1320 HFC review
12-19-2018, 02:12 PM
#1
Registered Member
Thread Starter
1320 HFC review
4 year update: no cel. Added 90 degree angled spacers 4 years ago, that got rid of cel, and it hasn't come back since.
Just did the front driveshaft, so had to drop passenger side cat. Good chance to inspect them. The braided cover of the bellowed flex pipe has started to fray. Still intact, and no leaks. Bellows not rusted.
Original post:
My G37xS sedan is my winter car (S2000 3 season dd). So there isn't budget for top shelf parts. The stock exhaust rusted through (flex pipe in Y pipe leaked), so it was a good time for an upgrade. I sourced a decent condition used stock exhaust from a coupe. I used the coupe Y pipe, and the coupe resonators (cut the ends off and had shop weld a pipe to connect to stock sedan mufflers). The coupe resonators don't neck down like the sedan, resonators are shorter, so uncork a little bit of sound (I just wanted something that sounded like it could have been a factory performance option, that still sounded sophisticated enough to be a luxury car). I couldn't remove old Y pipe from the cats without damaging them, as they were fused together with rust. Oh well, will have to get HFC's too!
Wanting to save $, I decided to take a chance on the 1320 Performance HFC. They use a 200 cell metallic core. They also have a flex pipe as part of the HFC. They are the only ones I've seen do this. Not sure why. I might speculate this allows a less precisely manufactured part to still fit and bolt up with no difficulty aligning bolt holes. But the extra cost involved in buying, and fitting the flex joint would likely more than offset the cost of more precise manufacturing technique, so I doubt that is the reason. These cats do not include a mounting bracket (most aftermarket HFC's don't either. Berk does, maybe a few others). There is a built in O2 spacer. Hardware and gaskets are included.
I couldn't find any reviews online for 1320 HFC, for any car (they make them for several brands). But the reviews of stuff like their headers were ok, so I decided to take a chance. The price was right at $265 for the pair (free shipping).
The welds looked pretty good, and everything look well put together. Good materials, etc.
Mounting them was simple enough (once old cats were removed, that wasn't fun laying on my back in the cold.) But I quickly found that the combination of flex joint and no bracket meant things moved around too much. The exhaust hung down too far. So I diy'ed some brackets. This would work with any HFC that you wanted to add a bracket to G stock cat mounting location. Here is the DIY:
I went to local parts store, and bought a couple of 2.5" exhaust clamps, and Home Depot to buy a flat 1" metal bar. I cut a section of bar about 4" long, and bent a 90 angle into it (I actually bent it before cutting, the extra leverage of the full bar length made that easier). I made an L shape, with a longer end and a shorter end (shorter end just long enough for the exhaust clamp to cover). I used a MAP torch to heat it up to bend it in my bench vice (like a propane torch, but gets way hotter. Yellow bottle in any hardware store). Then I heated the short end of the L and hammered a rounded shape into it, so it matched the curve of the round exhaust pipe (i used the rounded piece of the exhaust clamp to gauge my progress). Then I drilled a hole in the longer end of each bracket, to align with the stock cat mounting bracket. then I made a second one, same dimensions. Painted them. Then I just tucked the rounded end of the homemade bracket under the exhaust clamp, and tightened clamp around the stock cat. then bolted the bracket to the stock cat mounting bracket. Nice and solid! The stock bracket moves with the engine, so no stress on the cats as engine revs. This worked very well, was dirt cheap, not too hard to fab, and should work with any HFC on this car.
To me, that extra mounting effort was worth saving a few bucks not buying a HFC with integral bracket.
The exhaust note out the back is just what I wanted. The combination of the coupe resonators and the HFC gives a nice, low key burble. Sounds like it could have been a factory option.
However, there is an annoying hiss/high frequency sound anytime the engine revs through the ~3k-to-~4k rpm range. I understand some hiss is common with HFC on this car. But this seems excessive to me. However I have not ridden in another HFC equipped G, so I'm not sure if I'm being too critical. It doesn't matter if I'm revving it at a stop, accelerating aggressively or gently, or just if the rev matching paddle downshift happens to pass through that rpm range, it will hiss as it passes through those rpms. Loudly. Still, its mostly just me in the car, and I usually have the radio on, and this is just my winter car, so I'm mostly ok with it. But it does annoy me a bit.
Lastly, the cats were on less than a week before I got a CEL, despite the built in O2 spacers. I reset the light, and it came back in a day. I ordered a set of right angle spacers from Amazon, which I am yet to fit. Hopefully double spacing it addresses the issue. I don't know if a CEL so soon after install is common with HFC on this car, or if its an indication of a quality issue with this brand.
