Specifications:
2005 Enth (Ultra Yellow)
- Redline at 6600rpm
- Tiptronic
- JWT
- XO2 exhaust

All photos (8.1M pixel) and videos:
http://w128.picturepush.com/

Installed XO2 exhaust today by my friend who works in Honda.
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00086.html

Picture of the XO2:
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00097.html

Installation:
- No instructions included (purely DIY)
- Smooth, mostly bolt-on
- 1-1.5 hours
- For stock pipe, there's a metal between each pipe to prevent leakage. For XO2, it looks like it's a hard paper instead of metal. (I don't know how to call this component)

The installation is smooth. These are the issues I have:
1. The left canister is off to the right and bottom by about 1-1.5 inches (any suggestions on how to fix this?)
2. The left canister has one missing screw (I have to use a different looking screw now, will ask for a new one from invision_350z)
3. Both canister has scratches and rough surface
4. Most metal surface are not very smooth. If you look at it under light, you won't see a very uniform reflection
5. Both sides of the exhaust (the ones inside the tips as shown in DSC00109/DSC00111) are not perfect circles

Picture of issue 1:
Right side:
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00110.html
Left side:
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00111.html
Rear view:
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00113.html

Picture of issue 2 (the screw in the middle is not supposed to be there, i just forgot to take it away):
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00109.html

Picture of issue 3:
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00101.html
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00102.html
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00103.html
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00104.html

Picture of issue 4 (e.g. look at the light that shines on the left muffler, the reflection is not very uniform):
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00112.html

Picture of issue 5 (not a perfect circle):
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00109.html
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../DSC00111.html

Stock exhaust sound (did rev up to 6600rpm):
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../MOV00090.html

XO2 exhaust sound (did rev up to 6600rpm):
http://w128.picturepush.com/album/12.../MOV00120.html

You can hear 'pop pop pop' for both exhaust right after you release gas pedal in 6600rpm. The pop sound is louder on XO2. The pop sound is much louder in real than the video suggested. In general, XO2 sounds deeper than stock.

Sound:
- On start: Nice sound, low deep sound when it rev to 1.5k and back to ~1k
- At idle: Similar to stock, just a bit louder
- At 25-35 miles/hr: Significantly louder than stock
- At 60 miles/hr: Can hold a normal conversation
- At 75-90 miles/hr: You have to raise your voice to speak and it is signficantly louder than stock, very noticeable. The noise level is comparable to driving at 80 miles/hr in gear 3 with stock exhaust (althought the sound is from different location)
- If you do WOT, in fact, it is not way louder than stock
- If you are driving 80 miles/hr and release your gas, you exhaust immediately sounds like stock, can't hear it much
- If you drive with low gear like gear 3, you will hear more from the front JWT intake and engine sound. However, if you drive with higher gear, you will hear exhaust sound from the cabin itself because the sound is coming from the back
- When I drove home back to garage, it set 2-3 car alarms on, I was driving fast to hit around 15-20 miles (rev to maybe 2.5k at most)
- You neighbors will hate you if you come back late

Performance:
- It seems to move a bit faster in high rpm (around 4k+)
- Should be similar to HKS, although hks has 2.36" pipe vs xo2 2.5"

Appearance:
- Looks cheap, low quality, rough tips, blurry blue, the two tips don't look very symmetrical
- By the way, tips don't look too blue in pictures with flash on. You can look at it in video, that's more realistic

Smell:
- Very smelly in the beginning (maybe due to coating used on metal??), will probably improve after a while (we will see)
- Way more gas coming out as seen in video

Conclusion:
- Try it before buying it. I don't think everyone can stand the sound. Sound is very subjective
- IMO, it's a bit too loud than what I want. Not ideal for daily drive.
- Don't set too much expectation on quality
- Expect the tips to look bad
- For around 600-640 shipped, it is not a bad choice!
- I haven't dyno'ed it, but as other forum member suggested, it should give around 10-15 rwhp gain

The whole report is just my personal opinion. Please don't blame me if you disagree with anything

p.s. i ordered it from website and it asked for both shipping and billing address. Althought I entered a shipping address, they still send it to my billing address when I tracked my ups #. The company said that they always have to send it to billing address if you use a credit card even if the website asked for shipping address!! I had to make a special request to forward it to the shipping address instead. Be careful

Questions for you guys:
- How do I fix the misaligned tips (the left one is off by 1-1.5 inches)

 

Nice write up.

Sorry to hear the quality is so bad on the x02.

To help align the tips you could try some hose clamps like this on the rear hangers to bring the tips up to proper/ even alignment. If that doesn't work, you'll need to remove the canisters and physically bend the hangers to the proper alignment. Then reinstall.

 

thanks for the suggestion. will try

 

the not so subtle differences between the HKS and the knock off.

 

that's why the price has a not subtle difference too i get what i paid

 

Very nice write up. Kudos

 

they should replace it . i guess you get what u paid for . i was thinkin about getting it but befor i saw this i changed my mind .

 

It really isn't that bad of an exhaust. For the price you could have a shop fix the alignment for $50 and be done with it.

Don't like the tips? Could try making some of your own. Even if you ordered HKS tips, the overall cost is still cheaper.

 

i agree with app6mt. by the way, can u really order hks tips? if so, where?

 

Not 100% sure, I heard a dirty rumor you could though.

 

hows it sound with out those lame silencers in there?

 

i don't know, i just described the sound as is.

 

600 bucks i got mine for 385 the onlything im disappointed with is the tips kinda dull and the blue doesnt stand out to much. i love the way it sounds!!! im very happy with my purchase

 

were'd you get it that cheap? used ? i want to know!

 

I don't know about silencers?

With headers + test pipes + XO2, it's freaking loud. I get compliments from everyone.

 

I got the same price + shipping total price $450.00 on ebay from cxlighting

Mine should arrive early next week

 

i was actually awared of the price of cxlighting (ebay) before i bought xo2. But I was told by invision_350z that they have 1 year warrantee and will fix any problem i come up with. and seems like there are not many big complaints on xo2 after the product coming out of market for a year whereas cxlighting started selling in maybe 2-3 months ago. i picked xo2. now, i will see what they can do for me with all these problems....

 

Should've gone with Greddy or Authentic HKS. In fact, ZDirty was selling his HKS for 850 picked up. You got what you paid for...

 

Well, if i have a new car, i will probably buy something more expensive, but i owned my for 3 years already and may get a new car in a year or two. i don't wanna spend 1600 dollars for a new hks
and even if i sell the exhaust in a year or two, i might sell it for maybe 300-400 dollars, the cost of ownership is not too bad, right?
and i still keep my stock exhaust, i can always change it back..

 

Awesome write up! I wish more users would post like you, with both Pics and Vids for comparison.

For the scratches you can try a rubbing compound and buff it out. However, I'm unsure how effective it would be since I can't physically see the extent of the damage.

Overall, I liked your "new" exhaust sound.

Thanks for your post!