$$$ Test Pipe Install $$$

tjlazer

All I know is if I had to do it again, I would gladly pay $270 to have my HFC's installed!

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2009 370Z Monterey Blue,Nismo Conversion,RE-11's, K&N Typhoon intakes,Blue Kickplates,Homelink,FI 18" CBE,ERZ HFCs,Hotchkis sways, Swift Spec-R, EVO-R Highwing, UPREV

Grindkiezer

Yeah from all the write ups and stories of people that have ran into issues with this install, it's stuff like this that reassures me that I don't want to deal with this myself. So for $180, screw it

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critical

Good luck. Make sure they don't use air tools. If any goes wrong, you can always bring it by my place :P

Grindkiezer

Got my pipes installed earlier this morning and the sound is definitely noticeable. Especially around 3k. The smell isn't too bad, you can smell gas but it is tolerable. As for the "cow crap" smell when I first got my pipes, I cleaned them very well inside and out so I don't think I'm going to experience anything like that. Hopefully I can stay under the radar with them and not suffocate the people behind me but at the end of the day I'm glad I did it.

And I made the right decision by having a shop do it. I got to watch Netflix while my car was given some sound. Gonna be a good day

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Grindkiezer

Got my "Service Engine Soon" light tonight while driving back home from dinner with my girlfriend. I made it almost 750+ miles without any issues but my time has come I've been smelling the exhaust of my car the past few days a lot more and it seems to be a lot stronger, so I'm just hoping that it's from a leak or something and that tightening them back up might help it out. If not I'll just get it cleared, but if it continues let me know if anyone is interested in some resonated test pipes

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mantella87

That install price sounds right. Glad you like them, I have the same pipes paired with the ARK Grip exhaust. My service light comes and goes, I love the smell. As for the sound I can handle the rasp, but man I hate the VQ hiss on deceleration. How bad is it with your exhaust? I had my test pipes installed about two weeks ago and I am pretty sure I am going back to the stock cats... that hiss just sounds terrible to me. But on start-up, idle and revving up to ~4,500rpm it is awesome!

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Injen CAI | CNT Resonated Test Pipes | ARK Grip V2 CBE | Swift Springs | H&R 20mm Spacers | Ings+1 Lip

Grindkiezer

I love the hiss and your absolutely right in regards to the sound with climbing rpms. And Since I have a stillen exhaust it's naturally pretty quite and has a low tone so with test pipes it doesn't sound like a pack of mosquitos flying towards me. I love the smell as well but I'd like to try and stay "under the radar" and the smell seems to be a lot stronger now and that's why I'm thinking that there is a leak right underneath me which is why the smell is getting into my window soo easily. I love the test pipes but I don't like the "Service Engine Soon" light so the only reason that I would go back to stock cats is because I don't like having dash lights in my face.

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critical

Just reset the ECU I threw 3 rights already but put a lot of miles on the test pipes.

I don't think a possible leak and the service engine light would be related.

Grindkiezer

I'm hoping that the O2 sensors or bungs are loose so that tightening them will make them read clear or something. But I can definitely smell a lot mor exhaust than I used to so either way I'm gonna check it out tomorrow. Did you use an OBD2 scanner?

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chrischhorn

UpRev tune and you can delete it like I did or check the steel wool fix to get the light off. Sometimes the extended bungs work too but the steel wool is the best fix.

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R.I.P. 8/01/13 1SlowZ
One day I'll have another....

olddudesrule

I gotta say, I don't know why you go to the trouble of test pipes when you can get virtually the same tone/volume from a good set of HFC's?? I've used them on two Z06's and an 02 Viper GTS, and never looked back. Emissions tests were also a consideration, and all cars were tuned with HP Tuners software.

Not trying to sound like a hater, just wondering why you'd go through the issues associated with removing the cats unless you're building a full on track car.

Grindkiezer

Well the first thing was the price difference, around $200 for test pipes and can be up to $400 for HFC so I just went with the "cheaper" option. Plus here in Cali test pipes and HFC are both illegal and are both prone to throw CEL do yeah they are essentially the same except one was a lot cheaper. I know that the HFC reduce the exhaust smell but it all comes down to $$$

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olddudesrule

I believe the Random Tech HFC that I used on the Viper and my C& Z06 were both 50 state compliant and CARB legal. I hear what you're saying about $$, but I'd spend the extra $200 for the lack of headaches down the road.

Grindkiezer

Yeah I'm starting to wish I did that as well. Just scanned my ECU and got back P2A03 so something is going on with my O2 sensors. I checked my test pipes today and did se that they had some scuff marks on them (From speed bumps) but when I turned the car on there were no evident leaks.

My question is now what do I do about my O2 sensors? I cleared the code but I figure it's now only a matter of time. Could the sensor be fouled from running too rich?

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mantella87

If I'm going to take the cats off and deal with those bolts, I'm not going to just put fancy cats back on. Our cats are already high-flow relatively speaking, HFC's aren't worth the money in my opinion. For me, it was test pipes or long tube headers. Went with the test pipes because I wanted more sound than anything. I got what I wanted and then some... a bunch of weird sounds. The CEL thing, I couldn't care less. I bought my car brand new here in California in 2011. I am exempt from emissions testing until 2017. I can just reset the ECU when the light gets annoying. The environment is a lost cause.

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Injen CAI | CNT Resonated Test Pipes | ARK Grip V2 CBE | Swift Springs | H&R 20mm Spacers | Ings+1 Lip