is it worth installing these? is there a noticeable hp gains? what are the downfall about installing these? i own a sedan and would like to keep it smooth.. will it effect it? just wouldnt want a rattling sound. thanks

 

It all depends on what you want out of the car. The test pipes show noticeable gains but there are a couple downfalls. They are very loud, some raspy (getting resonated test pipes helps with the rasp) and they smell. You say you want to keep your car smooth so i dont think you want test pipes, sounds like you'd be better off with high flow cats. You'll get some noticeable power gains and a nice deeper tone to the exhaust note.
-GP-

 

^Gdup do resonated test pipes smell also?

 

I'm pretty sure they do, not as strong a smell though. I've never used test pipes but one of my coworkers with a Z had them and said the smell was pretty potent all the time. He had regular test pipes so i dont know 100% that the resonated smells
-GP-

 

Damn i confused u with vodkarocket. I know he had them thats why i asked.

 

The downfall to testpipes is getting your car inpounded and seriously fined. Sport compact mag ran a test pipe vs hi-flo comparison and in their findings, they found a marginal increase in hp by using test pipes. I don't think it's worth the extra noise, the extra harm to the environment or the potential to lose your ride.

 

I would never do test pipes on the G. They sound like hell. You will have to get the mod to keep your CEL off. If you want a mod like this just get the high flow cats.

 

your cars not gonna get impounded and your not gonna get a fine unless your stupid about it.

but your car will sound like ****. i had test pipes on my car for about 6 months, got sick of them, swapped them out for kinetix high flow cats. only sounds good under WOT, under normal acceleration the rattling sounds awful.

they are not worth it.

 

You should contact Trey Hutchinson since he's had both HFCs and test pipes. He saw fairly miminal gains by going with the HFCs and then going to TPs. Maybe with some ECU tuning he'll actually see some useable power gains with the TPs.

 

i heard from a member once they installed test pipes, their check engine light came on..

anyways..test pipes ain't a worthy upgrade..

 

That's a completely baseless statement. I love how people critique mods they've never tried. I've had every single bolt-on on my car, and the test pipes made the most significant difference. They're also one of the cheapest mods you can do to your car. I'd rank power mods as:

1. Test pipes
2. Headers
3. MREV2 + 5/16" spacer

I switched out from Crawford High-flow cats to test pipes, and the gains were extremely noticable. So much so that my 275/30/20's would break loose when I got on the throttle from a stop. With my tuning, the test pipes not only helped me gain power back down low, but really improved the performance up high. It had a similar effect to putting a lighter flywheel on a 6MT transmission.

The check engine light came on the first time I put them on- after resetting the ECU I never saw it again. On non-resonated test pipes, you do have to deal with a little bit of rasp, but for me the sound was a non-issue. As for other negative aspects, the test pipes do emit the smell of burning gas. You won't notice this while the car is moving, but if you have your windows down when you're stuck in traffic you'll start to smell it.

 

Trey's dyno results conflict with your findings. The only place he gained power with TPs over his Crawford HFCs was above 6000rpms and the gains were in the 5whp range. Oddly, the TPs brought his AFs into an acceptable range.

I can post up his dyno comparison for those interested.

 

Two things worth mentioning- Trey has a revup engine, and no ECU tuning.

 

What ecu tuning would be needed if the a/f were okay? The revup/non-revup issue is interesting though

 

Before switching out from HFC's to TP's, my car had a "dead spot" up until 3,500RPMs. From a stand still, my car was an absolute pig. Immediately after switching out to TP's this flat spot was gone, as I mentioned, my car would now break loose from a stand still; a first for me with my sticky 275 T1R's.

As for the issue of AFR, there's a difference between it being in the safe recommended range, and optimal range. My car was tuned to run at optimal conditions, with modified inputs at 100 RPM increments.