Well, the inlaws are gone and I finally got under the car and got it swapped out.

I don't have pictures today but I should get them up hopefully tomorrow, plus the before and after sound clips from the rear of the car.

The sound is incredible. It does have the mid-pipe resonator so it is not loud, but it is low and burbly without any buzzing or farting. Definitely don't need the silencer, but I've put it in the car so if I ever was stopped I could put it in.

The hangers are off a bit for a 1999 Tiburon and the exhaust is rubbing/melting the oval cutout in the bumper a bit. I'll have to try and get something to pull it over away from the side of the bumper. The exhaust itself looks great.

Now for the fun stuff.

Went for a drive afterwards. It definitely has more pull and revs quicker to redline. Ended up behind an Integra at a light turning left. We both took off, I cut to the inside lane and blew past him at around 65mph. It's definitely faster than before!

Gtech data:

The gtech is different than a Dyno in that it measure net horsepower rather than wheel horsepower. This means that air resitance (~10hp at 60mph) and rolling resistance/etc (~15hp @ 60mph) are shown in the result (~25hp loss). It's not meaningful to compare gtech numbers to a dyno. It is important to compare them to other gtech numbers.

I weighed the car at a local rock shop. 2740 lbs with me in it, so I put that in the GTech. Gtech dyno runs are different than a 1/4 mile run. You take off gently in 1st, get to 3k rpm, shift to 2nd and then floor it. Shift to 3rd for a brief moment, then brake. Did 3 runs on a quiet road before I put the exhaust in. I then did 3 more runs after putting the exhaust in. Here are the results:

Before:
93.7 HP @ 5757 RPM
99.3 ft-lbs @ 2470 RPM

After:
100.3 HP @ 5658 RPM
104.6 ft-lbs @ 4219 RPM

So a net gain of ~ 6.5hp and 5 ft-lbs of torque.

http://home.earthlink.net/~kr.willia...gtech_dyno.JPG

I still need to reset the ECU as it may adjust to the new flow and give me better numbers. I'll post an update when I've done it.

If you want to look at the data in the Gtech software, you can download the PASS software and load in these 2 files:
PASS Software

Before Catback run

After Catback run

Pictures and sound files should be coming soon. Hopefully I can pull them off the camera/camcorder tonight and get them uploaded tomorrow.

Overall I'm very happy with it and would definitely order it again.

man thats awsome we need some pics and sound clips for shure...Right now I am set on the apexi if I can get my hands on one..chris

Interesting info on how to use the Gtech. I was wondering what the best way to do it was.

Bwahaha... Ham could say he told you so, but I'll resist the urge... ARK I knew made great exhaust products, and I'm glad finally someone tried them out on an RD instead of listening to the hype of other people on these forums.

I like how it moved the peak torque way up in the powerband compared to where it was before. Thats a good 7.5% gain on HP, which is pretty nice considering you haven't even finished the full exhaust yet.

Glad it all worked out but that's far from GREAT Hamhead.

1. Hangers aren't right.

They are on all the other exhausts.

2. Melting the bumper.

Poor fitting on first prototype, melting bumper NOT GOOD.

That and the fact that ARK has supposedly been making parts for us for 15 years now but didn't know the difference between a RD1 and RD2 still would keep me from ever buying anything of theirs.


Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy when there are new parts, and I'm glad you got some gains and are happy with it man.

1. Hangers we have contacted the factory. It is going to be redone. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

2. Melting the bumper. This is also going to be looked at. I see that the muffler is too close to the bumper, so perhaps, we'll have it bent so that it is a little lower.

Glad you love the exhaust. We would love to talk to you if you call us smile.gif

I emailed ARK about the fit issues and they immediately called me back and we are working to resolve the fitment issues and fix their design. Thanks ARK!

I'll defintely keep you guys posted.

Sounds files should be up in 2 hrs or so.

Exhaust sounds:

Original Exhaust

ARK Catback

sounds pretty good, not too ricey at all. B)

that sounds really nice.