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GLWTS.Ark dual grip looks even better.

Thanks, that's open for debate though I think 😊 carbon mufflers are unique and the FI tips look better than regular slash tips. I do like Ark too though with the brand kinda engraved in the boxes. What I love best is rolled burnt tip like motordyne shockwave ☹ï¸

Once again sorry for the muddy pic, I just needed to show my username and where it says "Fast Intentions". I'm surprised how good it looks and it appears like it would clean and polish up really well. I kinda don't want to sell it as it looks so good! but I do need something a bit quieter.

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Good evening, quite a long shot but I would like to swap my Fast Intentions exhaust with an Ark Grip, if I can't swap then I'll simply sell it and buy a brand new Ark Grip. The reason for this being that I now run ART Decats which made my system louder and the Fast Intentions is probably 15-20% louder than the Ark Grip - so I wish to make it a little bit quieter. That's a pure guestimation due to the Ark Grip having two silencers & two Helmholtz resonance chambers, in reality they might be quite similar in volume, but if you compare a pic the Ark Grip looks like it should be a bit quieter. The Fast Intentions cat back is not extremely loud by any means, much quieter than motordyne shockwave for example, which is what I really would have preferred if it was quieter. My FI cat back was also a little quieter when I had the HFCs installed.

It's the 12" resonated version with carbon mufflers, which was an expensive option and must be very rare in the U.K. by now, I believe it's quite popular in the states. The FI cat back is designed to be very light and its over 20lbs lighter than the Stillen cat back system, I'm not sure how it compares to the Ark Grip.

The Ark Grip was £1,328 in January, as I almost bought one, now its increased to something over £1,400 odd. So to buy this Fast Intentions CBE would definitely cost several hundred more than that, I'm not sure as nobody seems sell it anymore but id guess it would cost over £1800 to buy today, from a U.K. importer. I'm not saying it's a better exhaust because that's totally subjective but it is definitely much lighter, more exclusive and more expensive than the Ark. performance wise I have no idea, I think they're both 2.5" ID so I'd expect they're very similar and I cant say one is better than the other.

So if anyone is interested and wants something a bit different, I'm willing to trade my FI cat back directly for an Ark Grip as long as it's burnt tip and reasonably low miles in good condition with no visible scrapes etc. As far as I can tell mine is in great condition and functions perfectly. With the FI HFC it made 304whp at Abbey (around 345-350bhp) and I have a dyno print. Even with my ART decat pipes, it's not the quietest setup but there's no drone at 80mph.

So if there's any interest lemme know or I'll end up selling this in the future anyway. The first 6 pics are of my car (excuse the dirt/mud!) the very last one is for demonstration purposes. You can google image search for more pics. I will post videos once this is approved too

Videos with the FI cat back and ART pipes

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I had this question once. And I think the truth is, or rather as I was told they're mainly cosmetic. And that applies to all vented bonnets. The reason is because at speed, even 20mph - 30 mph the higher pressure air running above the bonnet then over the windshield and roof is too high and although hot air rises, it's being essentially pushed down by the fast flowing high pressure air above the vents and not being allowed to escape. However at very low speed or better, when stationary the air will come straight out the vents so in that scenario yes, it will allow hot air to escape but only until you get moving again and it won't be enough to lower IATs. So in a way, it may prevent the heat building up much - but not if the car is continuously on the move. It wouldbe great for drag racing and just generally reducing heatsoak.

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Ive had a civic type r & dc5 put the aem v2 on both which i thought sounded the nicest kit.

 

But the k&n short rams on the 370z sound even better than the aem v2.

That's good to hear, only short rams and open cones will suffer heatsoak. But if they have the potential to be loud in the engine bay then they'll hopefully still be audible in the CAI location, only less so. These CAIs seem to make a bit more top end but not drastically more than the stock setup with better filters. It's a shame because it's harder to justify spending £400-£500 when it's a bit controversial as to how much they will make. Even a guaranteed 10bhp would be enough for me. It seems so obvious to me that metal alloy is going to get very hot and warm up the air that's being collected by the CAI, it's no wonder that people are claiming the stock system is potentially the better option. Whilst the kits may still be effective when the vehicle is at speed, id be much happier if the entire thing was made of silicone. It would solve the problem IMO and that's why I like Z1 as it's at least 1/3rd silicone. The entire section in the engine bay needs to be silicone and I think then the IATs would remain lower. I just wish I had the ability to customise my own kit, but sadly I don't.

