andrewhake

I've been researching the 3 pads today. The CR or ME20 are very similarly priced however the CR are much easier to get in aus. The ME20 had to be imported in through streeter and they are actually quite cheap (about 33000yen) but due to poor exchange rate at the moment they jump up quite a bit in cost.
The W5 however were $100+ dollars cheaper than both and the shop is 5mins from my house so they won this time.
I'm keen to try the W5 but also can't wait for the yen to come up so I can get a set of endless to try as well.

Once again your thread has provided me with plenty of info to make an informed decision on a part so thank you for that!
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W5 is a great pad for a great price.

andrewhake

Some rare photos taken by a friend of my car at a car meet with other cars, meeting.

//steve\\

Need to see more pics of the Bronze CEs on the car.

andrewhake

Got this week off. Car things will be happening.

manystyles

Congrats! You earned it!

HawkS2K

Do you still have the Amuse exhaust? Were you happy with it? Any resonator problems?

Beautiful build.

Thanks

andrewhake

Yeah I love it but did run into an issue with the resonator developing a small crack internally on one of the ends of the perforated tubing. Created a small rattle at low RPM under certain circumstances so it is being repaired. I mentioned this earlier in the thread but it is likely caused by the exhaust initially making contact with the lower 06+ exhaust tunnel before I "adjusted" the exhaust tunnel. The exhaust wasn't designed with the USDM 06 cars in mind. Should be no problem to repair though from what I have seen so far though. Person I have working on it is very busy at the moment and I am in no rush but should have it back soon enough.

andrewhake

In other exhaust related news I swapped the OEM catalytic convertor back on so I can take the car in for a smog check.



The Toda test pipe still looking rather beautiful. Between the 70mm Toda pipe and the 60mm I noticed the little pop/snap the exhaust does when I lift off throttle at high RPMs got a little more aggressive. It does this awesome sort of low end thlunk sound it never did before.

With the OEM cat back on the exhaust is SIGNIFICANTLY quieter. Doesn't really produce any more drone or anything to my ears either. Also all of the raspiness that you sometimes get near the VTEC changeover on the over run is gone too. I am looking into some hi-flow cat options and will probably end up running one for day to day street use and swap the test pipe on for track use. I tend to give the car a quick once over before going to the track each time and swapping on the test pipe is really simple. Especially with the secondary o2 sensor disabled and removed.

I will also be flashing back to the Stock tune for smog since it requires the secondary o2 sensor to be enabled (which was reinstalled with the OEM cat). Will be doing that and swapping on the OEM airbox tonight for a smog check later this week and then it is party time.

Mccormick009

For what it's worth I am using 63.5mm BERK HFC on my 2007. Stock headers and stock OEM mufflers. The BERK is actually quieter then OEM cat. Specifically in the partial throttle drones areas.

andrewhake

Flashed the ECU back to stock and starting to go through procedures to get the emissions readiness checks complete. I am guessing I could have gotten the readiness codes to complete with a version of the tune with the secondary o2 sensor enabled but I am trying to get everything sorted out this week so didn't want to risk it.

I also wanted to compare the stock tune to the current one and wow what a difference. Just having VTEC at 5500 compared to 5800 makes such a big difference. And having 200 rpm extra before the fuel cut makes it so much easier to time an upshift perfectly. Looking forward to an updated tune with everything else installed.