j9fd3s

actually the JDM exhausts fit much better, and usually sound good too. it doesnt seem like its worth a premium for that until you try to put an ebay dpwnpipe on an fd, or have to reweld the muffler cause it just came apart, again.

75 Repu

Yeah, i'd rather pay triple if I know the quality will be good. I'm slowly getting that into my bro's head for his z32 nissan. He's slowly learnin the whole ebay/cheap crap<expensive name brand stuff.

Maxt

The knock offs cost less, because they did no R&D, materials checking or safety code registration, they just took the expensive what ever kit whos manafacture jumped through all the hoops of making a quality product and then did a **** *** copy to give cheap *** people something tangible to play with after ripping them off..

Are you really going to compare a ebay bov or wastagate to a Greddy or HKS and claim they are on the same level?

Or the China chargers..

Or the Body kits that fit like a saddle on a hog with no metal in the mounting points?

Or the brake rotors that have .15 of runnout out of the box?

Ever been to a tuning shop that develops real exhaust systesm? Chassis dyno's arent free, neither is the time to figure out which muffler design makes the most power while still passing noise and smog rules.. Anything on ebay have a Jasma label?

Most of that knock of **** is just shiney tubing imitating a performance part, it might be labelled a performance exhaust system on ebay, but anyone can buy a chinese built bender and some fart cannons and throw something that kinda fits and makes more noise.

Lots of people are already thinking who cares, its just Greddy, well Greddy sponsors lots of rotary specific shops, look at all the Greddy show cars RE amemiya did, think that won't affect his bottom line, on top of all the shops in the states knocking off his product here, he is licensed through Autobacs which will probably start dealing with the counterfieting soon as it hurts them to.

The common idea is that guys in tuning shops in Japan are just rolling in dough, most shops there put everything they make back into R&D projects for competitive racing, which in turn we benefit from by them producing the resulting best parts. I have worked in some of those shops, and those guys really don't make alot of money, it only pays about 25,000.00/year base with a couple of bonuses per year..

TheRX7Project

How much R&D does building an exhaust or CAI take? I built my custom exhaust on my '7 in less than 2 hours.



Research- Jacked the car up, looked at old exhaust routing. Took a couple measurements.

Development- Started welding pipes together. Took a couple more measurements, cut pipes and welded them together.



Cost me all of maybe $75?



And my Focus CAI....

Research- Opened hood. Removed factory intake.

Development- cut a few pipes and clamped a filter on the end.



So... what's the deal here? Why did the intake that cost me $35 to make myself, cost someone from FocusSport $200? Is it really 7x better? **** no.



I understand some things require a lot of R&D... are are worth the coin. But some stuff requires almost NO R&D. So I refuse to pay for R&D on something that requires none!

RotaryVillain

Here is the problem with your analysis: simply building an exhaust as you described is NOT r&d or engineering. Now R&D or Engineering of an exhaust would mean setting up variables (mathematically)to test for in a scientific manner (like maybe hp production). Unless your actually Testing for something in a scientific manner and Then testing variables to determine best characteristics (for exhaust possible tubing diameter, transitions, maybe even material). What You described is not R&D, you described an exhaust welding job. Hint: Just because you can weld an exhaust does NOT make you an engineer. What you need to ask yourself is this, do you THINK that the exhaust developed by you is the Best for your application? Better yet can you PROVE that it is? Unless you can answer yes to both questions, you did not R&D anything, you simply cut some pipes and welded an exhaust nothing more, nothing less. Although your exhaust might be "better than stock" I highly doubt that you can PROVE that it is any better then any pos exhaust i could get @ meineke or discount muffler. The thing is that in the Performance market the idea is to be the Fastest (or best) not just "faster than stock," AND be able to prove it either with some kind of dyno testing or with track results. I'm not trying to sound like an ******* I'm just sick and tired of everybody THINKING that they're an engineer doing R*D just because they can weld an exhaust and install an rx7 engine . Automotive engineering is much more than welding an exhaust or cutting a gasket out of a new material lol and I hate to say it but your line of thinking is the reason the aftermarket performance market is suffering and the reason OBX is soon going to be the biggest aftermarket performance parts manufacturer, which is NOT a good thing

TheRX7Project

Well maybe the aftermarket companies should take that into account before overpricing their products.



I am not an engineer, not by any means, but I'm pretty sure once a company's product has been outdone, I.E. if Greddy made a turbo kit that made 250hp, then Turbonetics made one that made 300hp, I'm willing to bet Greddy will still sell their product as well.



I don't get anything to try and have the "best"... I just try to have "better". I understand if you want the best, you gotta pay for it. I don't mind paying $200+ for an MSD box. I don't mind paying a little extra for BFG Drag Radials, or custom Diamond Racing wheels.



What I am annoyed with, is these companies who charge out the *** for something the average man can make himself in his garage with somewhat basic tools. There's no way you can tell me that a 2.5" name brand exhaust is going to be that much better than a 2.5" home done exhaust (by someone who has a clue). The RB full exhaust for my car costs $745. Seriously, WTF is that? You're telling me I can't make a comprable exhaust for less than that at home? I'd actually place money my exhaust flows better based on the mufflers they use, but I don't care enough to prove it. Either way, the difference would be negligible. So for <$300 (they include a header, and I bought a header), I made a comprable exhaust to the one they want 2-1/2x as much for.



THAT is my ******* problem.



EDIT: I just re-read, and the RB system doesn't include the intermediate pipe. It's not even a complete system and it's $745.

Maxt

You made some pipes to route the gas to the back of the car, you didnt make a system, the research you did was what, looking at other peoples systems that actually did some R&D? Your dyno comparison time was welll hmm Zero... your noise testing was what? Sounds like you made a knock off, visually it may be an exhaust, functionally its far from a system. I am sureyou polished all the welds and there was no drop thought either..

Here's a shocker, Companies need to make money, where do you think money comes from for other product development.

TheRX7Project

Right, because those polished welds make such a performance difference?

Maxt

Its part of a quality product, rather than welds that look like *** and have slag on the inside.. Show us your great masterpiece and the subsequent dyno testing..

jwteknix

ouch LOL. I like to go big or go home kevin taught me well