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Invidia looks great value for money, all the different aftermarket brands and types of straight through systems are only going to be different in terms of loudness/volume (as in decibels). Things like the stainless steel grade and thickness, and material within the mufflers will have a small influence on the sound itself but otherwise, I don't think even the design/shape and routing of the exhaust makes any differences UEL headers or similar alterations in the exhaust gas pulses will also create like a burble like on Subarus due to the engine but mainly the unequal length headers. My EP3 K20 header was very slightly UEL and that sounded good on idle because of it.

So aside from systems with Helmholtz resonators and chambers and stock mufflers like the nismo which may have similar resonance chambers within them, ordinary aftermarket cat backs are designed to replace the existing factory system with something louder - 99.9% of the time a stock exhaust system is too quiet out of the factory for us enthusiasts so by making them louder they improve the sound indirectly. Part of that is 'opening up' the exhaust sound and broader deeper frequencies that could not be heard due to excess silencing i.e too many mufflers as manufacturers want refinement, not a noisy exhaust that will lose sales. But again, unlike some factory mufflers, Helmholtz and other resonance chambers that actually manipulate sound waves and frequencies to achieve and target a particular sound or note - all the other aftermarket cat backs are just the same thing, they look different and are just producing the same sound on a scale where lots of big mufflers equals a quiet sound and fewer smaller mufflers equals louder and broader sound. Then you've got everything in between that and different combinations with cat backs at decats etc. Not to say that performance is the same though... Improved gas flow and less back pressure equals more power. normally by increasing diameter and keeping the pipes as straight and free flowing as possible!

But yeah when you understand all this you realise that it's a lot more basic and less complicated than people think. When someone saying "this exhaust sounds really good", or "that exhausts sounds perfect" it's mostly just a case of the volume being increased to what is subjectively desirable to the individual. Likewise, the R&D on straight through systems as far as sound is concerned (not performance) is mostly testing what's the most popular volume of the cat back, most of the time with the consumer retaining factory cat converter. But a decat combo sometimes being a factor or consideration and requires much more silencing to be deemed tolerable if the Catback runs with a decat

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You may be right, simply because the filters are too far away to hear through the cars sound deadening and the windows being up, not to mention on the exhaust might drown out the noise. Open cone big filters in the engine bay can be loud but obviously suffer major heatsoak. But I know from experience (vtec yo) that having a good induction note makes the car sound real good inside the cabin and enhances the driving experience. On some of the Honda Type Rs, the CAI kits can be as loud or louder and sound better than the exhaust itself. They don't have V6s though of course so their exhausts sound crap, but for me having a lovely induction note is equally as desirable and fun when driving. the Gruppe M/Tegiwa M on the Type R sounded fantastic and really enhanced the vtec better than any K20 exhaust. But if I could replicate the sound in that video I posted above, it would justify the price a bit more 😊

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Before buying my first ZED in 2005 I tried one but for eveyday road use it didn't measure up for me, the lack of low down torque and nowhere to store the hard top being the big downers. That said, it sure was fun when you got it wound up and sounded glorious in the process. So yes, I would expect it to be great fun on track.

 

One thing that was said from the research I did (at the time), was that it was 12-13 hour job to do a clutch change - how true that is nowadays though?

 

My one and only clutch change (OEM) on the S cost me 1200 euro, 400 euro of that was parts, so about 600 quid in labour and was performed by an official dealer. That was about 7 years ago, and at teh time it felt ridiculously expensive, but I don't know how long it took them or actually what's really involved in changing the S clutch.

 

I remember it being a much more expensive car to own than the Z (so far) in terms of cost of spares and labour, but much cheaper by miles in tax.

That's called Honda labour rates, S2000 Ishtar an expensive car if it's anything like my EP3/FN2.

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Sorry mate, I didn't mean it to come across that I was disagreeing with you, I just wanted to elaborate on a few of your points, it's all good, I don't have any issue with the points you made, it's just that I know the S and the Civic well. I almost bought a Frankie FN2 before I bought the Z, it had a tuned NA 2.4 from an RSX and 350z brembos on it, it was a total maniac 310 crank. I made the mistake of asking the guy to reduce it a grand, and he sold it to someone for the asking price the next day without even telling me. Serves me right, it was already a bargain. Glad I got the Zed now though, cos I've been Hondaboy for a long time, it was time to feel some torque below 6k.

My FN2 made 230lbft, and 200lbft from 3500 but that felt a bit quicker than my current 370z @ 304whp, must be because it's 200kg lighter , oh and the gearing was a lot shorter even with my longer FD. Is there a roots or twinscroll charger made by someone?