Summary:
Inexpensive
Presentable
Droops (DIY fix)
CEL
Just did the front driveshaft, so had to drop passenger side cat. Good chance to inspect them. The braided cover of the bellowed flex pipe has started to fray. Still intact, and no leaks. Bellows not rusted.
Original post:
My G37xS sedan is my winter car (S2000 3 season dd). So there isn't budget for top shelf parts. The stock exhaust rusted through (flex pipe in Y pipe leaked), so it was a good time for an upgrade. I sourced a decent condition used stock exhaust from a coupe. I used the coupe Y pipe, and the coupe resonators (cut the ends off and had shop weld a pipe to connect to stock sedan mufflers). The coupe resonators don't neck down like the sedan, resonators are shorter, so uncork a little bit of sound (I just wanted something that sounded like it could have been a factory performance option, that still sounded sophisticated enough to be a luxury car). I couldn't remove old Y pipe from the cats without damaging them, as they were fused together with rust. Oh well, will have to get HFC's too!
Wanting to save $, I decided to take a chance on the 1320 Performance HFC. They use a 200 cell metallic core. They also have a flex pipe as part of the HFC. They are the only ones I've seen do this. Not sure why. I might speculate this allows a less precisely manufactured part to still fit and bolt up with no difficulty aligning bolt holes. But the extra cost involved in buying, and fitting the flex joint would likely more than offset the cost of more precise manufacturing technique, so I doubt that is the reason. These cats do not include a mounting bracket (most aftermarket HFC's don't either. Berk does, maybe a few others). There is a built in O2 spacer. Hardware and gaskets are included.
I couldn't find any reviews online for 1320 HFC, for any car (they make them for several brands). But the reviews of stuff like their headers were ok, so I decided to take a chance. The price was right at $265 for the pair (free shipping).
The welds looked pretty good, and everything look well put together. Good materials, etc.
Mounting them was simple enough (once old cats were removed, that wasn't fun laying on my back in the cold.) But I quickly found that the combination of flex joint and no bracket meant things moved around too much. The exhaust hung down too far. So I diy'ed some brackets. This would work with any HFC that you wanted to add a bracket to G stock cat mounting location. Here is the DIY:
I went to local parts store, and bought a couple of 2.5" exhaust clamps, and Home Depot to buy a flat 1" metal bar. I cut a section of bar about 4" long, and bent a 90 angle into it (I actually bent it before cutting, the extra leverage of the full bar length made that easier). I made an L shape, with a longer end and a shorter end (shorter end just long enough for the exhaust clamp to cover). I used a MAP torch to heat it up to bend it in my bench vice (like a propane torch, but gets way hotter. Yellow bottle in any hardware store). Then I heated the short end of the L and hammered a rounded shape into it, so it matched the curve of the round exhaust pipe (i used the rounded piece of the exhaust clamp to gauge my progress). Then I drilled a hole in the longer end of each bracket, to align with the stock cat mounting bracket. then I made a second one, same dimensions. Painted them. Then I just tucked the rounded end of the homemade bracket under the exhaust clamp, and tightened clamp around the stock cat. then bolted the bracket to the stock cat mounting bracket. Nice and solid! The stock bracket moves with the engine, so no stress on the cats as engine revs. This worked very well, was dirt cheap, not too hard to fab, and should work with any HFC on this car.
To me, that extra mounting effort was worth saving a few bucks not buying a HFC with integral bracket.
The exhaust note out the back is just what I wanted. The combination of the coupe resonators and the HFC gives a nice, low key burble. Sounds like it could have been a factory option.
However, there is an annoying hiss/high frequency sound anytime the engine revs through the ~3k-to-~4k rpm range. I understand some hiss is common with HFC on this car. But this seems excessive to me. However I have not ridden in another HFC equipped G, so I'm not sure if I'm being too critical. It doesn't matter if I'm revving it at a stop, accelerating aggressively or gently, or just if the rev matching paddle downshift happens to pass through that rpm range, it will hiss as it passes through those rpms. Loudly. Still, its mostly just me in the car, and I usually have the radio on, and this is just my winter car, so I'm mostly ok with it. But it does annoy me a bit.
Lastly, the cats were on less than a week before I got a CEL, despite the built in O2 spacers. I reset the light, and it came back in a day. I ordered a set of right angle spacers from Amazon, which I am yet to fit. Hopefully double spacing it addresses the issue. I don't know if a CEL so soon after install is common with HFC on this car, or if its an indication of a quality issue with this brand.
Summary:
Inexpensive
Presentable
Droops (DIY fix)
CEL
Last edited by Car Analogy; 04-08-2023 at 06:12 PM.
