Hey guys, just got my 05 wrx last week. It came with an hks hi power cbe. Did an assload of reading and purchased a cobb ap v1. My plans are to run i/up/dp/cbe/ap stage 2 91 oct. The next item to purchase on my list is the downpipe. Im on a very tight budget, and also saving up for my buddies vf39 and tmic in july when he swaps for a gt35r. Ive been looking around and here are my options:
hks catless dp


or a generic ebay one


now i tried to do some research but came up with nothing, so give me your opinions or post links to helpful info PLEASE!!!

is one better than the other? im looking to get a decent dp for under 150 so is that possible? Also, notice how the ebay one (and most others for that matter) is oval towards the opening, while the hks one is round... is the enlargement towards the mouth, or "BELLMOUTH" as they call it, a big deal as opposed to just a round opening? It sounds tempting to get the hks since i have a hks cbe, but what do you think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me out and THANK YOU SOO MUCH IN ADVANCE FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS!!!

*edit- btw, has any of you ran the hks pipe on your cars? any pros/cons? Significant gains? Please be as detailed as possible...
if this is a repeat or noob question, please forgive me...

 

"you get what you pay for", so i'd stay away from the ebay junk. is that really the hks dp cuz it looks like crap. my suggestion is to get a used dp from a private seller. helix makes dp for a fair price.

 

take a look at nasioc for reviews of the ebay exhausts. They actually are fairly decent. I have an ebay "ERZ" flex uppipe in my car now. Paid $90 shipped for it 2.5 years ago. No leaks, no complaints.

Stay away from the HKS unit, they do not flow very well. Look at some photos of turbos online and you'll notice the waste gate door to the right of the turbine outlet. The HKS, and stock DP both have that plate covering the wastegate. This allows only one direction for the wastegate gases to move. Right in to the exhaust turbine flow. This creates sort of a vortex and does not flow as well as a divorced wastegate downpipe, or a bellmouth(like the one in the second pic).

There are plenty of other used downpipes for sale. I just did a quick search on nasioc and found this:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1214323
Gruppe-S selling a used V1 helix dp for $99. Talk about a deal!

Good luck with the car!

 

i have the HKS down pipe on my car

i got it because it was free

 

wow, wtf!!! i searched nasioc front to back and couldnt find whay you found. you>me lol....thank you soo much for your advice man, thats basically what i needed to hear.

 

you're right, the saying is true, but when im on a tight budget and as far as design, the ebay one doesnt look all that bad, i dont see a reason other than the quality of the material actually used to make it, that the ebay dp would be bad. plus, if you take a look at the hks unit, although its supposed to be a name brand and better, it actually looks inferior in design... that IS an hks dp in the first picture..

 

what exhaust do you have it mated to? any trouble with it? did you feal a gain from the stock? any feedback regarding the dp would be appreciated

 

yeah, stay away from the HKS pipe, but also, by "i" (on your list of wanted mods) do you mean intake? Read up on the Cobb maps and intakes, they do not work well together

 

by "i" i meant the cobb intake...as far as i have read, the cobb intake is ok to be used with the cobb stage 2 map....correct me if im wrong tho, cause im not 100% sure

 

go here:
http://www.cobbtuning.com/info/?ID=3061

Choose your respective year, and read the map notes.

 

read the map notes:

"Additional Notes:
For use with a 2005 WRX running a turbo-back exhaust system operating with Arizona,
California, or Nevada 91 octane. Additional modifications such as uppipe and
underdrive pulley are still within the acceptable parameters of this calibration.
MUST USE FACTORY OR COBB SF INTAKE SYSTEM, NO OTHER AFTERMARKET INTAKES ARE CERTIFIED COMPATIBLE WITH THIS CALIBRATION."


i guess im ok then..

 

I think the Ebay one isn't bad.Besides you would want a bellmouth because it helps the flow. So To me any Downpipe is good as long as its a bellmouth and read up on how the fitment is. Most downpipe fit most CBE but there are some that are defects, so depends on your luck. I'm currently running Helix DP and its great.

 

cool.. ill look into that thanx