Bought a new to me stock 2005 QX56 2wd with 91K miles that has a cracked exhaust manifold.
Since it is out of warranty, I have been researching my options.

My goals are cost, durability and driveability.

I am looking at the following

Stillen long tube headers (Is stainless or ceramic more durable?)
Is this a more durable option than going to factory manifolds?

Do I need to buy cats for this as well or can I use stock cats? If so which should I get?

Do I need a retune or ok without?

Any ideas on what a reasonable labor hour charge would be for something like this?

I am curious as well. I have an exhaust leak on my '04 and am curious as to what options there are.

If you want to keep it factory so you don't have to do any tuning you can get these:

http://www.bearriverconverters.com/ItemDetails.aspx?ItemPK=d324e7a5-7b5e-4fb6-8c66-9bdc7c674c3d&CategoryPK=790a57a4-62ff-4ffb-85e7-860e072caa4e

They are a bit pricey compared to headers but they are supposedly more durable than the OEM manifolds.

welcome to CA wrasse when my manifolds do crack and out of warranty would definitly go with a long tube style header with a new exhaust system to the back members, here will chrime in as which is better

Most people say that the Doug Thorley shortys (I think its the shortys they like) are the best ones to use, not the stillens. Im pretty sure they DT's are made of SS also. Might look for a few other members to comment, esp scr, he will know best.

Thanks, it seems to me the suggested bear river converters manifold cat combo would be the simplest. Any real world experiences on them as to crack resistance, driveability/fit?

Welcome to the clubwrasse!

So I'm curious, what did you decide to do? I have the same problem with my '05. $2800 for the dealership to repair it.

I have this tasker on my plate as well.

I have pretty much ruled out OEM. I want to close to OEM so was thinking of DT Shortys and then one of the many cat back SS systems...not sure which. These Bear River have really caught my attention now...they seem really durable.

Question: If my OEM cat is good, can I buy the DT shortys and have those welded to factory cats? If so, I assume I can buy any cat back exhaust from there. I just want to move forward and hear that V8 rumble!!!

I did some reading on the BearRiver manifolds and looks like a reliable OE alternative. Around $1124.00 bucks for a set and is a bolt up, plug and play type system; no computer reprogramming necessary. They have been in business since 1997 according to their website. But it is only legal for the Federal Emission states and does not meet the California Emission standards unfortunately. This one has me curious too for I like the idea of not having to retune the computer or reweld catalytic converters AND I can do all of this in my garage myself. Thanks for the 411 rsoto! :D

I ended up doing Stainless Stillen long tube headers http://www.stillen.com/product.asp?id=STIHDR02&c=PE&m=all

uprev dyno tune, K&N filter, install done by a local nissan/infiniti performance shop (listed on uprev site) for well under $2000 total OTD.
No other mods or catback.

Very happy so far and nice to have a small but noticeable bump in performance as well as different tune modes (valet, stock, perrmance, speed limit, anti-theft). No leaks yet :) Small bump in growl but wife's does not notice it until I mash the throttle :) No drone.
Passed emissions no prob.
Thought about the bear river but they seemed way too expensive for what you get. Stillen LT headers are great quality plus I ended up using the money saved toward install and uprev tune. Worked out to be about the same cost wise but I feel I got a better deal given the performance upgrade.

I would not do the dealer thing, they'll just put on the same known defective part. Go to a reputable nissan performance shop that is an uprev dealer and work out a deal.

"Family Assault Vehicle", lol, I like that! I call mine the baby limo but Baby Assault Vehicle sounds good too!

Hahaha hey thanks wrasse for the compliment! Yeah my family and I get pretty excited when we load up the Mada and head to the coast for some beach assaults you know! But I am so glad to hear you really like your Stillen long tubes and am looking forward to doing the same when my stock manifolds take a dump. In fact I drove by UpRev here in Austin this morning just to talk with them about my plans with a tune for my future Doug Thorley long tube install. Man my lady's going to kick my butt if she ever finds out how much! Hahaha!:D

I agree the bear river manifold converters seem like the best option for me. I'm not so concerned with performance as much as simplicity and reliability and not having to worry about tuning and erroneous error codes. My dilemma is I'm afraid that the dealer has scared the crap out of me, but my gut tells me that I shouldn't knee-jerk react to this and wait for to problem to be noticeable? Reactive maintenance - yes I know, but we're talking about serious cash here. I'm thinking about getting a CO sniffer and see if this leak is real, since I haven't noticed any change in sound. Although replacing the manifold seems to be a relatively simple task, I'm afraid of all the hidden issues that I will encounter. When I look under the QX56 it's all rust. I have to assume that every bolt will need to either be cut or burned off. Do you fellas have severe rust under you QX56's & Armadas? If I decide to tackle this I'm afraid that I would end up replacing the entire exhaust system from manifold to tail pipe including F/A & O2 sensors.

Hello there egaudreau! Well my experiences with rusted manifold bolts or exhaust bolts are the old torch and penetrating oil for a good week if you can have the time to do so. Just get the bolt to an orange color and hit it with penetrating oil(non-flammable of course). Do this for a week to hopefully loosen up the rust build up. Oh yeah one more thing, make sure you shield areas of concern around your torch area(i.e., wire harnesses, rubber hoses, you know things that you might need later). Patience and ingenuity should help break them crusty rusties out. Good luck bud and dont let it kick your butt!:chainsaw: :D