I have been researching which exhaust to get for the longest time and love the looks of the invidia and the sound is good too but a bit to droany and loud for me. So I have come to settle on the HKS Hi Power as my choice to purchase. However before I drop the 1000 dollars on the exhaust, which is really going to hurt cause I am having a hard time telling myself it's worth it, I noticed people mentioning taking the resonators out of the stock exhaust. I wanted to try this first and see how I like it and see if it will satisfy me for the sound I am looking for. I wanted to know if this is fairly easy and how to do it? If there is a thread about this please redirect me due to the search being broken.

 

Most take the car to a muffler shop, where they cut the resonator out and weld in a new straight pipe.

 

You'll see in the threads that it does not cost much either, typically about $30 for a plain steel pipe. If you want a stainless steel pipe (to match the existing pipe) welded in you may pay more or ask more places to find that.

 

Search about the HKS which looks and sounds good but......In my area people have done before and after dyno's with the HKS and typically lost 5-10 horsepower from stock.

I dyno'd my 2002 "S" with resonator removed(no before dyno) and got 207hp and 143tq which was more than other s2000's that dyno'd at the same session with cold air intake /exhaust ect. The removed resonator gave a low deep tone ( similar to a 350Z) that dissappeared at higher rpm's. It's cheap and definately worth a try.

HKS: $1000 and loses horsepower

no resonator: $30 and may gain a pony or two


which do I choose first?

 

Probably gonna look into getting the resonators taken out in that case. Does anyone else have their opinion on the hks exhaust that sort of confirms the horsepowerloss. That really dissapoints me. My friend who owns his shop swears up and down by it and it makes me kind of aggravated that he would be talking fluff.

 

I sold an HKS exhaust a long time ago because of the drone, but maybe the newer ones are better. Almost all aftermarket exhausts will have some irritating frequencies.. I have one of the quietest, a Mugen, and still consider going back to stock some days. I don't think you will see a great deal of power change up or down with an exhaust change.. less than 5HP either way.

 

I'm assuming that this is the resonator.

I am taking my car over to the muffler shop tomorrow and seeing what they will charge me to take it out and weld a stainless pipe in.

 

Yup that's it, might wanna take a look at www.teamspugen.com also they have very good systems at great prices. That's where I got my dual Ti, and I love the sound.

 

Another option for you is to spend $300 to replace your mufflers with magnaflows which will give you the comptech/spugen sound and little drone as long as you keep your resonator on. You can always take the resonator off later to double the loudness.

 

does removing the resonator have any ill effects on the car or performance?