Gearhead Geek
04-18-2004, 05:52 PM
Well, I know a bunch of people have posted reviews, but here's mine:
So, I installed the pipe and the sim on Friday afternoon. Nice straight forward install (duh, it's just an exhaust pipe, not rocket science or anything). Took about 40mins with two friends helping me. I'd say it'd be about an hour install if doin it by yourself. I will say this, getting the O2 sensors disconnected and reconnected in the tight little area that the bracket holding them in is a bitch and a half, so if you're doing it, make sure you have someone with small hands around to help. So, I got the stock cat off fairly quickly. Took the heatshield off and removed the O2 sensors with a box end wrench, popped them into the test pipe, got it back into place, bolted everything up, connected the O2 sensors and the sim, and fired it up. Right off the bat, I was a little disappointed, cause there was a definate raspiness to my exhaust, but, I let it slide, and took it out for a ride. First and foremost, my car got LOUD. Not a little bit, but a LOT (anjapower and civic si hb can vouch for this, they've heard the before and after). So, drove it around that day, took it to the track that night, and besides the raspiness, all was good. So then I took a little trip to northern Vermont on Saturday. I could still smell some of the fiberglass/packing inside of the resonator in the pipe burnin out when I left, but by the time I got up there, the smell was almost completely gone. Thankfully, the raspiness also calmed down a bit too. It's still there a little, but not nearly as bad as when I first installed it. So, today I came back, and I decided I'd base my opinions on power on how it drove today (since the packing had burned out, and the ECU had a few days to get used to it). The final verdict? Well, as usual, this is all on the butt dyno (I WILL be dyno'ing my car in a week or so...once the A2 head is on ;) ), but, I can definately say I gained a little bit of my low end back. Not much, but a little. However, I gained a LOT of top end pull. At around 4500rpm (+/- 200 to accomodate for our tach's being way off), it really starts to pull hard. Almost reminds me of the difference from when I was stock, to when I put my intake on. All in all, I definately would have to say the pipe is worth the $112 I paid for it (including shipping). And as for the O2 sim, well, so far since I've installed it on Friday,I've logged a little over 400 miles on the odometer, and still no CEL. As I've talked about with a few people before, I really think the reason people get CEL's with it, is the fact that they're using the Comptech header, and on it, the O2 sensors are in separate pipes, but, time will tell for sure.
And one last note: If you have an Invidia or Skunk2 exhaust, I'd suggest you hold off on getting this unless you either a) live in an area where cops don't care about how loud exhausts are, or b) just don't give a shit :)
Oh and for those who may be wondering, my entire "breathing" setup on my car is: K&N Typhoon SRI, DC SS Shorty header, Megan Racing t.pipe, Invidia cat back (60mm pipe).
So, I installed the pipe and the sim on Friday afternoon. Nice straight forward install (duh, it's just an exhaust pipe, not rocket science or anything). Took about 40mins with two friends helping me. I'd say it'd be about an hour install if doin it by yourself. I will say this, getting the O2 sensors disconnected and reconnected in the tight little area that the bracket holding them in is a bitch and a half, so if you're doing it, make sure you have someone with small hands around to help. So, I got the stock cat off fairly quickly. Took the heatshield off and removed the O2 sensors with a box end wrench, popped them into the test pipe, got it back into place, bolted everything up, connected the O2 sensors and the sim, and fired it up. Right off the bat, I was a little disappointed, cause there was a definate raspiness to my exhaust, but, I let it slide, and took it out for a ride. First and foremost, my car got LOUD. Not a little bit, but a LOT (anjapower and civic si hb can vouch for this, they've heard the before and after). So, drove it around that day, took it to the track that night, and besides the raspiness, all was good. So then I took a little trip to northern Vermont on Saturday. I could still smell some of the fiberglass/packing inside of the resonator in the pipe burnin out when I left, but by the time I got up there, the smell was almost completely gone. Thankfully, the raspiness also calmed down a bit too. It's still there a little, but not nearly as bad as when I first installed it. So, today I came back, and I decided I'd base my opinions on power on how it drove today (since the packing had burned out, and the ECU had a few days to get used to it). The final verdict? Well, as usual, this is all on the butt dyno (I WILL be dyno'ing my car in a week or so...once the A2 head is on ;) ), but, I can definately say I gained a little bit of my low end back. Not much, but a little. However, I gained a LOT of top end pull. At around 4500rpm (+/- 200 to accomodate for our tach's being way off), it really starts to pull hard. Almost reminds me of the difference from when I was stock, to when I put my intake on. All in all, I definately would have to say the pipe is worth the $112 I paid for it (including shipping). And as for the O2 sim, well, so far since I've installed it on Friday,I've logged a little over 400 miles on the odometer, and still no CEL. As I've talked about with a few people before, I really think the reason people get CEL's with it, is the fact that they're using the Comptech header, and on it, the O2 sensors are in separate pipes, but, time will tell for sure.
And one last note: If you have an Invidia or Skunk2 exhaust, I'd suggest you hold off on getting this unless you either a) live in an area where cops don't care about how loud exhausts are, or b) just don't give a shit :)
Oh and for those who may be wondering, my entire "breathing" setup on my car is: K&N Typhoon SRI, DC SS Shorty header, Megan Racing t.pipe, Invidia cat back (60mm pipe).