Berk HFC's + Stillen CBE = RAAAAAAASSSSPPPPP
 

Ok, so i thought i would learn to live with it, but it's starting to get really annoying. It doesn't sound good at all and it's VERY loud.

At anything over 1/4 throttle between about 3700 and 5000 rpm there is a BB's in a tin can raspiness that the exhaust produces that is borderline embarrassing it sounds so horrible. Is there any way to tame this by the addition of resonators or is it just the nature of the beast? If there is any exhaust on the market that produces no rasp when matched up with Berk HFC's .... im sold.

Thanks!

I find this really suprising...You are probably the first person with this combo that has complained about this paired set up.

I have the exact same set up. I only get a little rasp until it warms up, then I get none at all. Are you sure you don't have a pin hole leak somewhere?

Fast Intentions.

is anything loose or touching?

Funny, I've got the Stillen CBE installed and I'm waiting on the HFC's to come in the mail.

Have you watched any of the videos online of this setup? There seems to be almost zero rasp at all from what I can tell.

One thing though - When I first got the catback installed, there was a rattle coming from the deadeners attached to it that could have been mistaken for rasp. I went and bent it back off of the pipe and that got rid of it.

I agree. Make sure theres no leaks and nothing is touching. That combo should not give you much rasp, and trust me I know about rasp FI CBE Non Resonated + FI Non Resonated TP. LOL

Oh these things have a bit of rasp up top. One of our members here running Stillen headers + HFCs + CBE has a crap ton of rasp.

is your exhaust touching the crossmember by any chance? If not, sounds like a leak.

I have Stillen headers, HFC and catback and I have very little rasp.

:iagree:

I had a small leak in my Invidia Gemini exhaust and it was very loud, in a bad way, very raspy. Once I got it fixed I couldn't believe how much nicer my the Z sounds.

Man am I glad to not have any rasp with my current setup! I hate it too...

I checked the u-bolts.. they are all very tight. The bolted connections look good. The crossmember was touching, but i fixed that right away when i first got the exhaust installed.

There's no rasp unless i give it half to full throttle and its only for about 1k to 2k rpm's right in the middle of the rpm range. Up top theres no rasp. Its pretty gnarly rasp too.

I got a video of a dyno run ill try and upload. Not sure how good you can hear it, though. The quality sucks. Taken with iPhone.

Listen here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUHanRmrRa0

If you listen close, you can here the rasp starts at around 4k rpm for about 2 seconds then it goes away at about 5k-5.5k rpm until redline

nevermind, just watched it and can't hear ****. DAMNIT!

Bottom line... its very loud and noticeable. Ill triple check for leaks.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

My setup was very raspy when the HFCs were first installed and then everything settled down in a few hundred miles. There's still a bit of rasp that JB1 noticed last weekend, but I really can't hear it anymore. 100% better than when the HFCs first went on though. Maybe you need to give it a little time to settle in.

Try the Stillen HFC's maybe? I have the Stillen CBE + HFC's and it sounds great, a little rasp when flooring it above 4k-ish until 5 or 6k and then it stops. I'm not sure but have heard the Berks tend to be a little louder and raspier.

Yep, night and day difference between now and right after the install of the HFC's. The rasp definitively got a lot less over time. I had Berk HFC's + Berk CBE myself for a while and that was a little raspy as well. It also was waaay too loud for me, so I got rid of the HFC's and went back to stock cats but I kept the Berk CBE. Now there is no rasp, just a nice deep tone.

Ok, so i jacked the car up and started it to listen for leaks. I heard a scratchy noise almost like a channel on the tv is out and thought, "YES I FOUND THE LEAK"... but i didn't. I can almost guarantee whatever is making this noise is whats making the rasp, but nothing is leaking. It sounds like its coming from the 2 resonator looking things on the exhaust.

You can hear the noise plain as day here - YouTube - IMG 0752

Maybe Stillen can chime in and let me know what im hearing... or did i get a defective exhaust... =\

I have the exact same setup with no rasp at all. I did have a whole bunch of rasp at the start but that ended up being gasket leak between the headers and the cats (the triangular ones). I put in the proper berk gaskets and the rasp was instantly gone.

Make sure there are no leaks there.

I have this exact setup Stillen CBE with Berk HFC's. I will say that this setup has rasp but only on a cold startup. You will get a little buzzing from the exhaust but nothing unbearable. It goes away rather tho quickly once the car warms up. Once the car is warm I think the exhaust sounds rather clean? I've been really happy witht his setup.

Just got mine put on today and I'm getting a little buzzing myself. I'm going to put it up on the lift in the next week or so and I'll report back. Hopefully it's just a leak.

After a bit of highway time, Its not a rattle, its coming from the back of the car and it sounds God damn awful. If it doesn't fade quick they're coming off.

never had a bit of rasp with mine from day one, must be an issue somewhere.

While we're at it can we define what exactly is meant by "rasp?" Mine sounds much like a rattle, but its definitely coming out of the tail pipe. I get it pretty much anytime I put a load on the motor and its especially prominent on the highway. Is this what others are getting?

As JB1 stated above, the exhaust will settle down with time. He was there the day I had my HFCs installed (CBE was already on the car). We drove off for the first time and we both cringed...the rasp was ungodly. I'd say it took a good 2-3 weeks for things to really settle down. Essentially, you have to heat cycle the exhaust a number of times and the rasp will diminish greatly. Especially at the end of a track day when the exhaust is scorching hot, I think it sounds pretty wicked and almost no rasp.

I'll sit on it for a while but what still makes me a little tense is that I bought the hfc's used from a member here on the forums. That said, it may be chilling out a bit already but in any case I'm going to give it some time. I'll report back on the progress.

I have one thought that came to mind from experience: I had a magnaflow muffler and it would do that crap at certain RPM's. It was a internal baffle that had came loose and would rattle. I am not to sure how the stillen exhaust is but I thought I would just throw that idea out there.

I know exactly how you feel from rasp. It drives me CRAZY! That is why I was so strict on the exhaust system I picked out. Good luck bro :tiphat:

sounds to me like a rattle from something loose. My Fi TDX does not make any rattle or sounds like that.

I emailed stillen and sent them a link to the video and nobody every got back to me. Not sure if i should make a big deal of it or just deal with it...

This is weird because a friend of mine has the same setup and its sound is solid. Replace all your gaskets. If you used the gaskets that came with it, replace them with gaskets from autozone or napa then use "exhuast joint and crack sealant. This should work. make sure that you when you put the gasket in that you use the sealant with it...put sealan on the inside of flange, put gasket on, put sealant on the other pipe connecting to the flange and bolt. another thing is i would highly recommend using grade "A" nuts and bolts on exhaust or any system that will get hot and use antisieze on the nuts and bolts. While your under there, make sure all the flanges are welded good. If this dosent work then its the HFC and ask to get them replaced. Good luck

Just listend to the video and thats not rasp, sounds like a bad seal. Before doing what I said above, try bending all the heat shields. If that dosent work then try doing what i said about, its cheap to get.

Raspy and rattle
 

I just paired up my Z which already has the invidia gemini rolled tip and the takeda CAI with the CNT HFC, and i got a LOT of rasp. I also got some really annoying rattle at 1900 rpm as well. Anyone has an idea if it is suppose to be like this? :icon14: