HKS Hi Power Exhaust and Rear Assisted Steering (RAS) – YES YOU CAN! (Pics)

[sayitfast]

Long post, but for those with RAS wanting HKS I hope it provides some useful info.

For a couple weeks I researched which exhaust system I wanted to use for my 06 Coupe which has rear assisted steering (RAS). I decided on the HKS Hi Power Cat Back system.

Problem: The HKS system does not fit out of the box onto coupes with RAS. I Googled for days and found nothing but conflicting information but mostly NO it cannot be done. I searched by hand through page after page on G35 forums to find info (sorry, the search like most forums leaves a lot to be desired.) but did not find anything conclusive.

The shop that did the installation called HKS and was told it can be done with some modifications, but HKS could not provide any specifics. The shop did not carry the HKS in stock but had Borla or couple others. So I had to make a choice order the HKS and pray it works or go with another system. I’m a gambler so I got the HKS.

For anyone else who has this issue I can definitively say YES you can install the HKS with RAS. It required a very slight modification.

Now, actually there are two different mods you can do to install the system. I probably chose the more drastic but I had reasons I won’t go into here…. Yes, out of the box the pipe does hit the RAS system but not by much. The big cans do not hit or come close to hitting the RAS.

Mod 1: You can simply lower the brackets with some washers so that the pipe does not hit the RAS system. Now you would have to do both sides to make it even and it would hang a bit lower than a regular install but, really it would still look very nice. This is not a drastic lowering; maybe 1/2 inch.

Mod 2 a bit more aggressive: It’s only the corner of the RAS that touches the pipe. So we simply cut the corner of the RAS. This in no way has this affected the unit... we simply removed what is really excess metal. It's still sealed and work fine. I would not choose this option if you are worried about warranty issues.

Props to the guys at Concept Z and PitStop Performance in Phoenix who made all this happen, along with my other work… all of which totally rocks.

[Coz@Czp]

Such a easy fix, not sure why HKS couldn't just illustrate this in their instructions. Oh well, thanx again Rhett, enjoy your power until you go TURBO

Coz

[Cubanl81]

Congrats man. You just reassured a bunch of G owners with RAS .

[OMG35S]

Good Info.. Thx

[EndlessWaltz112]

Can you post up more pictures??
I'm having this issue right now. Which brackets did you lower?
My issue is that its sitting on the sway bar itself and its hitting the RAS.

Help a fellow G member out!

[sayitfast]

I put all the pictures here:
Pictures

There is one that shows a decent pic of the bracket coming off the pipe... you can see the rubber washers we used to lower it a bit...

My problem was never actually the Sway bar but the RAS itself.

I did not do the actual install it was done by PitStop Performance in Phoenix.

Hope this helps!!!

[pch2005]

How much did Vitaly charge for the install? Pitstop is awesome when it comes to their work.

[sayitfast]

I had a bunch of stuff done at once so its hard to say.... but definitely great work.

[ravi4221988]

i cant thank you enough for this valuable info, seriously i thought i wasnt gonna be able to get my hks

[sayitfast]

Originally Posted by ravi4221988

i cant thank you enough for this valuable info, seriously i thought i wasnt gonna be able to get my hks

You won't regret it... I love my HKS!!!!

Here is a clip of what my sounded like before and after the install...


Here is a clip of what my sounded like before and after the install...

...

[jayqwon]

my exhaust touches the universal shaft and the gas tank..
how do i fix this?