Berk Test Pipes impression
 

So, I just installed my test pipes (bought from DD). the first thing i noticed was...MY SERVICE ENGINE SOON light!! that's a bummer. i guess i have one of the few "sensitive" engines. with that said, it sounds great (sound clips coming this weekend). there is a lil rasp around 2700-3000 rpms, but that goes away soon, and the beautiful sound comes to life. its the same note as stock, just a little louder, but definitely not annoying at all. SORRY GUYS, NO DYNO YET! i just didnt have the time. but i will probably go soon. i have to say though, and i know its a inappropriate saying, but it does FEEL a little quicker. nothing too drastic, but i did some pulls against my friend (before and after), and there was some change. Overall, I am pretty happy. I will probably sell them though to get the HFCs, so my CEL will go away. I don't think it will trigger the CEL on some cars tho because mine only goes on when my gas tank is half empty (or half full). so if u have any questions, fire away. Or, if ur in the florida area and want to buy them, i will keep you in mind once my HFCs come in.

Unfortunately with the newer Nissan's, the second O2 sensor after the cat can adjust fuel trims, so it's input is required (can't just pop an O2 sensor emulator in there).

We've seen some CEL issues with HFCs as well with the G37s, it can depend on the car, but there is no direct answer right now to avoiding the CELs for test/race pipes or high flow cats..

One of the reasons we're doing additional testing on our HFCs before releasing anything..

ya, its unfortunate. I had a feeling it would go off. tks for ur input tho. I cant wait to buy ur exhaust

Awesome! Thanks for doing the review.. we were waiting to see results as well.. we haven't had as much time as normal with a 370 as we typically do (the demand from Nissan has been high.. that's a good thing)..

It's tough, they can make some fantastic power!

well if u and stillen wanna come to florida, u can have all the time u want with mine. just hook it up when it comes to getting ur parts =P

Ah damnit, thanks for the info ssqpolo!

^^ no worries man. Hey, at least it was cool to hear Mike say "Ya, you are the first order for the Berk test pipes!"....NICE..haha. I think I will just put black tape over the light lol. I really like the sound. every time I downshift, it makes a little rumble...sounds super aggressive.

ssq you got some PM

^^tks shumby.

and back on the review....in regards to the rasp-sound--its only evident whilst accelerating. I drive on the highway alot, and thought it would be annoying, but while cruising there is no rasp at all...just pure seksy sounds lol.

Thanks for the review. Re. the CEL, have you tried just resetting it with a code reader? That's what I did when I had test pipes on my 350. I actually kept it in my car so that if the CEL came back on I could just plug it in and reset it. lol

Glad you got them on there! Bummer about the CEL though. What about using a non-fouler to space it out even more? That might avoid having to switch to HFCs.

http://www.redpepperracing.com/galle.../Nonfouler.jpg

These can be found at most neighborhood auto parts stores and you just have to drill the hole on the bottom out big enough to fit your o2 sensor through it. Just a though on a possible cheap fix.

tks for the tips guys. i will try them out when i get the time. for now, I am just living with it

Anyone with Test Pipes automatically will get the lights. If you had HFCs then you might not get them. Mine just came on after 4k of miles with HFCs. Berk mentioned stuffing Steel wool in the non-fouler bun and put the o2 back in and this will help some. But that is for HFCs, not test pipes.

Really? Thats weird, what exactly do they adjust using the second sensor? I thought it has always been there just to ensure that the cats are working properly and to set the CEL if they aren't?

That isn't a garuntee, as shown by the fact that he only gets the CEL about half the time. And is the whole point of removing the O2 sensor from the exhaust stream a bit more with the sparkplug anti-foulers.

I always run test pipes in every car I buy but where I bought my 370 they said removing cats will most likely void warranty.. Anybody else know about this?

As cats are required by law this one will probably have deeper ramifications than you run-of-the-mill mod. Also, who here knows how much, and what information the ECU stores? Porsche has this down to an art when you screw with their cars.

If Porsche has driven it to an art then BMW is the Michelangelo of the ECU.

:icon18: Yeah, the Germans are getting so tight about matters that they pick-n-choose who and what they will allow regarding any warranty matter. They've spent so much time making tattletale ECUs it's unbelievable.

You wanna give me your test pipes to throw them on my car with the headers and stillen exhaust?

Thanks for the review! You're perfectly honest with everything and that's absolutely what you should be doing.

With any brand of TEST PIPES there is a very high incidence of CEL lights.

