Northeastern Exhaust | Stainless Steel Intermediate Pipes & Mufflers Exhaust System Kit Compatible for Infiniti QX4 2001-2003 | Nissan Pathfinder 2001-2004 3.5L | Free Gaskets and Clamps Included

Completely match old exhaust with no issues….. and seemed to be well made and perfect to put together! Not one issue.

Parts bolted up easily. Fit and finish is good, with only some minor adjustments needed to the hangars to clear my trailer hitch at the rear. Time will tell how it holds up

The Northeastern Exhaust 409 stainless steel muffler and resonator are constructed very well but the intermediate pipes will not line up. Not even close. To be fair, I doubt there is a perfect direct fit alternative that lines up perfectly, except an OEM option. I had those pipes cut and welded to the muffler. The welds on the parts are excellent. The size of every item mirrors the Nissan OEM components in great detail except the intermediate pipes. Even the center hanger plate and dynamic damper bracket match Nissan OEM exactly, which I have not seen on any other aftermarket exhaust system. The mandrel tube bends, for the most part, are identical to the Nissan OEM muffler and resonator. However, the longer intermediate pipe was considerably out of proper alignment and the short pipe was too short and also out of alignment. The muffler clamps were the wrong size so I bought a pair of 1-3/4" clamps to replace the 2" clamps provided but then decided to weld on the pipes instead. This system is a direct fit for my '02 Pathfinder but not what I would call plug-n-play. Muffler shops want $100 to $200 to get it installed properly and that's just for the cost of reworking the intermediate pipes and fitting them up to the muffler. I installed the muffler and resonator myself with ease, along with new rubber insulator hangers. (Walker part numbers 35460, qty 4 and 35725, qty 1) The fit was a perfect match to an OEM install. The intermediate pipes required installation at a muffler shop since I do not have the tools to do that portion of the job right. I am pleased with the performance of the whole system (I bought the cat pipe resonators on Amazon as well "Pair of Stainless Steel Exhaust Front Pipes fits: 2002-03 QX4 2002-04 Pathfinder by Northeastern Exhaust"). I could have saved some cash and bought the entire package bundle for my '02 Pathfinder on Amazon. ("Stainless Steel Exhaust System Kit fits: 02-03 Infiniti QX4 02-04 Nissan Pathfinder by Northeastern Exhaust") The value, benefits, and performance over OEM is a great deal. I was even able to polish the stainless steel tail pipe with 1000 grit sand paper and water to give it a mirror shine so it looks great as well.

This was purchased for my daughter's 2002 Pathfinder. Living in a heavy salt area - Vermont, I leaned towards the stainless exhaust. Keep in mind there are various grades/qualities of stainless steel, the best corrosion resistance being marine grade. I knew by the price that I wasn't getting marine grade stainless but was hopeful it would last as long as the OE exhaust did. When the kit arrived, I was very impressed. The welds were very nice and all for the exhaust (including the pipes) were stamped as being stainless. There are some exhaust systems that claim stainless - Walker for one, that is a stainless shell on the muffler but the rest is all mild steel. The kit came with all the fasteners and I was actually very impressed. Installation was another matter. the Rt pipe had a bend that was a bit too sharp. This changed the geometry quite a bit causing flange matching to be very difficult. I don't have a hydraulic pipe bender so I ended up assembling the system with the bolts VERY loose and tightening the fittings in a random order to force the system together. This is a 35-45 minute job if the parts fit right. It ended up being over 4 hours. Once I forced everything onto place, occasionally having to loosen and realign, the system looked nice. More surprisingly it sounds like a new vehicle, very quite. In fact the sound quality meets or exceeds OE which has never happened in my years of replacing exhaust systems using aftermarket parts. It has been on the vehicle over a year now, still sounds like a new car but the pipes have a nice coat of surface rust on them. It is a heavy system so it's probably got another 5-6 years before the salt takes it but as I just replaced the OE exhaust, it won't last as long as the factory galvanized parts did.

Great value for the money!