My review of the T1R 50s v2, B-pipe, CF intake (A&J Racing)

[ghibli99]

Originally Posted by doctordoom

ah i see, thanks for clarifying! mine is set up exactly like yours, i have an extra bolt and washer as well. i think i'll just take the word of aj-racing because it seems like even with the spring bolt, the extra flexibility would be very minimal since it would be very tight any way. anyhow, mine has been set up this way for a couple of months now, and no leaks so far. i've done at least 4 thousand miles with it on like this, but if something goes wrong in the future i will let you know in case you still don't have spring bolts on yours either. haha.

Hey man, I had a talk w/ Sam over at AJR yesterday, and he mentioned that he would recommend using the springbolts and some 12mm nuts. I would agree with him, since I do think that it's a fair amount of stress on a very long solid pipe from the catpipe inlet on through to the muffler. I believe most flanges connected w/ a donut gasket should use springbolts to allow for the flex/rotation around it. Anyway, I'm gonna swap them out just as soon as I get some nuts for the springbolts, but just thought I'd pass along the info!

-Mike

[doctordoom]

Originally Posted by ghibli99

Hey man, I had a talk w/ Sam over at AJR yesterday, and he mentioned that he would recommend using the springbolts and some 12mm nuts. I would agree with him, since I do think that it's a fair amount of stress on a very long solid pipe from the catpipe inlet on through to the muffler. I believe most flanges connected w/ a donut gasket should use springbolts to allow for the flex/rotation around it. Anyway, I'm gonna swap them out just as soon as I get some nuts for the springbolts, but just thought I'd pass along the info!

-Mike

oh i see, thanks mike!

[FITGD3]

Any AT Fit owner installed full T1R exhaust?how did you feel?Will FIT lose low end power due to AT?

[QuickGD3]

any updates?

[GD3-Fit]

didn't get the chance to do vids yesterday, maybe today after i'm done my oil change

-Ricky

[ghibli99]

Originally Posted by QuickGD3

any updates?

Sorry, between being out of town for vacation, the 4th of July coming up, and temperatures being around +/- 115 in Phoenix, I've had very little inspiration to go outside. I have another care package on the way from AJR, though, so I might wait until those arrive to get the headers installed.

The exhaust definitely sounds a bit more mellow, though, now that I've been running it for a few weeks. I still love it, and really think it looks great without screaming, "Hey, look at (i.e, steal) me!"

-Mike

[ghibli99]

Another update: It's been raining like a mother here in Phoenix (several inches over the past couple days... flooding everywhere), so I haven't had a chance to work on the car. It was weird, though... with the high humidity tonight, my exhaust sounded really quiet. Not sure what that was about, but I kinda liked it. Anyway, sorry for the delay, but I'll have that sucker installed by the weekend with my full report to follow. Thanks again for reading through this.

-Mike

[Craiggers]

I'm curious to see what this muffler looks like from the back. I imagine it probably looks fairly stealthy if it tuck up underneath the bumper enough. Do you have any pictures?

[spoonek4]

Here are the pix of 50s v.2 muffler installed on my Fit sport. I really like how it looks myself.

[Craiggers]

Originally Posted by spoonek4

Here are the pix of 50s v.2 muffler installed on my Fit sport. I really like how it looks myself.

That looks pretty tidy, but could I bother you for full car shot from the rear end on eye level so I can see how concealed it really is? Thanks a lot for the pictures, I've really enjoyed your other thread about taking your car to race at Pacific Raceway as well.

[ghibli99]

Originally Posted by LegendLover

That looks pretty tidy, but could I bother you for full car shot from the rear end on eye level so I can see how concealed it really is? Thanks a lot for the pictures, I've really enjoyed your other thread about taking your car to race at Pacific Raceway as well.

Keep in mind that it's going to depend on the lighting how concealed the exhaust will look at standing eye level. If the sun is behind the car, the stainless finish really shines. It definitely does not look stock at that point, and reflects a good amount of light. If light isn't directly hitting it, you can still see the finish, but it's a lot more understated. The tip does not stick out past the bumper, and pretty much sits where the stock muffler sits. The tip is bigger, the muffler section is about the same (maybe a little larger), and weight is also about the same.

All in all, if you're a Fit owner, you'll notice it, but the Average Joe will probably not know that it's an aftermarket muffler.

-Mike

[spoonek4]

Sorry man the muffler was on my car for abt a week for road test & video purpose awhile ago & I returned it to Ben already. That's the only pic that I can find at the moment.