The following 2 users liked this post by Car Analogy:
m3clubracer (12-31-2021),
RMB5190 (12-19-2018)
12-20-2018, 12:29 PM
#2
My G37xS sedan is my winter car (S2000 3 season dd). So there isn't budget for top shelf parts. The stock exhaust rusted through (flex pipe in Y pipe leaked), so it was a good time for an upgrade. I sourced a decent condition used stock exhaust from a coupe. I used the coupe Y pipe, and the coupe resonators (cut the ends off and had shop weld a pipe to connect to stock sedan mufflers). The coupe resonators don't neck down like the sedan, resonators are shorter, so uncork a little bit of sound (I just wanted something that sounded like it could have been a factory performance option, that still sounded sophisticated enough to be a luxury car). I couldn't remove old Y pipe from the cats without damaging them, as they were fused together with rust. Oh well, will have to get HFC's too!
Wanting to save $, I decided to take a chance on the 1320 Performance HFC. They use a 200 cell metallic core. They also have a flex pipe as part of the HFC. They are the only ones I've seen do this. Not sure why. I might speculate this allows a less precisely manufactured part to still fit and bolt up with no difficulty aligning bolt holes. But the extra cost involved in buying, and fitting the flex joint would likely more than offset the cost of more precise manufacturing technique, so I doubt that is the reason. These cats do not include a mounting bracket (most aftermarket HFC's don't either. Berk does, maybe a few others). There is a built in O2 spacer. Hardware and gaskets are included.
I couldn't find any reviews online for 1320 HFC, for any car (they make them for several brands). But the reviews of stuff like their headers were ok, so I decided to take a chance. The price was right at $265 for the pair (free shipping).
The welds looked pretty good, and everything look well put together. Good materials, etc.
Mounting them was simple enough (once old cats were removed, that wasn't fun laying on my back in the cold.) But I quickly found that the combination of flex joint and no bracket meant things moved around too much. The exhaust hung down too far. So I diy'ed some brackets. This would work with any HFC that you wanted to add a bracket to G stock cat mounting location. Here is the DIY:
I went to local parts store, and bought a couple of 2.5" exhaust clamps, and Home Depot to buy a flat 1" metal bar. I cut a section of bar about 4" long, and bent a 90 angle into it (I actually bent it before cutting, the extra leverage of the full bar length made that easier). I made an L shape, with a longer end and a shorter end (shorter end just long enough for the exhaust clamp to cover). I used a MAP torch to heat it up to bend it in my bench vice (like a propane torch, but gets way hotter. Yellow bottle in any hardware store). Then I heated the short end of the L and hammered a rounded shape into it, so it matched the curve of the round exhaust pipe (i used the rounded piece of the exhaust clamp to gauge my progress). Then I drilled a hole in the longer end of each bracket, to align with the stock cat mounting bracket. then I made a second one, same dimensions. Painted them. Then I just tucked the rounded end of the homemade bracket under the exhaust clamp, and tightened clamp around the stock cat. then bolted the bracket to the stock cat mounting bracket. Nice and solid! The stock bracket moves with the engine, so no stress on the cats as engine revs. This worked very well, was dirt cheap, not too hard to fab, and should work with any HFC on this car.
To me, that extra mounting effort was worth saving a few bucks not buying a HFC with integral bracket.
The exhaust note out the back is just what I wanted. The combination of the coupe resonators and the HFC gives a nice, low key burble. Sounds like it could have been a factory option.
However, there is an annoying hiss/high frequency sound anytime the engine revs through the ~3k-to-~4k rpm range. I understand some hiss is common with HFC on this car. But this seems excessive to me. However I have not ridden in another HFC equipped G, so I'm not sure if I'm being too critical. It doesn't matter if I'm revving it at a stop, accelerating aggressively or gently, or just if the rev matching paddle downshift happens to pass through that rpm range, it will hiss as it passes through those rpms. Loudly. Still, its mostly just me in the car, and I usually have the radio on, and this is just my winter car, so I'm mostly ok with it. But it does annoy me a bit.
Lastly, the cats were on less than a week before I got a CEL, despite the built in O2 spacers. I reset the light, and it came back in a day. I ordered a set of right angle spacers from Amazon, which I am yet to fit. Hopefully double spacing it addresses the issue. I don't know if a CEL so soon after install is common with HFC on this car, or if its an indication of a quality issue with this brand.
Summary:
Inexpensive
Presentable
Droops (DIY fix)
CEL
Wanting to save $, I decided to take a chance on the 1320 Performance HFC. They use a 200 cell metallic core. They also have a flex pipe as part of the HFC. They are the only ones I've seen do this. Not sure why. I might speculate this allows a less precisely manufactured part to still fit and bolt up with no difficulty aligning bolt holes. But the extra cost involved in buying, and fitting the flex joint would likely more than offset the cost of more precise manufacturing technique, so I doubt that is the reason. These cats do not include a mounting bracket (most aftermarket HFC's don't either. Berk does, maybe a few others). There is a built in O2 spacer. Hardware and gaskets are included.
