HFC loose metallic core
 

I bought some used HFC's from a member here. I noticed while cleaning them that the core slides around. It's not much because of the core diameter being larger than the piping. If I had to guess it's about 1/8" of movement at most.

I'm more concerned about the friction caused from the metal to metal sliding and perhaps causing wear, eventually giving it more room to be banged around while driving.

Definitely not normal.

I wouldn't use it.

Great, this sucks. I'm waiting to hear back from the seller and FI. Their website states it's "limited lifetime warranty", I don't know what that entails. I definitely would hate to make it FI's issue, and I am going to give the seller the benefit of the doubt.

Hopefully we can come to some resolution.

Hmmm, this doesn't sound normal... Maybe Tony or Blake can chime in?

I've emailed Fast Intentions yesterday to see what they would say.

I've been told that a small amount of core movement is normal as a it gives a buffer region for expansion/contraction. If it really is 1/8 inch though, that is definitely too much

There's a possibility it's less than 1/8" movement; it's hard to tell. I'll try uploading the video of it tomorrow.

It separated, it happens. All you can do is replace it with a new core. They cost about $100 in 2.5"

Yep :iagree:
Whenever I buy used cats I shake the crap out of them to see if they rattle
If they do, I ain't buying

The seller is willing to refund, I was hoping for another alternative. Oh well...

Get your refund. With a bunch of people moving to the Z1 headers that need a 350 cat pipe, there's probably going to be more used HFCs on the market soon.

What brand? I'd buy, remove the cats, add a resonator and be set. :)

Oops nvm. FI? Ill buy them for cheap since they're broke. I know you want your money back so who is the original seller? He can pay you, I'll pay him, you can ship to me instead of back to him saving on double shipping.

Yeah, you could always knock out the cats and enjoy your new test pipes. It wouldn't be too hard to do since the pipe is pretty much a straight shot all the way through.

Just knocking them out I'd be worried about power loss. That's on awfully big chamber to have wide open.

My first choice would be to send them back and get an unbroken set. Hollowing them out would still be better than stock cats. I'm not sure what the size of the cat chamber on those pipes are, so you may be right. My guess would be that you'd never know- the difference would be small enough to be within the range of dyno variance.

I'd say 4". They might change too going small, to big, back to small. Who knows though.

I don't know either. It may be one of those things where it's technically "worse" and the difference isn't noticable at all in the real world. I'd still just send them back or see if the warranty was transferable.

I PM'ed you and the seller about the situation. He should be contacting you; just fill me in if/when the deal is done.