Import Development Racing Exhaust Review (LONG)
01-12-2002, 12:47 AM
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Import Development Racing Exhaust Review (LONG)
I finally got and installed what I think is the first of the Import Development Racing exhaust (aka Minuni racing exhaust), other than the original prototype.
I got it this morning, and started to install it immediately. My first impression was awe. The exhaust gave me the same sense I got when I first looked at the Injen intake. Quality. It looks great. The welding is some of the best I've seen, and the pipe is very nicely bent. The cat bolts were, as usual, a pain in the @$$, but got those off. Then came the hangers. This is my first experience with them, so it wasn't fun. I finally woke my best friend up (at 2:00 pm) and once he got over there it went smooth as can be. Tried removing the stock exhaust with out taking off the back cross brace. Can't be done...Got that off and the stock exhaust out of there. Got the new one on in about 15-20 minutes, including the cross brace. The fit is almost perfect, but it touches the rear diffuser SLIGHTLY, so that needs to be trimmed. Its unnoticable though. And the connection between the cat and the exhaust is not completely flush, but thats probably attributed to the fact that the cat is not held by anything but the headers, so it does quite a bit of bending. Other than that, its perfect. The hangers are much easier than the ones on the stock exhaust, and it bends over the cross member perfectly.
So I get that all taken care of, and got ready to start it, making sure that everything was put up and I was somewhat clean, knowing that once I started it, I would have to go drive it around. So I start it up. Man, what a badass growl it makes. Its hard not to just start it up repeatedly. At idle its nice and low and deep. Now as far as driving it, its very, very different. Not what I expected. I knew it would be loud, but I didn't expect it to be near this deep of a sound. All the way to vtec it is deep and bassy. At points you can actually feel it in your stomach. My sister's had just gotten home right before I started it up, and almost immediatly one came out and asked the interesting question "Did you get a new motor or something?" Yeah, its that different. We all knew it would be loud, but being a small muffler, would it sound good? Yes! It sounds amazing. My friend that was helping, who is a big truck guy, loved it. He said it sounded amazing.
Now the interesting part. It quiets down after vtec. It sounds quite a bit like a street bike, but deeper, once you hit vtec. And from there on, it sounds relatively race car-ish. That being from inside the car. My friend thought it sounded like a NASCAR. But this is NOT an exhaust you want if you don't like the droning. Its so loud and deep it resonates greatly. But of course, if you're buying a "Racing" exhaust, thats to be expected. Personally, I love it. I always have to have something to get peoples attention, and this will do it.
Performance-wise, the jump to vtec is definately much smoother. It pulls a bit harder as well. I didn't notice the difference as much as I did with the intake, but it is noticable. Dropping it to second tonight at 50 mph trying to catch an eclipse that flew past me almost made me lose the backend completely. Never felt that much power before.
All in all, I love it. I think it would look a little better with a larger tip, but it still looks good, and sounds awesome. Again, if you can't handle the noise, don't get it, cause well, for a lack of a better word, its f***ing loud. I'll take some pictures of it tomorrow and try to post those. I was going to dyno before and after, but don't have the money...
Sorry for the long post, I just figured I'd try to give all the impressions I got so as to be as helpful as possible to anyone looking to get a new exhaust. Here in the next week or so I'll get see if I can get some of the other guys to listen to it and post their opinions!
Blake
I got it this morning, and started to install it immediately. My first impression was awe. The exhaust gave me the same sense I got when I first looked at the Injen intake. Quality. It looks great. The welding is some of the best I've seen, and the pipe is very nicely bent. The cat bolts were, as usual, a pain in the @$$, but got those off. Then came the hangers. This is my first experience with them, so it wasn't fun. I finally woke my best friend up (at 2:00 pm) and once he got over there it went smooth as can be. Tried removing the stock exhaust with out taking off the back cross brace. Can't be done...Got that off and the stock exhaust out of there. Got the new one on in about 15-20 minutes, including the cross brace. The fit is almost perfect, but it touches the rear diffuser SLIGHTLY, so that needs to be trimmed. Its unnoticable though. And the connection between the cat and the exhaust is not completely flush, but thats probably attributed to the fact that the cat is not held by anything but the headers, so it does quite a bit of bending. Other than that, its perfect. The hangers are much easier than the ones on the stock exhaust, and it bends over the cross member perfectly.
So I get that all taken care of, and got ready to start it, making sure that everything was put up and I was somewhat clean, knowing that once I started it, I would have to go drive it around. So I start it up. Man, what a badass growl it makes. Its hard not to just start it up repeatedly. At idle its nice and low and deep. Now as far as driving it, its very, very different. Not what I expected. I knew it would be loud, but I didn't expect it to be near this deep of a sound. All the way to vtec it is deep and bassy. At points you can actually feel it in your stomach. My sister's had just gotten home right before I started it up, and almost immediatly one came out and asked the interesting question "Did you get a new motor or something?" Yeah, its that different. We all knew it would be loud, but being a small muffler, would it sound good? Yes! It sounds amazing. My friend that was helping, who is a big truck guy, loved it. He said it sounded amazing.
Now the interesting part. It quiets down after vtec. It sounds quite a bit like a street bike, but deeper, once you hit vtec. And from there on, it sounds relatively race car-ish. That being from inside the car. My friend thought it sounded like a NASCAR. But this is NOT an exhaust you want if you don't like the droning. Its so loud and deep it resonates greatly. But of course, if you're buying a "Racing" exhaust, thats to be expected. Personally, I love it. I always have to have something to get peoples attention, and this will do it.
Performance-wise, the jump to vtec is definately much smoother. It pulls a bit harder as well. I didn't notice the difference as much as I did with the intake, but it is noticable. Dropping it to second tonight at 50 mph trying to catch an eclipse that flew past me almost made me lose the backend completely. Never felt that much power before.
All in all, I love it. I think it would look a little better with a larger tip, but it still looks good, and sounds awesome. Again, if you can't handle the noise, don't get it, cause well, for a lack of a better word, its f***ing loud. I'll take some pictures of it tomorrow and try to post those. I was going to dyno before and after, but don't have the money...
Sorry for the long post, I just figured I'd try to give all the impressions I got so as to be as helpful as possible to anyone looking to get a new exhaust. Here in the next week or so I'll get see if I can get some of the other guys to listen to it and post their opinions!
Blake
01-12-2002, 02:15 PM
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Yeah, he really did. I took my car up to where I was working over the holidays and everyone loved it. I was revving it outside the building for a friend and several of the other guys came out to see what
01-12-2002, 06:36 PM
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The exhaust sounds like a winner.
However, re the dropping to 2nd and almost losing the back end - I hope you mean on subsequent acceleration in 2nd, and not b/c you didn't match the revs/road speed and locked your wheels
However, re the dropping to 2nd and almost losing the back end - I hope you mean on subsequent acceleration in 2nd, and not b/c you didn't match the revs/road speed and locked your wheels
01-12-2002, 07:06 PM
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I'm not absolutely sure what happened, but I've never had any problems with rev matching, and so I doubt that was it. I think it was just cause I didn't expect to lose that much traction and it caught me by surprise.
Blake
Blake
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01-13-2002, 12:31 PM
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You can order it now. I don't know how many people have, but I think there are several who have already. Just PM Mingster and I'm sure he'll get you set up.
Blake
Blake
