Charles just sent me something long and hard

 

A string trimmer?

Me? Stock :-/
I had an ExoticSpeed S1-T but got rid of it because it was too loud.
Currently looking at a MazdaSpeed V2.

 

^ Mazdaspeed V2 + BHR MP = <3

 

Mazdaspeed is nice but I must say that our local MS owner had the mufflers crack at the welds with no rust or anything so I personally doubt it's build quality. It may have just been one bad system though I guess.

 

been running mine for years (bought used) with no problems.

 

Yeah I was surprised too since this one only has a couple of years use from someone who doe snot drive that hard.

 

Mazdamaniacs and mine.

 

Midpipe will be at my front door on 9/8. Can't wait. Driving a turbo rotary with a stock cat blows. I'm ready to get my power back and then some. Will post honest impression and I promise to do so without drinking the popular BHR kool-aid during my report.

 

Well I guess it does speak for the quality then. I was surprised to see rust at the welds since here in Texas rust is a non issue.

Mine is in Texas and I hope to God I get it tomorrow

 

Starting installation of mine.... pics and videos will be up soon.

 

Midpipe installed!

I can't say trouble free though. I need to talk with Ray to figure out what I did wrong with the rear mounting hardware, or if something was missing that was supposed to be included.

Fitment is perfect however. Just nuts and bolts issue.

Front fitment:
[IMG][/IMG]

Not posting my pic of the rear considering it's not done right yet

The piece of broken resonator from one of the borrowed prototypes (Zelse's) from last winter isn't anywhere in sight in my cat-back, so it still rattles around somewhere. Probably need to pull the whole cat back to get it out, so it will probably be there until I upgrade to a lighter cat-back.

I definitely have more power from 5k to 8k. Low end I am still dealing with the pre-existing lack of power that I believe to be my O2 sensor. I just found a O2 sensor tool at Advance that should work perfect for getting the old off and the new on.

The sound is what I remember. Completely stock sounding (rest of the system is stock) below ~70% load. WOT adds some of the rotary music to the air without being raspy.

 

you n00b RIWWP, what happened with the rear?

 

Ray, that drop down should soon be replaced with, "add BHR catback"

 

Yeah, bolts just not threaded far enough, should need extra washers, shorter bolts, combination of above, etc... Just doesn't actually start gripping the 2 sides to hold them together even at max threading. Threaded the nuts onto the non-threaded area trying, so they might be garbage now Might be savable though. I'll pass them off to Ray in 12 days to see if we can avoid wasting them.

I mcguyver'ed it up to get to the hardware store for some alternate hardware.

Got home, talked to Ray, put the car on jack stands, pulled off my jury-rig hardware, then found out I got the wrong thread pitch somehow.... so back to the store


Trying to figure out how to replace my O2 sensor without getting burned is like trying to drive under the speed limit everywhere in my 8.


It just aint gonna happen. Why did they have to put that connector there!?!?!

Just gonna do that part tomorrow I guess, let it cool overnight.

 

Why would I place a web order? I prefer to call the bat phone.

Same category as Phil? Ill take that as a compliment. I think.

 

I torqued the nuts enough that I don't have the tools to un-torque them, since the other end is threaded too, and it comes free first. I think the nuts started threading the non-threaded part of the bolt.



Once you release a cat-back that I can buy, I will still need to get these disassembled somehow to be usable

 

bench vise and an impact, depending on how tight it is actually on there could ruin the threads though... lube it up first

 

If you have enough thread for 2 nuts you can lock them together and then take off the single one

If you put the shoulder in a vice you should be able to get it off without screwing up the threads

 

Mind lending yours?

All I have are hand tools.

I can't bring to mind what you are talking about....



I'm not saying they are unrecoverable, just that I don't believe I can separate them given the simple hand tools I have. Hence, when I get to BHR HQ on my drive to Sevenstock in 12 days, I will hand the hardware over to Ray, he can work his magic, and since I can't use them, he re-use them as he sees fit with a future project, someone else's pipe, or whatnot.

Rather than tossing out what I hear is a rather expensive chunk of hardware. (expensive for what it does)

 

Good to know; I'm swapping to a Borla with the new midpipe anyway.

 

Haha, if you think it's worth the drive/flight I'd be more than happy to harbor a club member in need... but You'd have to help with my turbo install

 

Got mine installed yesterday, sounds nice. I have the stock catback, very little noise increse until you step on it. Not saying it gets really loud when you do this, just saying you can hear when you do.

 

Alright, I got some video. Neither is very good, since they are both from my phone, which doesn't do all that great on the audio pickup. The first one it starts overwhelming the mic, but it's in place, no load revving, with the phone back by the tips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liBfAdedA8Q


The second video clip is a bit over 4 minutes long, but has a variety of speeds, loads, revs, etc which attempt to show a bigger range of the sound it makes when paired with the rest of the stock stuff.

Lots of road and wind noise, sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6ZTcDnCq9w

 

Very nice RIWWP. Liked the second one, with the commentary. Skidmarks into the wall.

So what do you think of the sound?

 

Honnestly, this is quite noisy for a catless RX8 with stock header and stock catback, but maybe the bad quality of the videos makes it louder/different.