Hard 8

Mod Edit: This is a 9 year thread bump

This is a merged thread, so please scroll down for my Racing Beat exhaust review.

Having just installed my Racing Beat exhaust with great pleasure(see below for details), I am now even more curious about the impending intake. I know that the good folks at Racing Beat are taking their time to get it right, and I would not be surprised if it's not in production until next year. That's OK with me.

I also understand that Racing Beat is reluctant to make promises, such as release dates or horsepower claims, until it is sure it can keep them.

What's bugging me, though, is the fact that, unlike the people who have visited the Racing Beat facility lately, I haven't had an opportunity to see the prototype system that others have alluded to. And I have yet to read any descriptions of it, other than general statements that it is very clean and impressive.

So ... is it still a secret, or (assuming Racing Beat doesn't object) can anyone out there please give us at least a general description of the intake system? Photos would, of course, be even better. Since you're showing it to people who visit the facility, it can't be a real secret any more, can it?

And I know it's asking for a lot (and contradicts what I said above) but if there is any hard information about CARB certification, estimated production dates, horsepower gains, etc., I would like to see that, too.

Thanks.

Ole Spiff

Well I don't know if we're allowed to say exactly what it looks like; I was part of RB's focus group so maybe that's why Jim showed me the photo. I can tell you that he said it should be ready for sale in roughly 3-4 months; maybe sooner if everything goes well. They're working on getting the mould made for the box. Without going into any great detail, it's a 2-piece system with an intake box and a filter that will be inside the box. It will obviously be high performance, washable, and give a nice sound without being too loud. The metal prototype in the picture looks great; the production unit will be molded plastic. It impressed me enough that I'm willing to wait for it.

He didn't have a price yet, nor any numbers as far as performance gains. He said he doesn't want to say anything until they start getting some pre-production units for final testing. Both he and Jim Mederer said not to expect any huge gains; 3-5 hp being probable. Combining the intake with an exhaust will give a modest boost; adding an ECU programming mod along with intake and exhaust should be pretty nice. The ECU mod is still in the works; no eta on when it will be ready.

I love my RB exhaust; the more I live with it, the more I like it. How do you like yours?

ScudRunner

Well I love my RB exhaust, and my RB springs, and when I get home from Iraq, I'm going to love putting on my RB sway bars and flywheel...and I'm standing by every day for their clutch to be available...guess you could call me a groupie...their website shows "Late Summer 04" as the projected release date for the Intake...That's about when I'm due to be home, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed...and holding my breath for the ECU as well...which brings up a question...assuming I get the RB intake, exhaust, ECU package (which I will), do you figure adding either the CZ or SR High Flow Cat into the mix will throw a wrench into the fuel mapping? Guess I could email the Jims and see what they think...

Hard 8

Thanks for the information! I really like my exhaust, although I could wish for a throatier note. Please see the review I'm posting in a minute.

Hard 8

I installed mine last week. Below, I will post pictures.

The kit itself is extremely clean and I wouldn't change a thing. It is awesome. It weighed in on my bathroom scale at roughly 38 pounds, versus 40 for the OEM kit.

On the installation, I wound up removing the frames around the tips instead of the studs.

It was a pretty easy (maybe 90 minutes, going slow) one-person job using Rhino Ramps for the car and a floor jack under a board to support the parts. The hardest tasks were getting the exhaust hangers off, and getting access to torque the cat bolts (for which I used several socket extensions).

The instructions, which are very good, would be slightly better, IMHO, with the following minor changes and additions:

• The cat bolts are 14 mm, not 17 mm.
  
• The Racing Beat bolts are 14 mm on both ends.
  
• The best way to prevent breaking the attachment clips on the panels surrounding the tips, is to reach up inside and pop out each clip with your fingers, from behind. They have locking tabs that need to be pressed gently away from the edges.
  
• The bolts attaching the exhaust section to the connecting pipe look better facing forward.
  
• The easiest way to start the four attachment bolts is to fit the connecting pipe onto the cat studs, attach the connecting pipe hanger, then loosely start all four nuts before tightening any of them down.
  

The tips look simply wonderful at the back of the car, and underneath, the polished cannisters look sweet. Perfect fit and finish.

I have only driven the car with the new system a few times, since I was driving out minivan last week. Just driving it off the ramps, it sounded stock. Later on, I opened it up a few times, and it had a kind of rotary roar; hard to describe. It is not the deep, macho bellow of, say, the G35 Coupe, or the throaty roar of a V8. Rather, it's the hollow buzz of a rotary , but not too loud. At idle there's just a hint of it, then under throttle you hear the stock engine and exhaust note, but it's overlain with the buzz. Not exactly what I expected, but it's growing on me. Certainly not too loud.

And now for the photos. First, the stock exhaust:

Hard 8

Now the Racing Beat (please don't reply until I say I'm done):

DOMINION

Can we see a pic with it on?

Hard 8

No problem. Now here's the tip without the frame on:

Hard 8

With the frame on:

Hard 8

And the full butt view:

Hard 8

Finally, a half *** (now I'm done):

cgrx

Looks great !

Installing an exhaust is so fun, I loved installing the Borla

DOMINION

Cool looks good man...

sportscarfreak

any sound clips? I'm dying to hear it so that I can make up my mind on which exhaust to get.

Omicron

Looks really nice man, congrats! :D And I too would like to hear sound clips.

Also FYI, I've merged the two threads about this together... no reason to have 2.

rx8cited

Thanks for the great pics and install notes. Looks nice and I'd like to hear a clip too if possible.

rx8cited

thew

nice job.. i kinda want to hear it to.. has anyone here in CA drivin down to RB can i hear it in there store ?


do they do installs?

Ole Spiff

They don't do installs unfortunately, although Jim said adding that ability is a high priority and they're working on it. They have an 8 at the R&D facility which is just down the street from the sales/showroom facility. I don't know if they'd start it up for you to hear it but you could certainly ask.

JoeRX8ter

Any noticable increase in performance?

rx8cited

Racing Beat measured a 3.5 hp gain.

rx8cited

Hard 8

No; I just have more adrenaline hitting the gas. I didn't expect to notice any more power. I bought it for looks (body and tips), construction quality and sound. The car was just too quiet for me, stock, and the factory tips were a little too small for me.

I don't have any good way to make a sound clip, but do a search; they're out there.

Gyro

Mazdatrix.com has a pretty good sound clip/video of the RB exhaust.


My RB cat back is being shipped on tuesday. Once its installed I will make a video that will compare the stock sound and the RB exhaust sound.

Ole Spiff

I haven't noticed any performance difference at the bottom end, but at rpm's above 7k it feels a tad bit stronger on it's way to redline. But that could just be because it sounds better; sounds great in fact. :D

It definitely looks better. The sound level inside the car with the windows rolled up is quieter than I expected; which is not so bad since half my driving is freeway and it would get tiresome quickly if it was too loud. When you first start the car, it purrs like a big jungle cat....very nice, deep, throaty sound. With the window down and accelerating, it sounds great; especially at the higher revs.

I'm quite happy with mine.

slalom29

Does anybody have the racing beat system with a midpipe, I'm curious to how it would sound.
I'm running the BB midpipe with my stock exhaust, I had it on with the catback, but it was to loud. I'm looking for another catback that I could run with the midpipe that wouldn't be to loud.

Hard 8

Thanks, dude. The merger is weird, though: It looks like you merged it with my intake thread, not my earlier exhaust thread; and the merger happens only sometimes; other times they come up separately. Bizarre. But not a big deal.

I love the way this thing looks. It is so sweet. The sound still seems a little too quiet to me, but it continues to grow on me.