I think my SPOON sports muffler is more eye catching at night if u are at a 3-4cars' length distance away. I keep it clean most of the time & it's like a mirror sometimes *rice*

[Craiggers]

Originally Posted by ghibli99

Keep in mind that it's going to depend on the lighting how concealed the exhaust will look at standing eye level. If the sun is behind the car, the stainless finish really shines. It definitely does not look stock at that point, and reflects a good amount of light. If light isn't directly hitting it, you can still see the finish, but it's a lot more understated. The tip does not stick out past the bumper, and pretty much sits where the stock muffler sits. The tip is bigger, the muffler section is about the same (maybe a little larger), and weight is also about the same.

All in all, if you're a Fit owner, you'll notice it, but the Average Joe will probably not know that it's an aftermarket muffler.

-Mike

Thanks for the description, thats what I was hoping for. I'm not even a Fit owner (yet) but I think I would notice it!

Originally Posted by spoonek4

Sorry man the muffler was on my car for abt a week for road test & video purpose awhile ago & I returned it to Ben already. That's the only pic that I can find at the moment.

I think my SPOON sports muffler is more eye catching at night if u are at a 3-4cars' length distance away. I keep it clean most of the time & it's like a mirror sometimes *rice*

Haha, well thank you for the pictures you did share. Try not to blind anybody with that Spoon canister of yours!

[ghibli99]

Hi everyone,

I haven't forgotten about this. LOL It's been a crazy couple of months since the storms, not the least of which is the economic rollercoaster right now. Temperatures are finally cooling down into the low 90s/high 80s, so I'll finally be able to get out there and put the headers and other bits in. I also dusted off the video camera a couple weeks ago for work, and will be using it to film some runs once everything's installed. I'm still really liking this setup, and I barely notice it now unless I have it wide-open.

-Mike

[t3chn0rav3rb0y]

okay. so im still waiting on the turn out on this setup. have you put the headers on yet? lol this is a great review ur doing here.

[GD3-Fit]

yeah i have the header, test pipe, b pipe and spoon n1 on so i'll have to make vids of it before i sell the header and intake

-Ricky

[ghibli99]

^^^ Parting out for an upgrade?

Originally Posted by t3chn0rav3rb0y

okay. so im still waiting on the turn out on this setup. have you put the headers on yet? lol this is a great review ur doing here.

Thanks man! Amazingly enough, the headers are *finally* going on tomorrow... I promise.

Stay tuned!

-Mike

[GD3-Fit]

yeah bro i'll be parting out to make room for the hks turbo kit

[ghibli99]

Originally Posted by GD3-Fit

yeah bro i'll be parting out to make room for the hks turbo kit

NICE!!!

-Mike

[ghibli99]

Alright, the Response Headers are finally in, and I updated the OP a bit with a few installation notes and impressions of the workmanship.

Here are some additional thoughts...

This is only an initial impression since they haven't been on the car for very long, but since I've had the intake, B-pipe, and 50s v2 on my car for almost 6 months now, it was easier for me to see and hear any differences with the addition of the headers.

The first thing I noticed was how *smoothly* the car starts up and purrs at idle. For some reason, my car seemed a touch rough on a cold startup with the previous setup (as mentioned in an earlier post), and I'd get a few pops and gurgles from time to time downshifting or sitting at a stop light. No such thing anymore. The entire system really feels like all the parts were designed to play with each other nicely, and it shows. Very impressed with how buttery smooth it all feels.

As for performance, I only have the almighty butt-dyno to go by, but I'm confident that I'm seeing mild gains throughout the rpm band, and especially from about 4000rpm to redline. Prior to this, it felt like power delivery increased in a linear way around 3500rpm, and now with the headers, there's an extra punch from 4000rpm on up. It feels good, and especially if you're keeping rpms between 4000-6000, the L15A motor, which was already decently responsive in that range, opens up even more. Before, it really felt like the car was running out of breath... not so anymore, which is great.

In terms of sound, there is a touch more sound coming from under the hood at idle, and when VTEC engages, it reminds me of what my B16A2 sounded like in my Si years ago. Not exactly, of course, but being able to hear more of the high-pitched mechanicals brought a nice grin to my face. Overall sound output from the entire I/H/E system remains pretty much unchanged to my ears. I didn't have to adjust the volume levels on my head unit, and I didn't notice a significant change in outside ambient levels driving with the windows down.

In the end, I'm glad I put these in, and I think they really smoothed out the entire basic T1R I/H/E setup. I think the only piece I'm not entirely happy with after all this time is the 50s v2 muffler, and it's only because of the few faults I found in it early on. I know a lot of folks are very happy with it, though, so it basically just comes down to personal preference. I'm going to try out the system with a GReddy Ti-C to see how it mates up to these, so if you're interested in this axleback before it hits the classifieds, let me know and I'll give you a great price. A post about the GReddy will follow.

Thanks again for being patient while I got around to getting these installed, and as always, if you have any questions, please post them up. Take care!

-Mike