Are you happy with your aftermarket parts?
 

As the Racing Beat debate rages on, I figured that we should clear something up. Anyone who has purcahsed an intake... RE or K&N, an exhaust system from one of the myriad out there, ECU mod, ground wires... anything. Are you dissatisfied with your mod? Is the quality bad? Are mufflers rusting? Many have said their "butt dyno" says there is a performance improvement... but what if said improvement really only proves to be 5hp instead of 12hp... would you still be happy with the parts?

For cat-back owners... how is the sound? Is it harsh? Is it loud... like you'd believe it to be more than 95db? Does it sound "tinny?"

RE Intake: Very happy. Great quality, great look, great sound, butt dyno says it works. "Real" dyno results to come.

Borla cat-back Exhaust: Again, very happy. Great quality, great look, AWESOME deep, powerful sound, not too loud or at all "ricey." Butt dyno says it works, but unfortunately I put it on before a baseline run for comparison. But wouldn't return it even if it only gained me 3 HP.

Grounding kit: Again, very happy. Great quality kit, very nice looking setup. Excellent instructions. No detectible performance gains, but for $50 buck, what the hell.

CanZoomer Stage I: Will receive it 1/27 or before, and plan dyno tests shortly thereafter.

Really no noticable difference with the grounding kit? I've seen that a few times on the board here. I had a great experience with "Hot Wires" on my bike. The low end torque really improved and got even better when I matched it with Torquemaster spark plugs. Here in Japan a lot people put them on the bikes and for cars, a lot of aftermarket suppliers offer grounding kits. Reviews of the AutoExe one on my model car were similar to my comments about my bike. The low end torque became more "firm."

Go figure...

Well, the throttle response might be a bit snappier... but I hesitated to post that because if I did, sure as fate, someone will say "Post dyno results!" In fact, I can see it coming now... :)

Post Dyno Results!!! ........J/K

LOL, toldja so! :D

(Pssst, thanks Tommy!)

Ya know, I'm really surprised by the ratio of people who are UNhappy with their aftermarket parts. How about some of you folks who have voted "UNHAPPY" chime in here and tell us why?

I'm very happy with my Borla exhaust and would not give it back even if it did not provide a performance gain. The stock exhaust note, in my opinion, is very anemic sounding and it does not match the car. The Borla adds a nice growl without drastically increasing the volume.

I'll also have a K&N intake and CanZoomer Stage I fuel controller installed shortly. So I will comment on those later.

A grounding kit is only going to help if your stock grounds are inadequate. I don't know why a car manufacturer would skimp on something as straightforward as electrical grounds, but clearly many of them do. It is nice to see that in the case of the RX-8, the stock grounds may be pretty good.

I think sometimes as cars age, their grounds get a bit worse as well...so maybe with this kit, that deterioration will be reduced.

jds

JIC exhaust -- I happy with the sound and extra push in high rpm's


K&N intake-- love the sound and added kick in low rmp's