midpipe???
 

I have a 06 rx8 102000 miles just replaced spark plug and coils now check engine light is on... I have a bad Cat thinking about going with a bhr catless midpipe...will that work with the rest of the exhaust being stock???

Yes. I put 55,000 miles on my BHR midpipe connected to a stock header and stock catback.

^What he said. I had to replace my stock exhaust since the previous owner straight piped it and I could not stand it.

OK thanks. Riwwp did u install yourself and if so did u need other things to install it besides the midpipe?I tried calling a few places and no one will install it without the cat

Its an easy install honestly. The hardest part is getting the old cat off, with rusty bolts and all. You will need the gaskets for the front and the back of the midpipe and they can be purchased at pepboys etc.

Yes, I installed it myself like 10 times or so (had to revert to the cat periodically for inspections, pulled it for all 3 of my clutch replacements, etc...).

No shop will install it for you, they could face HUGE fines for removing the cat, it's illegal. The best thing to do is to just buy replacement bolts and nuts, bring those to a shop with your car, have them replace the existing bolts and nuts, leaving the stock cat in place, which they can do legally. Then you drive back home, put the car on jackstands, easily remove the fresh bolts and nuts, drop the cat, put the midpipe in it's place, put the bolts and nuts back in, torque to spec, then put the car back on the ground.

The only difficult point is getting heavily rusted nuts and bolts free, and it's easily worth the $20-$40 to have a shop do that for you in a few minutes rather than spending all day trying to get it yourself.

The BHR midpipe comes with it's own gaskets, and I think it's own hardware, though i don't know if it's hardware is usable with the OEM cat due to flange thickness and design.

I apologize, but I bought my BHR midpipe used so I didnt get any gaskets or hardware with it. Just wanted to make sure the OP knew that you cant reuse the existing ones in most cases. The BHR is a high quality product OP, dont hesitate with getting one.

Like Chrishoky says, the BHR pipe is a nice piece, and comes with better-than-mazda gaskets.

I love the my BHR mid pipe. I got mine used as well. Do it right the first time so you do not have to do it again like me. Bought a 'replacement' cat and it crapped out after about 6 months. There is a reason a OEM cat is $1200, R&D.

This is what I keep telling people. Buying a BHR midpipe may be $500, but buying a straight pipe for $100, getting annoyed with it, then a packed pipe for $150, then having it fail, then finally getting a BHR mdpipe costs $750.

It's cheaper to just get the proven result in the first place.

"If you can't afford to do it right, when can you afford to do it over?"

:)

With a fat bonus.

Thanks guys for the info.one more question? since my cat is bad and has the check engine light on its prolly gonna be 3 weeks till I can get my bhr mid pipe and im definatly gonna have Mazda replace the bolts first...will still driving it around with a bad cat affect anything else on my car negitivly?right now it still drives fine only seems to vibrate more when at idle.

If the catalyst elements have blown out, then there is no problem driving around on it.
If the catalyst elements have clogged, then driving around on it will start damaging the engine (I lost my first engine to a cat failure), O2 sensors, and eventually light your car on fire. Yes, car fires have happened (one thread)

Dam that sucks!! How long did u drive it around after you're check engine light was on?

I never got a check engine light until i had severe power loss, then finally just a misfire code. The first symptom to misfire to cat removal was about an hour of driving. By then, it was too late. My cat had probably been clogging for a while though.

I drove around for quite a while with a CEL for a bad cat. I have a decent mechanical background and experience with piston engines.
It was running so good that I refused to believe it was bad. It was not til after I started getting flashing CELs and power loss at higher RPM that I parked it & finally decided to get rid of the cat. That was also when I discovered the RX8 Club.
I probably would have ruined the engine if I hadn't. The front half was almost all gone, & clogged the back half.
Once I put my midpipe on & tuned it up it ran much better. I only hope I didn't do any hidden damage or shortened my engine life.
If you have to drive it, gut it.

Are you sure Mazda will replace the bolts for you if you have a bad cat?
You might want to try a muffler shop instead, I'm sure it'll be cheaper.

I did exactly that.. then bought yours. You benefited ;)

It will probably be a while before someone gets a BHR pipe for as cheap as you got mine :)

But then, I probably held the highest mileage one for quite a while. How many miles have you added to it?

Only ~12k or so but i would expect anything else on this car to fail before that pipe does. I just had it off a few weeks back to have my inspection done and really got to look at it.It's still in really great shape. The black coating on it is impeccable.

May be trading it in soon before the motor pops and the Fiesta ST has caught my attention.. That's going to be a thread at some point once i'm closer to actually getting rid of it.

Uh, that isn't a black coating :)

That's just discoloration from time and heat cycling. I see that frequently on stainless steel exhaust stuff that sees really high heat.

Here is a pic from when I first got it, before installation:
Attachment 222162

:doh:

It's so uniform I could have sworn.. ah well.

Will the bhr catless with stock exhaust shoot any flames??

The flames come from the heat and the fuel finding the 3rd component needed, air.

What allows flames to happen is the removal of the catalytic converter, since that removes / neuters the fuel component. All catless midpipes allow flames, as a result.

OK kewl that's what I was guessing

On the bhr midpipe Do I need the optional o2 sensor Mount ???

Nope. There is one already there standard for the rear O2 sensor. You can opt for a 2nd one if you have an aftermarket wideband to have a 3rd sensor in your exhaust for a gauge or something. Typically only the turbocharged guys do that.

Yea I won't be putting a turbo on it for a years lol I will finally be ordering my bhr next week!!!thanks for the help

don't expect much in the way of flames, the stock ECU isn't tuned overly rich during most driving situations.

O I'm not a few flames here and there is just a plus!!!what should I expect far as life spam of the bhr mid pipe???

Probably longer than the life of the car. I put 55,000 on mine through all 4 seasons in new england, and it was still performing just as good as the day i installed it. The new owner has added another 12,000 to that, still zero problems.

Edit: To be clear, I sold the midpipe only because I had to sell the car. If/when I get another RX-8, the BHR midpipe will be one of, if not the first thing on my list. I lost my first engine to a cat failure and I wouldn't be willing to risk that again.

OK that's good! And that's why I'm doing it since the spark plugs and coils go bad every 30000 I feel like if I put a new cat on for $1300 I will just be replacing it again soon..

You may want to start saving for a new cat, depending on how strict your emissions testing for inspection is, you may need one eventually.

IN only has 2 counties that require inspection but they are up around Chicago. :bootyshak

I live in Tennessee man what's a emissions test?!bahaha we don't have those here

We now know why they call them the Smoky Mountains.

Yes sir and a shit ton of diesel trucks

The gaskets that come with the BHR midpipe are the OEM ones from Mazda

I've also got tired of bad cats and used my friend's shop and 3 hours of my time to make a custom ''equal welded bends'' midpipe from headers flange to rear section flange ''the one with the springs bolts), so no more cat and no resonator either, also welded a o2 sensor bung for the 2nd o2 sensor with a 3/4 inch bung and got no CEL doing so. Removing your Catalytic converter won't get you ''tree huggers'' lovin' for sure lol, but wankel engines and cats never was a great match, rare is a rx8 on the road that has a fully fonctionnal cat on, most are already dead or about to die, Our Egr/Air pump system helps a bit for cat durability but at operationnal temp nothing can prevent the unburnt flaming hot fuel in a wankel exhaust, mix that with shitty oem coils and you get the perfect receipe wich for cat death. You won't see huge gains in hp tho, compared to a working cat on, but your ''is my cat dead?'' nightmare will be over.