Got the plenum and HF Cats done today. Wow, what a difference is sound. The tone is nice and sporty and not too loud. I have the EVO2 exhaust to go with it. Have had that for about three months now.

Felt the difference too. The car idles more smoothly and accelerates steady. The car just feels nicer to drive now.

The only problem I came across was that with the install on the HF Cats, now my EVO2 rubs on that wide black frame support brace in the middle of the car. Need a fix for it. Any help!!!!!!!!!!

 

Take the M-brace off and put some washers over the bolt on the side of the M-brace that connects to the body. This will space it down some and should fix the hitting.

 

I already have four washers on the front bolts and it still hits when I hit a bump. It never hit before the HF Cat install. I guess I could try more, but I dont know how far I can drop it and still mantain the braces integrity.

I also thought about getting a slight bend put in the xpipe to lift up the center of the exhaust a little bit.

 

thawk is right. The Crawford cats will bring your piping down. All you need to do is add some shims into the bolts for the V brace. I had this same problem with the Crawford HFC and Nismo exhaust and this alleviated the problem.

 

Has anyone withthis problem tried to get a slight bend in the exhaust to move it back up?

 

Maybe the pipe has a slight bend in it from the factory. So I would suggest looking at it to see if you could unbolt it and maybe turn it so the bolts go through different holes.

 

Is there a replacement brace in the aftermarket that may allow more room.

Right now I have four washers installed and the exhaust still hit when I hit a small bump. I can actually hear the exhaust hit when I shut my rear hatch. And this will probably only get worse after I stiffen up the suspension a little with the Tein Basics. I am actually considering trying a different set of HFC or modifying the exhaust so the brace is back to factory install.

I feel like I am driving a ghetto rigged Z everytime I hear the exhaust hit the brace. If I had known that here may have been a slight chance of this happening I would have left the stock cats on.

But, as is is am already out the $500 for the Cats and the $125 for the install and it would cost me again to have the factory cats put back on. I am kind of stuck.

Is there any other options out there to fix this issue????

 

you can try putting a small dent in the pipe where it is hitting the cross brace. shouldn't really make any significant difference on the exhaust flow.

 

Looked at the exhaaust again today. There really is no much movement in the rear of the exhaust, so the hose clamp fix will not work. I really can not tell where it is hitting. there is like 1.5 inches between the exhaust and the brace in the middle of the car, so I don't know if that is where it is hitting.

 

try putting some heat wrap in that area. if that is where it is hitting then it should dampen the sound.

 

I am finding alot more issues with exhaust install than I origanally thought. It seems that most of the time if the exhaust is loosened up and then retightened while positioning the exhaust the problem is fixed.

This sure is a frustrating issue though.

Thanx for all the help.

 

I had the same problem with my Borla. All I did to fix it was losen the clamps and twist the piping, then retighten the clamps. This seemed to lift the piping up more and it has never hit since.

On a side note this was was my 1,000 post. W00h00!!

 

This works very well. It will muffel the sound completely.

 

Hey Andy@ could you explain a little more the mod you did with HFC and NISMO (3 piece)? I also have the 35th and these components are currently sitting in my garage waiting to be fitted...would greatly appreciate any info before I go ahead with the install (+Crawford plenum and strut bar)...
Ciao M

 

congrats on the new goodies dude, nothing like the feeling of buying new parts

but the fitment problems of the Crawford cats are one of the reasons im not jumping into them

can someone explain to me what 'shims' are......could be another word lost in the translation

also has anyone mated the crawford HFCs with a Fuji Y-pipe? Were there any issues?

oh what do the cats sound like? how has the exhaust note changed?

 

Bump

 

Bump again...anyone care to explain this is a little detail? From what I see Crawford cats are fairly popular so there should be plenty of you out there with loads of experience...and as per TiPIACE, what exactly are these "shims"? Ciao

 

Shims = spacers, washers, etc

 

Hey Zivman thanks...would be great to have info from those with Crawford HFC + NISMO exhaust....Ciao M