lazi

hahahaha. come on now. why would you say such a thing?

XDEEDUBBX

nothing, im not in it for the money, but for the love of the sport.

btw, how much you selling the mid pipe for?

lazi

jus gotta love hks

RotorManiac

it looks like a nice exhaust, but coming out from drivers side makes it bend a lot. a friend of mine made a custom, coming out from the passangers side. it looks better for me, but there are even more bends in the tubes, 'cause of the LSD being in the middle, reducing the gas flow...

still, I believe the ultimate is center exiting, but you have to mess up your rear bumper and cut the stock heat shield. not a problem to me...

XDEEDUBBX

you are correct about it coming off the center, thats possibly the best way for the exhaust to flow but you are incorrect about it coming off the passenger side. Almost every combination has dyno tested to make this exhaust flow the best. Dont always take your friends word for especially if he made only one exhaust. HKS has been making them for years. Here are some pics of it:

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

still haven't gotten this installed!!! I don't have a garage so a parking-lot install is no fun I'm currently just holding out for someone who has a garage and will let me use it for a few hours.

Yeah the Ti tip is sweet. I just wish it had the HKS Hi-Power engraved on it as well Oh well, still sweet

djmano

good pics deedub......if i was drooling before i think my mouth is now completely filled with saliva!

chickenwafer you have tremendous patience. if i were you i would probably already have tried to install the exhaust no matter where i was......but that's because sometimes i am impulsive and dumb lol.

as for the flow of the exhaust it doesn't have very many bends and besides a center exiting exhaust i don't think you can make a catback that flows that much better (just from the pictures i have seen).

im kind of afraid it won't have enough backpressure as it is mainly intended for turbocharged applications....but the piping doesn't look THAT big so maybe it'll be sufficient.

also on a side note does anyone have the mazda factory part # for the exhaust studs that connect the rear of the catalytic conveter/midpipe to the beginning of the exhaust?

i found them on mazdatrix.com but i think they are cheaper @ onlinemazdaparts.com but i need a PN to search.

XDEEDUBBX

get to work chiken!

ddub

Why are you worried about back pressure? And what does it need to be sufficient for? Remember this is a rotary, you don't have to worry about back pressure.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

I'm tryin, ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm getting a house this summer so I'll finally have a garage and I'll be able to work on my car in the piece and quite of my own garage and smooth concrete floor.

I think I convined Jeff (MM) to let me bum his garage!

XDEEDUBBX

nice...tell him to fab you up a screen for the other exhaust shroud while he's at it..hahaha, after, i got the idea from him.sorta.

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

I thought it was Sunny in AZ? Just do it in the driveway man.

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

Here ya go B31R-40-584 STUD, FLANGE

And Chicken if ya can't get to MM's you are more than welcome to come over here. Just PM me.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

Here are some pics of the "EVIL" stud and spring setup Dave. They must put the nut on with about 300ftlbs of torque.

Crazy Rx-8 Driver

what makes it so evil? was it just a bitch to take off or what? or did it spring off and hit someone one?? *shudders* my dumb friend did that once when installing his coilovers the 'ricer' way and broke his nose when the top nut of the shock sprung off and blasted him on the nose!

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

Notice the nut on the left side of the stud in the lower picture,, It is suppose to come off the stud before the stud comes out. Both the studs came out with the nuts on them and the nuts would not come off the stud for anything. Naturally I only brought home enough tools from work to do the job as it was suppose to be done.
Well when the stud came out you are stuck with an uncompressed spring that needs to be compressed. Hence the "Evil" part of it. The spring is naturally compressed when you put the nut on the mounted stud and tighten it down. The space taken up by the nut being in the tightened postion proved to be a bit of a chore in trying to start the stud in the cat pipe. You have to compress the spring enough to reach the threads on the stud to start it in the threaded hole on the CAT side of the flange during reinstallation. Again the "EVIL" part of it.
Well after fighting it with channel locks and vice grips and a handy zip-tie success was found.
Kinda like putting the nut on a strut rod without a spring compressor.

