This always seems to be a topic brought up with no answers from people who actually own the device...so i decided to give my opinion since i now own one.

***Before anyone says how i wasted my money and what not ill start by saying it is my money, i bought a mod that if does nothing more than provide information which may aid someone in the future then thats worth more than any amount of hp i may gain/loose.***

I am going to start first by asking a question since i am just finishing the instalation which was easy...i routed the harness begind the intake manifold just underneath the silver AC tube is against the fire wall, the HKS unit is mounted next to the washer fluid resevoir bolted to the firewall and the best way to route the harness was against the firewall where it is away from moving parts and signifigant heat...i just wanted to check with you guys to make sure this was the best way to route the wire. I cranked the car and let it warm up to see how hot it gets back there and at idle it is pretty warm but not to the point where im woried. I have some black wire loom i may use as extra shielding.

Anyway i know all of you are waiting for the review....the car hasnt been moved since i want to thuroughly make sure everything is okay before venturing out.

This is what i can tell you so far...the car cranks much much faster....befor it took me about 4 seconds on a cold start...now its prob down to low 3 maybe 2, it is noticeable tho.

In neutral the car does rev up noticeably quicker, i have a B&B Midpipe, prolite flywheel and unorthodox pulleys and i didnt think it could rev any faster but that needle fly's with less effort than before. (i wont say the HKS did all of this as i did clean the terminals and cleaned the grounding points while instalation) I did different revs like idle to 5000....idle to 7000.....5000-redline.....and where i notice the quickest reving is between the 6000-redline area...the needle sweeps through very fast, im hoping with this being in the powerband of the rotary that some improvement will be noticed.

I let the car warm up fully and continued to run checks and what not...im going to try to see if the smell from the catless pipe would be improved...if the HKS does what it says it does by igniting better and possibly burning more fuel before it exits the engine, im hoping a cleaner burn would be noticed and less smell...(im praying for this!!!!)

well i shall shower, make one final inspection then im off for a drive to meet wit some people, ill update this thread from my palm since i will see alot of different driving...(city, hwy, aggressive...)

 

alright after a lil driving i have some more to comment on...off the line power for mild driving seems unchanged...driving and keeping it under half throttle and under 6k rpms the car feels the same power wise but the acceleration feels smoother...before i used to notice the little deadspots and dips in power but now it feels smoother with no dips in power.

aggressive driving still feels the same under 6k rpms...at WOT the acceleration still feels smooth and after 6500 rpms the continued acceleration does feel better. before the power used to feel like it died after 8k, the power feels slightly improved but the drop in power after 8k is still there.

i am hoping that the HKS unit will compliment an ECU tune. iirc the racing beat tune gave power increase in the upper rpm range by leaning out the mixture up high...so im hoping enhanced ignition and a leaner mixture can result in better power.

another noticed benefit is no minimized lag in response to pushing the throttle, before there was a noticeable pause when pushing the gas in gear, but now once i push the throttle the needle climbs almost instantaneous.

these are observations after 20+ miles, ill observe more on the way home and tomorow during hot weather.

 

Nice review. Interesting how you didn't notice any gains in power. Perhaps it means mine was down in power hence why my HKS twin power DL-II install gave me a noticable difference.

Should state that my 03-model is a 4AT version with a KNIGHTSPORTS ECU upgrade. I also use the hotter plugs in the 13B-MSP as the wife drives around in it during the week.

I too noticed the engine starting easier. Definately revs cleaner.

Power wise. Throttle response is improved. You really notice it coming out of a corner & accelerating.

WOT give a noticeable gain especially in the mid range.

Purchased this unit in "used" form & total costs from go-to-whoa was under AU$550

Worthy mod in my books.

REgards

 

FWIW, you can read other forums (Evo,STi, etc) and a lot of people have had these go dead and complain HKS service sucks. There's another company called Sun Power (or something) that puts a fuse in front of their amplifier to prevent a killer surge. Something to look into.

 

i got mine installed and i noticed all the same things as magikone69 but I think I'll look into the fuse from Sun

 

the fuse from sun def sounds interesting...i will have to check that out too...who ever finds it first wouldnt mind putting a link up that would be great.

well i did some more driving and have noticed all the same as before. the acceleration feels even smoother down shifting coming out of a turn and accelerating...there is no lag, the power availability is instantaneous. Ive noticed its easier to rev match now and the needle is much more precise...when pushing the throttle i can have the rpms right where i want them.

heres a neat little twist tho...i sent my friend out to go get some stuff for the bbq and he took my car...he commented on the start up to (since he always jokes about how the car is flooded)...i was joking trying to play it off and told him how the car feels, the only thing he said is the acceleration feels smoother, i asked if it felt faster and he said no. So there is a lil unbiased review on it...his take on it was the car's acceleration felt smoother and unrestricted but performance was unchanged...

he also mentioned its not shooting flames anymore and when i checked it out it was true...my flaming is almost non existant....i would usually only have to rev for 5 seconds and id get 1-2 flames...now i sat and reved for 10 seconds and got 1 flame....kinda disapointing as it was a nice lil shock and aww effect of the car.

one Q i have...is this the type of mod that the ecu has to "learn" to adapt to it...like with my mid pipe i didnt notice full gains till after 2-3 drives. so after the ecu adapts to it will any gains be noticed?

 

I installed the HKS unit to battle my rough idle on my ported FD and a month later the engine blew...I got rid of the car in a hurry so I can't say for sure it was the HKS that put the nail in the coffin, but after reading some of the complaints I'm not going that route with my 8.

By the way, I experienced all the positives you guys listed...especially smoothness...I was smooth like buttah!