do the install in my garage but with my work schedule, being out of town 4 - 5 days each and every week, I knew if I started the install in Mid July I most likely wouldn't finish until late August as I didn't have the time. With Minnesota summers short, I decided to do the install of the header's over the winter when the car in off the road sitting in the garage for 6+ months and that's what I did. I drove it the entire season with the full Apexi exhaust and I installed the header's over the winter. They're not easy to install with the car off the ground 2 feet and laying on your back, but it can be done. I did it completely by myself in my garage taking my time and making sure everything was perfect. Every bolt torqued to Lexus Spec'd and new stock Lexus exhaust gaskets (which are excellent) replaced. So moment of truth: everything is on, and I start it. My wife will tell you I had a permanent huge smile etched on my face for months after this. The difference in both the sound and the sound volume was tremendous. It exceeded my expectations. It sounds freaking awesome. Now on cold starts inside my garage, my neighbors dogs all start to bark and everyone on my boujee block knows whose car that is as it's pretty loud, but sounds incredible. Now I was told "headers are where you make power" and I expected a slight difference, but that first drive I took was a road I take everyday and when I made a left turn onto this Hwy a just gave the pedal a tap, nothing large, and the rear end came right around and now that huge smile I was already wearing turned into laughter as my stock car never came around like that with just a slight tap of the pedal. I noticed the revs came up much quicker and there was a significant "seat of your pants" feel along with tire spin and chirps in 1st, 2nd, and into 3rd gear. I absolutely LOVE the car this way and I have guys stopping and asking me about it all the time because it sounds like a vette. I realize alot of people won't be able to or want to install headers but they do make a difference on this car. Unfortunately they're expensive and once installed you will have the CEL light come on though that was a fairly easy fix and cheap as hell too. I have no issues with the CEL light coming on.
I apologize if I wasted anyone's time with this long post. I just wanted to offer another perspective and maybe it will help someone else make a decision. Feel free to hit me up. RCF Rear - Apexi Exhaust PPE Equal Length Silver Ceramic Coated Headers RCF Passengerside
Valved exhaust
