Berk Exhaust Production with X-Pipe

Matt

Ok, time for my "official" review!

First off, this is my 1000th post on these boards! Hurray! Thanks everyone for making this such a great community, for both knowledge and friendship!

For information purposes, I drive a 370z Nismo. I upgraded the stock cats to Berk HFCs a few months ago and wanted to upgrade my Nismo CBE to something better.

As some of you know, I recently purchased the Berk CBE as part of one of their Group Buys. The wait was long, but not as long as others. Future buyers should not have this problem, of course.

I received the exhaust yesterday, and I immediately was disappointed. The box was tore up, and the packing inside was ridiculously inappropriate for the value of the contents. I had no paper, no peanuts, no nothing protecting the exhaust pieces other than the really thin pieces of bubble-wrap (less than a few mm thick!). Luckily, no damage was done to any of the pieces.

I went to my local shop for the install this afternoon. After seeing both systems, the NISMO CBE and the Berk CBE, side by side, I have to say, I really didn't have my expectations that high. The systems were eerily similar, except for the separate mufflers and the better designed X-pipe of the Berk. Me and the mechanic got the Berk bolted on in less than 30 minutes. The entire process was a bit longer than an hour, and I was charged $80. As always, my shop lets me drive the car on and off the lift, and lets me help/watch as much as I want. Good guys. But I digress...

Onto the actual review of the exhaust!

INSTALLATION - No installation instructions, but really...who needs them? There's 4 rubber hangers, 6 gaskets, and 12 bolts...it's not rocket science. There was a little adjustment needed to get the midpipes (right term?) to line up with the muffler assembly, but a breeze other than that.

LOOK - Looks pretty much stock. The tips are actually smaller than the Nismo's tips. Less of the muffler assembly can be seen from behind now, which is a good thing. If you're going for the "wow look at that guy's exhaust" reaction from people, you're not going to get it from looks...

SOUND - Absolutely breathtaking. I went from Berk HFCs/Nismo CBE to Berk HFCs/Berk CBE and let me tell you, it's 10000% better sounding. Acceleration, from inside the cabin with the windows up, gave me goosebumps! I was a little worried around 3k at first, but when I hit 4k RPM this thing let out a thunderous roar that I can only imagine was turning heads down the nearby roads. At around 6k RPM, I felt like I was in a NASCAR racing machine. It actual harmonizes with the "roar" of the VQ at higher RPMs than the Nismo exhaust did, oddly enough.

DRONE - I couldn't force any drone out of this system. From 1.5k RPM to 3k, it sounds like a normal exhaust note to me. To some, their definition of "drone" may be different than mine, but to me, there was no drone. I even went up a hill around 55mph and accelerated a little around 2.8k RPM, and still....nothing, to be honest. Again, my own opinion.

RASP - With the Berk HFCs already installed, this was the part I was a little worried about. At idle, revving the engine definitely produces some rasp, and a little hiss as it de-revs. At normal acceleration on the road, I was not able to pick up any at all. Now, there was a slight drizzle outside and talk radio playing softly in the background, so perhaps I missed it. I'm optimistic that "rasp" will not be an issue at all with my setup.

OVERALL - If I could forget about the shipping/packing issues, my experience with the Berk CBE would be a 10/10! The actual product that was put on my car definitely made up for the issues, but didn't erase them from my memory.

The exhaust gave me *exactly* the sound I wanted from my car. On a 1-10 scale, 1 being no sound and 10 being just a little too loud, my car is a perfect 9. For people with sensitive significant others, the combo of CBE and HFCs may be too much for their ears, the same goes with sensitive neighbors. For people looking for a great sounding exhaust, that finally matches the car they're driving, the Berk CBE is perfect.

Well done Berk. Fix your shipping issues and you're going to sell a lot of exhausts!

If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. I'd like to get a video up as soon as it's a little more dry outside, as well as some pics.

__________________

"Any man who can drive a 370z while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the Z the attention it deserves." Albert Einstein....modified.