With BERK HFC's we have the lowest incidence of CEL lights and there are more Z's and G's out there with BERK HFC's than all of the other manufacturers combined.

update:
so i find myself revving it under every bridge or tunnel or parking garage possible now...im officially in love with the noise lol. the rasp still bothers me a little, but i was reading in another thread that i may just need to torque my bolts more. the CEL is permanently on...i guess the ECU adjusted. but im getting used to it, though i will try to fix it asap. It definitely does run alot better. still no dynos, but running with some friends really showed a difference. what i was once beat by a car or two, i now beat by a car...big improvement (ssqpolo does not condone street racing...do it on a track guys). response is very nice. And the smell is really something. U can smell the environment dying haha jk. I always loved the smell of my dad's old e type jag, and this smells exactly like it now. No, i dont sit around getting high of my exhaust!

with that said, i have a quick question. I get free oil changes from my dealership, and i'm about to hit 6k so i gotta get it changed. Do you think they will say anything? and is there a warranty issue? I remember reading somewhere that warranty is only voided if the cause of engine failure is directly related to the modification...i dont know if that was true or BS. If anything I can just take my test pipes off, service it, and put them back on...but that a PITA (not the bread). just curious. thanks

Well, I'd try to get the CEL fixed before taking it in. Because that would definitely get their attention. Then I could see them making up some BS like 'see, the test pipes are causing a CEL, which means it's messing up the engine! We'd better make a note of this on his file.' Bye bye warranty!

ya...maybe i can just tip the mechanic to stfu...dont wanna risk it tho..

Yea Id be careful.. When I bought mine I asked a tech what I can and cannot do.. He said be careful on messing with the cats..

ya. i texted my sales buddy over there to see what i can get away with. im hoping disconnecting my battery overnight will make my CEL light go away...at least for a couple hrs

pfft bring it down here. The guys at my dealer are like "so when are the mods coming?".. I have this one guy that is going to do all my dealer work and he was all about the mods, so Im not worried. I have to go into the dealer probably today, if you want i can talk to the guy.

Ya pls do man

Im guessing these are non resonated

:bump:

Where are the dyno results, ssqpolo?

didnt do a base line, but i am gonna probably gonna get the g3s b4 i do one. but if u guys really want one, then i will try to go to the shop when i go back home in a couple weeks.

Well, the reason I'm asking is because in the thread on Stillen vs. Berk HFCs, someone (not you - zman1910 I think) stated that if you're going to get CELs even with the HFCs, then we might as well get test pipes to maximize output. So now I'm curious to know what gains the Berk test pipes produce over the Berk HFCs. Are you aware of what Berk claims for their test pipes? (I looked on their website and didn't see anything.) Of course, if you didn't do a baseline while it was stock, then getting a dyno now won't tell us definitively what gain the test pipes yield anyway. (I'm just as guilty of this.) But yeah, what I'm really after is finding out how much more gain we get out of Berk's test pipes vs. their HFCs. Let me know if you're aware of any data on this.

Edit: I sent a PM to BerkTech to see if he has anything.

Test Pipes will cause the light to come on and there will be not much you can do to not prevent the light coming on with those. With HFCs though you have a chance of preventing it with the methods above. Also less rasp, less smell with HFCs.

Not sure why Stillen (maybe due to lack of experience as they don't specialize in ecu tuning) keeps saying the o2's behind the cats that do the fuel adjustments when it's the front o2's that do the fuel/air adjustments as they need a reading before they hit the cats. UPREV has already disabled these o2s on several cars with no issues.

ya..thanks NismoZ for that info...i ll look into that UpRev.
Semtex...Berk had no information about their test pipes. I don't think they ever put it on a car, maybe just to see if it fit. When they first came out with the HFC's, I asked Mike at DD about the sound/gain, and didn't really have much to say other than it should be producing more than the HFCs. I guess the dyno will tell. maybe more ppl with stock Zs can do dyno runs so we can see. on avg we see 250-260 stock on mustang and DD. I want to say i will uninstall my test pipes, dyno, then reinstall them...but they were such a PIA to install, so im not going that route. But, I will dyno...eventually.

Anybody have a link where I can find more information on UpRev? I have heard it mentioned here and there.

UpRev - Engine Management - I plan on using them to tune my car, but they haven't released anything for the 370Z yet (but they're working on it).

www.uprev.com I know...who would've thunk it, right? ;)

haha. typically websites arenet named after what the company is called:ugh2::bowrofl:

hahaha thanks guys.

Looks like UpRev is the tuner I will be going to for any adjustments. This is very similar to how my Mustang was tuned. Very simple and effective, exactly what I like to see.