So my suggestion is to have a couple of thse studs handy or have every tool known to man handy. Tis better to have to many tools than not enough.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

thanks for all help Erick. Hopefully the Evil stud springs don't show their evilness during our install. I feel confident!

HKS hi-power FTW!!

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

that's why you should always use high-temp anti-seize on reassembly, especially for all exhaust threads

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

Alrighty, got the HKS on. Install was pretty simple- especially with Easy_E1 there who has already installed his Mazdaspeed exhaust on his 8, so he had prior experience.

Took about an hour of actual "work" to get it on. We bullshitted and threw some tools at each other in the process. Only a little blood was shed via Erick's knuckle

The HKS went in without a hitch. All hangers lined up perfectly and the exhaust routes better than stock. The muffler is a good 3" or more from the heat sheild. The tip exits almost perfectly center out the drivers side exit- just a little to the left (wheel side).

The ONLY thing I'm not thrilled with is the adjustable Ti tip. It is secured on with two allen bolts and two 10mm nuts that hang INSIDE the tip. Of course this isn't much of a flow restriction, but I think it could be done better- ala a pop rivet to replace the bolts. So I'll probably do that eventually. I can always still remove it just by drilling the pop rivets out.

The sound is so awesome. It really makes this thing sound like a menace without being ricey. It's hard to describe- almost a muscle car grunt with a sportbike top-end and a really nice mellow middle. Driving back from Easy_E1's on the highway with the windows up I could barely even hear a difference at 3700 rpm. Dump the throttle and you'll hear it, though.

Overall, this is a very nice exhaust. I was throughly impressed with the HKS qualitly and sound. And I think I gained a few solid RWHP. My evidence would be that proir to install, on my 1-2 shift I would do a pretty nice chirp. Now, my full-throttle 1-2 shift I can actually get the rear loose a little! And I also have a much louder chirp doing the 2-3 shift now than before.

I'll go back to the dyno to see if it made any difference. My prior dyno was 179-rwhp with the Umnitza intake as my only performance mod. Now I have the HKS Hi-Power, Magnecore plug wires, new NGK plugs, and the Agency Power polished crank pulley. So we'll see what I'll do. I'm shooting for 190-somthin. I also now have the Hymee sCANalyser so I can log my dyno runs just for fun.

But just to echo was XDub has been sayin- this exhaust is sweet. It weights only 22lbs! Super highly recommended. HKS all the way!

Dave

PS> Erick (Easy_E1) was in charge of camera duty. He'll post up pics are soon as he can. You know he had to document this for you all!!

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

Ok so here are some pics of the install.

Here is the HKS in all it's glory,,,



A garage shot of the Wafer Mobile,,,



Pipe from the cat back,,,,



A shot after the muffler was installed,,,,



Here is a pic of the allen bolts that hold the tip on. Not what I would have expected,,,



Shot from the back,,,



And my favorite ,,The new Factory Installed Exhaust! ,,,,,



The install went very nicely. Only bloodied one knuckle on one of the hangers.
I love the way this system sounds and I would recommend the HKS to anyone who wants a single pipe kit.
Quality,, Quality,, Quality!

dillsrotary

if you have a tunnel or a long under a bridge pass in your area make sure you fly through with the revs pretty high, it'll bring a tear to your eye.....

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

Actually, CW should have driven through a long tunnel on the way home. I'll have to inquire as to whether he rolled the windows down and enjoyed the new sound.

It's funny but I drive under the freeway every morning on the way to work and I always roll the window down and run it up in first gear. The wife looks at me and laughs.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

yeah I've already blasted in a few tunnels! Oh so much fun! Sounds real nice. Thanks again, Erick for helping with the install!! I owe you!

I actually got nervous on my way home today as a Sheriff pulled up behind me and followed me on the highway for a couple miles. I pushed it up into 6th an trolled along trying to keep it quite

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

haha crazy Easy