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I think that looks amazing. They are great cars but as stock they're not really in the same league as a 370z. I've not owned an S2k but I've had a supercharged FN2, an EP3.. not the same engines but similar. They tend to not make their stock 237bhp, handle very well and I think the AP2 setup was revised somewhat to be a bit safer. I would never own a stock one, because the performance is not enough by far. Great for 2ltr of course. However they would make a great platform for a boosted project. Ideally turbo IMO, and subjective or controversial as it may be, I love that kit. It does not look like a car manufactured since 2001. With a minor facelift. Looks great IMO with that kit and some CE28ns. Same kinda reliability as the K20 yet I think it has forged internals so 400-500bhp is probably alright. Even K20s can run 400bhp on stock internals, torque being the limiting factor of course.

I suppose you could get decent power on it with full bolt ons, maybe 260bhp? Wth decent power to weight and a good chassis, some of them rev to 9000rpm they can be fun. But again, for me it would need to be charged. I don't think the interior is so bad either, certainly on par if not maybe a bit better than a 350z? A car which I haven't owned either 😀

Hard top looks better IMO and they are holding their value really well. Although ultimately BHP/tonne its not really much slower than a stock 350, much like the Type Rs with NA K20s they have pathetic low down power, and no real usable torque. So you will have to down shift to extra posrr

If I had not already had a Supercharged type R FN2, a turbo spoon S2k would have really appealed to me, only they're a bit more expensive than the civics, ultimately with 400-500bhp boosted you're looking at supercar killer performance, they're around 200kg lighter than my 370Z, they look like small cars too. No I'm definitely not into stance ! But I love a spoon S2K. Mpg is a fair bit better than our engines and overall they're a cheaper option to run and maintain compared to a 350Z IMO... it's not really fair to compare to the 370Z I feel, as it's a generation behind almost. Also if it's anything like the other K20s, the gear changes are probably flawless. Even my FN2 gear changes were far slicker than my 370. Synchro Rev made up for it though

 

 

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I don't think it's fair to say they're not in the same league, since they are playing totally different sports. One's a muscle car, one's a race car on the road. As a sports car, the 370z cannot compete with an S2000, the S2000 is far lighter, nimbler, quicker in the corners and quicker to change direction. The 370 has almost twice the engine size (but nowhere NEAR twice the power), and is far less agile, even witht he S2k having the compromise of being a cabrio (stiffening and roof motors added a lot of weight, if you can dispense at least with the motors, you can save another 80kg in roof mech parts. This is the main reason to permanently fit a hard top, which does improve the look of the car compared to soft top up, but not with the top down.

 

The AP2 revisions were made for 1 reason only, the Americans. They were crashing them left and right, so Honda added traction control, and of course they were selling poorly because the Americans had no idea how to drive a high revving 4 banger and everyone thought it had no power, hence torque increase and redline decrease. Thank GOD the European models did not undergo this bastardisation.

 

Coilovers, MPSS and a supercharger and you have a real weapon.

 

Comparing an S2000 to a civic is equally inappropriate. One was purpose built by Honda to show off what race car technology they could put on the road for reasonable money, the other is a granny's shopping trolley with a quick engine (and I say that as a proud ex-EP3 owner, it's got nothing on the S2k. Absolutely nothing). Neither the engines, nor handling characteristics are remotely similar or comparable, despite having similar internals.

 

Yes, it is controversial to turbo an S2000, most would say you retain the car's character with a supercharger, if you really must go FI. You can get 300 at the crank NA from an F20C, but it ain't cheap AT ALL. 350whp supercharged cars are notoriously difficult to drive, a friend of mine had one. Fun, but omg scary.

 

I also forgot to mention in my original post Dan, the brakes need a major upgrade before the power, they're pretty rubbish, classic Honda weakness.

Chill out mate, I was refraining from going into too much detail on here because I assumed this forum isn't full of Honda enthusiasts, clearly you know your stuff and I know a bit too 😉

I'm not disagreeing with anything you've said and I was not comparing the S2k to a civic for that reason, but only because my supercharged FN2 project with 'Mugen' rep kit etc was fantastic quality and good performance, yet a fair bit cheaper than the equivalent S2000 spoon build which was a genuine plan of mine for some time. the aftermarket parts are so much more expensive. that's the charger kits themselves and most importantly the market for S2000 used parts in the U.K. is far far smaller than the Type R civic market. I'm pretty sure the spoon body kit alone is several thousand if you can get it shipped over here. yet the kit in my picture below cost me less than £1700. I was lucky to pay £2300 for my chargecooled CT Engineering kit 2nd hand. Yet for any S2000 turbo or supercharger kit, well good luck finding a used, looked after but reliable kit on the 2nd hand market to begin with. More than likely you'd have to simply buy a kit brand new for £4000-£7000 that's a complete guess depending on what you buy w/o supporting. My FN2 was a low mile champ white edition worth around 10k, the equivalent S2k low miles and 09/10 plates were like 15k to begin with IIRC. So you see my point anyway; a good S2000 project with boost is significantly more expensive than an FN2 project, I won't even consider the older EP3. And yes, the S2k has more potential than both.