I couldn't find any reviews online for 1320 HFC, for any car (they make them for several brands). But the reviews of stuff like their headers were ok, so I decided to take a chance. The price was right at $265 for the pair (free shipping).
The welds looked pretty good, and everything look well put together. Good materials, etc.
Mounting them was simple enough (once old cats were removed, that wasn't fun laying on my back in the cold.) But I quickly found that the combination of flex joint and no bracket meant things moved around too much. The exhaust hung down too far. So I diy'ed some brackets. This would work with any HFC that you wanted to add a bracket to G stock cat mounting location. Here is the DIY:
I went to local parts store, and bought a couple of 2.5" exhaust clamps, and Home Depot to buy a flat 1" metal bar. I cut a section of bar about 4" long, and bent a 90 angle into it (I actually bent it before cutting, the extra leverage of the full bar length made that easier). I made an L shape, with a longer end and a shorter end (shorter end just long enough for the exhaust clamp to cover). I used a MAP torch to heat it up to bend it in my bench vice (like a propane torch, but gets way hotter. Yellow bottle in any hardware store). Then I heated the short end of the L and hammered a rounded shape into it, so it matched the curve of the round exhaust pipe (i used the rounded piece of the exhaust clamp to gauge my progress). Then I drilled a hole in the longer end of each bracket, to align with the stock cat mounting bracket. then I made a second one, same dimensions. Painted them. Then I just tucked the rounded end of the homemade bracket under the exhaust clamp, and tightened clamp around the stock cat. then bolted the bracket to the stock cat mounting bracket. Nice and solid! The stock bracket moves with the engine, so no stress on the cats as engine revs. This worked very well, was dirt cheap, not too hard to fab, and should work with any HFC on this car.
To me, that extra mounting effort was worth saving a few bucks not buying a HFC with integral bracket.
The exhaust note out the back is just what I wanted. The combination of the coupe resonators and the HFC gives a nice, low key burble. Sounds like it could have been a factory option.
However, there is an annoying hiss/high frequency sound anytime the engine revs through the ~3k-to-~4k rpm range. I understand some hiss is common with HFC on this car. But this seems excessive to me. However I have not ridden in another HFC equipped G, so I'm not sure if I'm being too critical. It doesn't matter if I'm revving it at a stop, accelerating aggressively or gently, or just if the rev matching paddle downshift happens to pass through that rpm range, it will hiss as it passes through those rpms. Loudly. Still, its mostly just me in the car, and I usually have the radio on, and this is just my winter car, so I'm mostly ok with it. But it does annoy me a bit.
Lastly, the cats were on less than a week before I got a CEL, despite the built in O2 spacers. I reset the light, and it came back in a day. I ordered a set of right angle spacers from Amazon, which I am yet to fit. Hopefully double spacing it addresses the issue. I don't know if a CEL so soon after install is common with HFC on this car, or if its an indication of a quality issue with this brand.
Summary:
Inexpensive
Presentable
Droops (DIY fix)
CEL
12-20-2018, 12:59 PM
#3
Registered Member
Thread Starter
Apologies, I'm a newbie here. I see this probably should have gone in the exhaust sub-forum. Didn't notice that area before I posted this. Perhaps a mod could move this?
Yes, I saw there are a number of 100-150 cpi HFC's, but I was worried about smell, soot buildup, etc. I am an older-ish guy, and where I live and work need to keep up some measure of appearances. So I needed something that wouldn't have objectionable sound, smell, appearance, etc.
Yes, I saw there are a number of 100-150 cpi HFC's, but I was worried about smell, soot buildup, etc. I am an older-ish guy, and where I live and work need to keep up some measure of appearances. So I needed something that wouldn't have objectionable sound, smell, appearance, etc.
12-20-2018, 03:41 PM
#4
Apologies, I'm a newbie here. I see this probably should have gone in the exhaust sub-forum. Didn't notice that area before I posted this. Perhaps a mod could move this?
Yes, I saw there are a number of 100-150 cpi HFC's, but I was worried about smell, soot buildup, etc. I am an older-ish guy, and where I live and work need to keep up some measure of appearances. So I needed something that wouldn't have objectionable sound, smell, appearance, etc.
Yes, I saw there are a number of 100-150 cpi HFC's, but I was worried about smell, soot buildup, etc. I am an older-ish guy, and where I live and work need to keep up some measure of appearances. So I needed something that wouldn't have objectionable sound, smell, appearance, etc.
thanks for the revie and goodluck!
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