anyone have AAM's high flow cats? If so are they worth the $600? And do they show any gains that prove the price?

 

$600 for hfcs...lol. I got a toothbrush for sale - $100 ad its yours...let me know.

 

Are they made of unobtainium?

 

That's funny!

 

No set of HFC are worth 600. Just get a nice set of test pipes

Inserts plug:
I have a set of APS TP for sale for 150+Shipping. They'll flow more than any HFC and sound noice..They also have a brace for extra strength

 

With AAM y-pipe, AAM ECU flash, AAM plenum spacer, JWT-Popcharger
242hp, 224trq

With AAM HFC's and HKS DLI II
253hp, 231trq

Before HFC's and DLI II


After HFC's and DLI II still untuned as you can see by the a/f ratio...


Come on, you knew someone was going to play devil's advocate.
Second dyno was at the Nissan meet this saturday.

 

news flash; you would have done the exact same thing w/ kinetix or crawford

 

Perhaps, but he asked about someones experience with AAM HFC's. And in my experience, I made gains... and put said gains up on display as proof...

If you say the others make the same gains, pull up the post and show him. i'm too lazy to. lol

One reason I went with AAM is 'cause they're close to my house and if I have any problems I can make a quick stop over there. Of course, i haven't had any problems, yet...

plus they charge less for install if it's their parts. That and that weird soda machine they have. lol

Vid of my dyno run

Same dyno a few minutes before a stock '06 pulled 245hp and some other pre revups pulled 233 to 245hp modded.

 

Might I add that results from two different dynos may be completely off?

I bought Kinetix HFCs for 300.

 

$600 is too much margin for the seller. $300 - $500 is about where most fall in regards to price. Ultimate Racing makes a nice set for under $500, all stainless and have OEM type bracket. Do a search and you will be amazed at the amount of reported problems. I found no negative reports on Ultimate Racing and bought them. 50,000 mile warranty too.

Don't do test pipes unless the following appeal to you:
1) smog
2) rasp
3) fart can sound
4) annoying CEL coming on
5) failing smog test

 

Results on AAM's dyno after just the HFC's install was 249hp, 228 from the previous numbers. Still 7hp and 4trq more than previous. Honestly I thought I'd dyno lower than the AAM run on the one at the meet this Saturday.

Oh well.

 

I'm pretty sure the AAM cats are metal matrix cats. Those cost quite a bit more than ceramic cats. Nismo is the only other company I know of selling metal matrix cats and theirs cost well over $1000. Quality costs money.

 

I believe it is a metal substrate cat. Likely 200 cell/inch. These cores are MUCH more expensive then the ceramic cores (and are generally only used in VERY high end cars... porsches, assorted pasta rockets, etc...). They can also handle higher temps and pressures and flow more exhaust.

To my knowledge, only four companies have made metal substrate cats for the Z33: Helix ($500, discontinued), Unlimited Tuning Revolution ($599, discontinued), Random Tech ($699, discontinued), and AAM ($599)... (I don't know what element Nismo uses, but I didn't think it was Metal).

Trust me when I tell you that it is worth the extra $100... you will be getting a vastly superior product.

 

hmmm all the metal matrix/substrate HFCs you mentioned were discontinued. Could there be a problem with them? There are numerous reports of them breaking up and making all kinds of racket you don't want associated with your Z. Do a quick search as I've run across a few of them myself.

Not sure if the NISMOs are this type or not.

 

I have straight pipes...
I dont rasp, i dont have a fart can noise, i DONT have a CEL. So 3/5ths of ur arguments is out. Smog and failing smog are the same thing or do you mean the bad smell that comes from tps? The smell comes from HFC too, and its not bad at all unless your inside a garage, and even then its not bad. Failing is the worst thing that can happen. The rasp is a result of the exhaust setup WITH the test pipes. There are plenty of exhausts that can rasp w/o the TP.

 

I've never heard of any of the metal substrate cats failing EXCEPT for those made by Random Tech... they had a serious problem with collapsing. Not sure what was wrong with them.

I have never heard of any problems with AAM, UT-R or Helix's cats. I am currently running UT-R's cats with my TT setup -- that means higher temps and pressures than most cats will ever see -- and I have not had any problems at all.

 

funny how all that you listed are discountinued because their inards kept imploding, hehe.

 

As I said before: I am unaware of any UT-R, Helix or AAM cat that ever "imploded." If I am wrong, sorry... please correct me. Random Tech is another story... I have no explanation for their proclivity to self-destruct. I would have to assume that the substrate was ill-suited to high-temp operation... there is really no excuse for that.

I'm not even sure why this thread has lasted so long -- there can be no reasonable debate on this topic. Metal substrate cats are better than their cermic counterparts. End of story. They flow better and are more durable.

EDIT:

If I had to gues why they were dicontinued:

Random Tech: poor quality leading to bad reputation and poor sales
UT-R: terrible marketing
Helix: Poor marketing/sales due to uneducated consumers not understanding the superiority of their product.

 

it's lasted so long because some people just like to get the last word in. Anyway, thanks to all the experts for chiming in and explaining the price difference! The people on this board and myself especially probably would have never known without you guys pointing it out!

Thanks again!