After purchasing the Spoon N1 exhaust last spring in a group buy from
Clubrsx, the natural next step was to get the Spoon B-pipe. Spoon distributers
are far and few between, and I found it quite challenging to find a place
that had the Spoon B-pipe in stock, and even harder to find it for a reasonable
price. AJ-Racing in Canada had it in stock for a good price, but shipping and
import fees would make it a little expensive. Recently Chris Dye, founder of
Clubrsx had a falling out with Spoon, and descided to clearence out all his
Spoon merchandice. Well, his loss is my gain, and I picked up the B-pipe from
Clubrsx for $350 shipped.
I took off my N1 exhaust for the winter since the MN winters are very hard
on exhaust components, so I will reinstall it and my new B-pipe in the
spring. I will update this page with new pics and info on the install as
well as performance gains then.
Here are some specs on the Spoon B-pipe:
|
60.5 mm (2.38 in)
|
|
5.9 kg (13 lbs)
|
|
135 liter/sec
|
|
The install was uncomplicated, but proved slightly challenging due to the fact
that my stock b-pipe has had almost 2 years to bind to my cat. To install the
pipe I first applied some liquid wrench to the three nuts/bolts connecting the b-pipe
to the cat and gave that some time to set in. I then disconnected the
muffler/exhaust from the b-pipe and removed it. I then removed the three nuts
that connect the b-pipe to the cat with a 14 mm socket and the longest ratchet
I could find. I ended up using my torque wrench since I don't have a large
breaker bar, but a breaker bar would be preferable. I also gave it a whack or
two with a hammer to loosen up the rust. Once the nuts were removed
I was able to remove the stock b-pipe. I tranferred the rubber mounting
bands from the stock components to the Spoon exhaust, and reassebled the
exhaust first by mounting it to the car, then bolting the muffler to the b-pipe,
and finally bolting the b-pipe to the cat. I used the Spoon supplied gasket, bolts,
and springs for mounting the muffler to the b-pipe, and the supplied nuts for
connecting the b-pipe to the cat. Also included with the b-pipe was a
washer/gasket which I think was for the cat/b-pipe connnection, but it didn't
seem necessary so I didn't install it. I tightened down the b-pipe bolts
to 25 ft-lbs, tightened up the muffler bolts until they were tight, and I
was done.
|
|
|
|
|
|
$350 (including shipping)
|
|
1 hour
|
|
4
|
|
|
The B-pipe came very well polished to a fine mirror shine. Even
so, I'm on a crazy polishing kick right now, so I gave it a once
over with the polisher. The welds look great, and as expected it
fits perfectly with the Spoon N1 exhaust. I will add more comments
once it is installed.
Well I finally got around to installing the b-pipe, as well
as re-installing the N1 exhaust. I was hoping to install these separately
so I could distinguish thier gains, but I was too impatient so I did it at
the same time. The performance gains were very good, especially in VTEC.
The gains were definately greater then when I installed the N1 exhaust by
itself last spring, but it's hard to be exact without dyno numbers. The
exhaust note is definately louder, much louder then stock, but only a
bit louder then with the N1 exhaust. It is deeper sounding from 3-5k
rpms, but really roars above 5k. Overall I'm very happy with this mod,
with the performance gains, sound, and oh man, does it look nice. Even
though it's under the car...
|
|
|