Hey there,
I'm thinking about purchasing a midpipe (don't want any cat), what do you recommend, my criterias:

1. Good sound and goes well considering my catback is from the PZ (scorpion I believe?) considerably louder than stock (my stock still has cat though and it lacks raspiness), but don't want to get the police from the whole city around my place and still be able to talk with my passenger (if the girl is annoying it could be a viable option ).
2. Decent price.
3. If can gain a little more power, why not.

I was thinking about the PR, price is affordable, good reputation, but I don't know how it sounds (only vid with their catback are available)
Any suggestions is sure welcome!

 

BHR.

1: Sounds good, keeps the same catback sound as the stock cat, just a bit louder and a hair deeper tone. On sound alone, no one can tell you have a midpipe.
2: It's the most expensive of the midpipes, but then again, since it never fails, you only have to spend it once. Other midpipes failing makes rebuying them or better ones immediately more expensive
3: Definitely a power gain.

and since you didn't mention it:
4: Won't fail. Any other midpipe that comes new without drone and/or raspiness either has a cat in it, or has some sort of packing. These fail. Sometimes as soon as a few miles. BHR's midpipe just has a special resonator (designed for rotary engines and their heat and energy profiles) that doesn't fail.

 

Right, I forgot to mention 4.
I'm afraid "a bit louder" wouldn't be enough for me.

 

The BHR sounds good. It's the best midpipe imo, and yes, I have one.
You asked for suggestions on a midpipe.
If you like obnoxious sound like a Civic fart can, put straight pipes behind the midpipe.

 

Definitely BHR.

Kinda 'spensive but you only have to buy it once. Consider that the price includes shipping and it becomes almost a bargain.

Sounds great and gives a power increase that the seat of your pants can feel, and with your catback it'll be plenty loud enough without being obnoxious.

You asked for advice ... all advice seems to ----> BHR.

 

You have other options of course:
(all have roughly the same power increase)

- Straight pipes
Loud in a stupid-retarded-pants-on-head-with-bleeding-eardrums-while-you-are-ticketed-and-harassed-by-police-and-neighbors-and-friends-and-family-that-are-returning-the-favor-of-harassment-from-you kind of loud. It will drone with the pain of a failing subwoofer at 200 decibles on the highway, and it will rasp with the sound of a chainsaw shredding a tin shed with you in the shed. It won't fail, there isn't anything in there to fail, unless you get titanium or aluminum pipes.

- Random generic ebay pipe under $100
Sounds quiet, slightly raspy, slightly drony. For a few miles, maybe as much as a couple hundred miles. Then the packing melts and blows out, then see straight pipes above.

- Brand name single resonated straight pipe other than BHR, usually in the $150-$200 range
Generally doesn't fail, however the resonator used is a piston designed resonator, designed for significantly different exhaust flow and resonance, so they all either drone annoyingly, or raspy annoyingly, or both.

- Racing Beat dual resonated midpipe
Uses 2 resonators, and gets it almost down to stock sound levels. Still gets some drone that I find annoying. Doesn't fail



BHR isn't the overall favorite just because of some marketing. The only drawback it has at all is the higher price. But since somewhere north of 80% of people that start with another midpipe end up hating it, $150 + $500 is more than $500 in the first place. It sounds good, it makes power, it lasts, it doesn't **** off your ears, significant other, neighbors, or the police.

The only regret about buying the BHR that I've seen was from people that decided they didn't like the smell of an uncatted rotary, so they put a cat back on. Not the BHR midpipe's fault, that is just a side effect of not having a cat.


Sooo...yeah. Why not.

 

Definitely do this… It is most important for saving the engine and depending on where you live take that cat off… Huge power increases feels like you added the turbocharger… I had it cut off and welded in a resonator which was a straight through pipe. Kind a like a silencer on a gun… didn't need to pay for a mid pipe because you can simply have it cut before and after the cat and Weld in the resonator. Incidentally my catalytic converter was not clogged but the catalyst was beginning to get a little bit smaller and it wasn't flowing as well as it should with new. Again definitely do this huge power increases

 

^ Wow. I had no idea turbochargers provide huge ~3hp gains at 7,500+ RPM!