Likewise, as a base platform, I'm fully aware you could build a supercharged 500bhp Rotrex S2000 track weapon that is far more capable than even a boosted 370Z, in a straight line and in the corners with some high end coil overs, more chassis strengthening, stripping etc. The 370z is just too heavy to begin with and like you say, the engine output is not as efficient. 2.ltr K20s in EP3s make 270bhp with only bolt ons and cams, makes our 3.7ltr V6 sound pretty weak. However ours do 'sound' better. And when I said the 370 is in a different league, of course I meant stock for stock. The S2k made in 2000ish and the 370 came out 9 years later and a higher price. Sportscar, GT or whatever I know it's not a fair comparison but you don't need to teach me about Hondas cause I'm already a big fan. Although my new 370z is lovely to drive and ultimately a superior car, with some more NA power and tuning, at best I can only hope to match my supercharged FN2s performance. Until I supercharge that as well.

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I think that looks amazing. They are great cars but as stock they're not really in the same league as a 370z. I've not owned an S2k but I've had a supercharged FN2, an EP3.. not the same engines but similar. They tend to not make their stock 237bhp, handle very well and I think the AP2 setup was revised somewhat to be a bit safer. I would never own a stock one, because the performance is not enough by far. Great for 2ltr of course. However they would make a great platform for a boosted project. Ideally turbo IMO, and subjective or controversial as it may be, I love that kit. It does not look like a car manufactured since 2001. With a minor facelift. Looks great IMO with that kit and some CE28ns. Same kinda reliability as the K20 yet I think it has forged internals so 400-500bhp is probably alright. Even K20s can run 400bhp on stock internals, torque being the limiting factor of course.

I suppose you could get decent power on it with full bolt ons, maybe 260bhp? Wth decent power to weight and a good chassis, some of them rev to 9000rpm they can be fun. But again, for me it would need to be charged. I don't think the interior is so bad either, certainly on par if not maybe a bit better than a 350z? A car which I haven't owned either 😀

Hard top looks better IMO and they are holding their value really well. Although ultimately BHP/tonne its not really much slower than a stock 350, much like the Type Rs with NA K20s they have pathetic low down power, and no real usable torque. So you will have to down shift to extra posrr

If I had not already had a Supercharged type R FN2, a turbo spoon S2k would have really appealed to me, only they're a bit more expensive than the civics, ultimately with 400-500bhp boosted you're looking at supercar killer performance, they're around 200kg lighter than my 370Z, they look like small cars too. No I'm definitely not into stance ! But I love a spoon S2K. Mpg is a fair bit better than our engines and overall they're a cheaper option to run and maintain compared to a 350Z IMO... it's not really fair to compare to the 370Z I feel, as it's a generation behind almost. Also if it's anything like the other K20s, the gear changes are probably flawless. Even my FN2 gear changes were far slicker than my 370. Synchro Rev made up for it though

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Btw does anyone know of your CAIs like stillen and Z1 make a nice induction note? On my type R some of the induction kits were really nice and loud, in wondering if they are on this car. I found a video on YouTube where you can kinda hear it quite well but he probably has stock exhaust; I doubt it could be heard above even a quiet exhaust setup to be honest but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong 🤔

Sounds great on this vid and it would be great to hear it

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Yup. I definitely what the motordyne, rolled and burned tipped plus steps up to 3". If there was a way to have it but 20-30% quieter then I would, but there isn't 😩. I can't lose the ART decat as that's reducing more restriction than the cat back itself. In theory, the ARK Grip has the same/similar 2 Helmholtz resonators so it should give a similar sound only it goes through an extra pair of straight through silencers. So I would expect it to sound very similar, only maybe 20% quieter as a guesstimate. I haven't looked at HKS but I think there's is similar too.

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I would personally just add the Ark dual grip and that's that.From experience I think it ticks all your boxes without needing to change anything else.

