Quote:
Originally Posted by Ļon
Cool thanks...still a bit more research to do I think...weird you say HKS is quite I was watching a clip on the audio thread it sounded relatively loud (quiet in comparison to the motordyne maybe?) Just having trouble justifying the extremely large price tag they have at motordyne for a catback(3700 by the time it lands here up north I was quoted  ) ...anything else comparable you could recommend? |
My experience with the HKS was that while I was first looking for a 370, I test drove a car that had one. Now I'd say with 99% certainty that same car probably also had oem cats. So a good follow up question for you is are you planning on running OEM, hfcs, or test pipes?
ARK, Motordyne, and Fast Intentions all provide a nice deep sound. I ran a Motordyne with Art pipes on my 350z, and currently run catless Fast Intentions with 12" resonators on 370z (turbo acts as a muffler, impacting sound somewhat). I've also had non-resonated FI with cats, non-res FI with long tube headers, and 12" resonators with long tube headers. My wife runs a Motordyne on her g37 with oem cats.
So from personal experience, my reviews are as follows:
-FI is a decent exhaust, with a nice tone. If you're staying with stock cats, even unresonated, it's on the quiet side. It grumbles, providing crackling and popping on down shifts. It opens up under acceleration. Cabin drone (a big deal for a daily) is pretty minimal, but if drone is something you're worried about, start off with 12" resonators.
-Long Tube Headers vastly increase your sound. When I went with LTH, the sonic shockwave from my car shook my garage door on a cold start and vibrated the house (detached garage). The car droned from 2200 rpm to 2800 rpms. I did not enjoy this for a dd (although it was pretty awesome if I were using it as a weekend/track toy). Adding the 12" resonated section helped a lot, drone was pretty much reduced to just around 2200 rpms.
-Adding a turbo reduces the sound pretty dramatically. I still get the rumble, I still get the crackle and pop type sounds on down shifts, but the car is pretty quiet except under load.
-Motordyne, by comparison, has a louder and throatier sound even with cats. I still need to check dB levels, but externally my wife's car is a bit louder now than mine is, though her cabin is better sound proofed than mine. It has a lot more rumble, and a lot less pop and crackle to it.
-HKS, with cats, is substantially more quiet than FI with cats (probably 5 dB or so). It sounds nice, but it's barely louder than the OEM exhaust.
I hope that helps. If you've got any specific questions, let me know.