The BHR is the gold standard for good reason. Many people try to save money by buying something cheaper and end up spending more after the buy the BHR.

Incidentally, I am one of those who bought the BHR, then had a cat welded back in after 18 months. But, it is a high-flow motorsports cat that shouldn't clog or melt. And, I have not noticed any power loss at the track since adding it to the system.

 

I'm also going to motion the BHR, love mine. I have a Greddy sp2 catback, they sound nice together, and no rasp.

 

Please let's keep Pride out of this and I was simply trying to help with the best advice that I can give. You never know who you're talking to. To explain I am a car dealer and have had thousands of cars in my lifetime. Many of these are sports cars and I Raced them and completed. I am telling you that I did use a resonator it was made in Italy and it will handle the heat and keep the heat out of the stock muffler.
As to saying that I told you BS that the horsepower games were phenomenal please trust me on this they were absolutely surprising. I would've said that the cat was clogged but it was not completely clogged. The catalyst was still in its proper position but it was losing some mass. I also noticed an extreme boost in gas mileage. It means for me that the stock catalytic converter is rather restrictive. For those of you who have looked inside of a cat you can understand why it would be. Again I just replaced the catalytic converter with the resonator that was a straight through pipe with watering on it that suppress the sound and took some of the heat. Just trying to be friendly.

 

^ "Watering on it" I don't understand this... That has to be a translation error...

 

I can be friendly while calling BS on BS power improvement claims. I'm being friendly right now.

My interest is not in pride, it is in correcting false information. The only way a midpipe alone delivers "huge power gains" is if there is some kind of restriction in the system beforehand. Otherwise, the best midpipe gives back ~3 to 5 HP at high RPM. This has been discussed to death on this board for years, and the dyno results prove it. The gains are almost always within the margin of error of the dyno.

The reasons to install a catless midpipe on our car are reliability and to prevent damage to the engine's rear rotor. You can add sound to that if you are so inclined. You do get a little bit of power back, but at $100 per hp, it should not be the primary reason.

 

Let's understand each other. You have knowledge I see. But your not seeing the whole picture.
1. There have been reports that cats beginning to fail damage the engine.
2. I believe that even a new stock cat is substantially restrictive.
3. Many people are driving RX eights with partially clogged cats.
4. As I stated mine was not blocked completely but it was obviously restricting I've never seen in the hundreds of cars that I've done this with this much performance increase.
It's a different car much more fun :-) and it was fun before. I'm comparing this car against Maserati Jaguar are Porsches Mustangs Corvettes ... I have owned and competed with these cars.
5. Torque and bottom and was improved. Sound is nice.
6. I stand by my original statement, whether you use a mid pipe or you use a resonator in place of the cat take your cat off)) you will be very happy and save your engine. This is not BS)

PS: love my RX8

 

Dean, Steve is not saying the claims of "removal of cat saves your engine" are BS.


He is saying that the claim of "removing the cat is like putting a turbocharger on your car." Is BS.


The power gains just aren't that substantial. The engine health gains however are quite substantial.

 

I loved my BHR while I had it..
Then I sold it due to an emergency, and trust me BHR Midpipe was the only aftermarket Part that was sold for the price I paid including shipping and duties lol

Till date I regret selling it :-( ..I installed the OEM cat, gutted it but it's no where near BHR Midpipe. Sounds raspy, still feels restrictive at times.

I also noticed that my BHR midpipe had a nice deeper tone under 4K rpm anything above 4K it make my Exotic Speed RII exhaust come to live :-)

Also, BHR Midpipe was a lot lighter than the OEM Cat and midpipe. So for the folks that feel a noticeable difference I believe it's simply because;

A little gain + little weight reduction right under your butt (removal of CAT) = slightly quicker car.

Blame human psychology for thinking the gains are huge lol. I installed my AEM intake and felt my car was much quicker than it was with OEM intake, I did not notice how much heavier my right foot had gotten untill I ran through 2 gas tanks with much shittier mpgs

So to the OP, money spent on BHR is well worth it.. I love their Ignition kit and loved their Midpipe:-)

 

Midpipe HKS