That's what I'm thinking too, it's the only reasonably cheap option that has the Helmholtz resonators and should lower the volume slightly, compared to my Fast intentions. I keep seeing motordyne shockwave and I love the look but just by the lack of silencers on it I can tell it's going to be far louder than my current setup.

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I got a driveby on the closer side of the carriageway which as you imagine would have been much better but it wasn't recorded on my iPhone cause someone sent me a whatsapp msg at the time and my uncle got confused and ****ed it up.

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Bought the car a year ago tomorrow, so this is its birthday pressie! Cheers

I think you'll be pleased with the transformation in sound. even the nismo stock cat back which you told me you have have is really far too quiet as standard and does not do the car justice. Yet this alone will definitely free up 10-20bhp and it will not be too loud with your stock nismo catback. Another dude on here has a 370z nismo with stock CBE and the same decat as me, which is slightly louder than these and it's still not loud enough for him. I know you wanted to wait for a resonated HFC but I think that would be unnecessary, too quiet, plus the last exhaust part to sell on in here before this was an Ark Grip, over 3-4 months ago. So this market is slow and you'd be waiting a very long time for anything in particular to appear 2nd hand. I'd love a 2nd hand ARK Grip right now but how long until another one of those comes up for sale I wonder? Could be ages 😩

You'd need a fresh set of gaskets I guess but if you have any issues at all fitting these then don't hesitate to let me know. If for any reason they don't fit or don't function then I'll refund you 100%. But they're in perfect condition and will be fine. My mechanic charged me about 1.5 hours to fit my decats so I expect these to be similar. 😊ðŸ‘ðŸ»

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Payment received so it's sold. I'm gonna try post it Monday once I've printed a label etc. Mods you may keep this open if you like until Sonic confirms he has received the items and is happy with them. Cheers

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I can recommend ART Decats, although they're £619 delivered they are different to conventional decat pipes and produce a different sound. Otherwise any decat will do I guess, I think I saw some very cheap used ones on EBay

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Ok thanks just awaiting payment.

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Ah then you must have a good idea, was that too loud for you?

I think Nismos sound different, whether it's due to the stock cat back being different or other differences in the engine but youre looking at the same thing really. You can put stillen and Berk parts on your Nismo too. You can spend hours listening to YouTube videos to get an idea.

I really recommend listening to the systems with Helmholtz resonators, such as Motordyne Shockwave, Ark Grip, ART Decats etc as I think they produce an entirely different note. Your regular stillen and other cat backs are still great they just 'open up' and enhance your existing sound by removing the amount of restriction and silencing. Where's as those resonators are designed to reduce certain frequencies and produce a specific sound. There's plenty happy with their stillens and cobras etc, there's so many options.

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Ok These are provisionally sold to sonic, he messaged me a while ago I didn't notice. So if a Mod can keep thread open for now, until I've received payment, then posted it and buyer has received? Is that how it works here ?

Thanks

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It might do. I know quite a few of the parts are interchangeable, like people put the nismo catbacks on regular 370s right? Some parts definitely are, I won't say 100% though

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Also I've read the rules and I see that it's suggested that people don't pay via gift/friends and family. If nobody wants to do that it's understandable and I will accept regular PayPal payment but if anyone is comfortable doing so I would much rather PayPal did not take £20 or whatever from me. My EBay username is "nunes1337" and I have thousands of posts on two Type R forums if anyone wants to check my reputation and feedback or wants my Facebook or anything else 🙂ðŸ‘

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Can anyone confirm that these don't 'hiss' when you lift off the throttle? I currently have Berks hfc's, which sound great but the hiss does my tits in when changing gear/letting off the throttle!

 

If yours don't I will probably take them off your hands

Well when I fitted my ART pipes the first thing I noticed was this hissing appeared, which I did not notice with these HFCs but this seems to have reduced each day as I bought it new and it's running in kinda with soot. I'm not sure if it still does anymore but on the first few days it hissed a lot louder than these HFCs do, and exactly as you describe it. So based on that I can tell you that with the HFCs the hiss was hardly noticeable, maybe it does hiss less than the Berks, quite possibly but I can't promise you that as there may be other factors involved. I was also told by my mechanic that some gaskets were missing on my exhaust so I don't know if that would cause hissing or contribute to it. In this video you can hear a hiss for a moment, but I could only ever hear it with windows open and some people do say that all HFCs hiss, which may be true especially as Berks seem to be by far the most common brand of HFC. To summarise, i won't state that they do not hiss. I think they might hiss slightly but on my setup with FI catback the hissing can't have been very loud or I'd remember it. More than likely all of them hiss to a degree, or maybe the hissing is not even caused by the HFCs.

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