Here's a quick "first thoughts" review on the Berk hi flow cat after 20 miles. Just installed this tonight on my 05 ap2 with an hks exhaust.



- Sounds really sweet with the HKS exhaust. Only slightly different and louder, but noticeable. Meaner is the best way to describe it. Screams more in vtec and downshifts are a lot more fun. Exhaust is still pretty much silent on the freeway. The sound combo with the hks exhaust is the best part.

- Overall nice construction. Much lighter than the oem cat, nice welds, shiny, and perfect fitment. Comes with all necessary parts for install, including instructions, cat-to-exhaust gasket, and a Berk sticker

- Install's very easy. Hardest part is getting the bolts on the oem cat loose. 2 applications of PB Blaster + time help tremendously.

- Can't really comment on the smell yet because I'm waiting for all the PB Blaster overspray to burn off my car. I haven't noticed a test pipe smell, though. I had a Berk test pipe before on my oem exhaust and could *definitely* smell exhaust/gas/crap. Thought I was going to get cancer.

- Butt dyno feels about the same until vtec and a little more oomph in vtec. Car feels like it revs a bit faster now, too. Both could be entirely a placebo effect, but I don't care.

- Doesn't seem to have an effect on the 3k drone that I was trying to get rid of. I'll wait for the cat to break in and re-evaluate. When I had the test pipe on the oem exhaust, I noticed that the exhaust note changed after a few hundred miles.

- Berk people are SUPER helpful. Their products perform and prices are fair. Definitely recommend them as a company.

I tried to shoot a before and after video (yes, I know it's pitch dark in my garage and you can't see anything). Problem with the videos is that I didn't rev hard enough or long enough to really tell the sound difference. I'll shoot a better "after" video this weekend.

Before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzlsSpxJPKQ
After: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEKqECo44i0

Overall, I like

UPDATE:
Drove another 30 miles of local today. My exhaust sounds AWESOME when you hit the gas. Imagine the usual 350z/G35 exhaust note, but louder and much meaner. It's really incredible. When not pushing the car, everything's relatively quiet. The drone around 3k when decelerating also seems to be tamer. Still not test pipe smell or CEL. Liking this alot

 

nice review. looks like a great quality hi flow cat.

 

Visually, this is a nice completion to an all SS headerback assuming an SS exhaust.
The next upgrade is the decision to go black or the SS header from Berk.
I really don't think there is a bad choice here.
This is something I'll probably be doing in the coming year.

 

You can hear a slight difference in the tone of the exhaust. A little deeper. I'll be picking up their test pipe at the end of next month most likely.

 

UPDATE:
Drove another 30 miles of local today. My exhaust sounds AWESOME when you hit the gas. Imagine the usual 350z/G35 exhaust note, but louder and much meaner. It's really incredible. When not pushing the car, everything's relatively quiet. The drone around 3k when decelerating also seems to be tamer. Still not test pipe smell or CEL. Liking this alot

 

nice. i just recently took off my tp on my car. oem cat sounds like crap with the hks exhaust. have you heard your car with a tp? if you did can you tell a difference with the HFC

 

i only had a test pipe with my oem exhaust, not the hks.

 

I was thinking about gettin this HFC also.... wonder if it'll be the same tone with the Mugen AP2 exhuast. But it does sound deeper and meaner though!

 

Dont know about the high flow cat but I got no CEL from my berk test pipe, nice exhaust tone, and 7whp gain back to back dyno.

 

does anyone know this works well with boosted car? do they make these in 3" pipings?