First I want to thank Mafay2 and the guys at http://www.boomplustoys.net for getting this to me. Excellent service, great prices, and super nice guys. I recommend them to anyone who is looking at purchasing parts.

Also special thanks to Mark at McB Autosport in Bridgeville, Pa. Mark is a great guy and I trust no one more when doing work on my car. He is well known for his work on IT Civics and Hondas in general. When you see the high dollar Ferraris, Jags, Porsche, etc. rolling in and out of his shop there is no need to question his reputation. If anyone needs work done in Pittsburgh you can find his contact info here http://www.mcbautosport.com . Website needs some work

I have 25 images posted here http://www.imagestation.com/al...nvite

Out of the Box Impressions:
The Fujitsubo is beautiful. The welds are top notch. The stainless piping is very thin. Contributing to its lightweight. They even included some heat shield wrap for a brake line running close to the exhaust. The instructions, while in Japenese, are helpful with a well numbered diagram.

I didn't feel like hauling out our digital corner weight scales, so I just threw it on a bathroom scale. Not 100% accurate, but good enough to compare its weight to the stock system.

I got the following weights on the scale:
STOCK
Axle Back - 18.5 lbs
B - Pipe - 16 lbs
Total - 34.5 lbs

RM-01A
Axle Back - 11.5 lbs.
B-Pipe - 12 lbs.
Total - 23.5 lbs.

Without going Titanium $$$ I think you be hard pressed to find anything lighter.

Install
Wanting to keep my car legal for SCCA DS I needed to retain everything stock from the Cat forward. This meant cutting 4 inches off of my brand new exhaust . Oh well, if someone is looking at my exhaust that far under the car they need to be careful that the whole thing doesn't come down on their head.

Under normal circumstances it would have taken longer to remove the factory exhaust than to install the RM-01A. Everything matched up perfectly.

However we had to hang everything up loose and find where to rough cut the B-pipe. We cut off the B-Pipe/Cat flange @ about 7 inches. Next we rehung the exhaust without the flange with everything tight we measured from the bipe to the cat flange. Trimmed 7 inch flange peice by about 4 inches and welded it back together.

Everything still lined up perfectly. Checked for leaks and took it for a spin. All in all it took about 2 hours from start to finish. Probably would have been 45 minutes if not for the trimming.

Fit and Looks
I think this picture and the ones and the album says everything.
The thing lines up perfect. I also like the fact that it is fairly discreet for an aftermarket exhaust. No coffee can here.



Sound and Performance
What can I say about the sound, other than it is perfect for me.
Starting the car produces a nice low rumble. Overall I would say the RM-01A has a nice deep throated tone. Only when you're over 6K does it really start to scream. On the highway it is barely noticable at constant throttle. Stepping into the gas in 5th produces a good bit of low resonnance. Running it wide open it sounds great while not on the verge of making you deaf.

I will post some vids and/or sound files this weekend.

Performance wise it is hard to say. It seems like it might pull a little harder to the redline. Then again it could just be the fact that it sounds much better screaming to the redline. I might run it out to the dyno sometime soon just for ***** and giggles and compare to my stock baseline from last year.

Really I didn't have any expectations here. I simply wanted to save some weight and was looking for something I could hear while AutoXing.

I would recommend the RM-01A to anyone in the market for a high quality exhaust that is very streetable, while sounding good.

Thanks again to Mark and Mafay2


Modified by shamun at 8:12 AM 5/1/2003

 

nice.

 

Welds are simply gorgeous

 

That is just a beautiful exhaust

 

I dont' know if I would cut a brand new $700 exhaust up but more power to you. For the money I would gotten an SMSP/Hytech or another exhaust without bottlenecks. You could have retained the factory header/cat setup and it would have bolted it right on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hungsteR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I dont' know if I would cut a brand new $700 exhaust up but more power to you. For the money I would gotten an SMSP/Hytech or another exhaust without bottlenecks. You could have retained the factory header/cat setup and it would have bolted it right on. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Time my friend...... time. I am not patient enough to wait 2+ months for an exhuast. No bottlenecks here either....

 

good stouffers

 

Is that the 90 mm tip on there? I thought that would look too friggin big...but if that is the 90 on your car, it actually looks pretty good. Another reason I'll be pickin up an rm01a for #941 pretty soon...

 

I believe it is 90mm.

 

Best exhaust ever!
I love mine, glad you like yours.

 

Not only am I the president of the I love the RM-01A club, but I am also a member...


Modified by Flux at 10:49 AM 5/1/2003

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Flux &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Not only am I the president of the I love the RM-01A club, but I am also the president... </TD></TR></TABLE>

Co-President!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B2FiNiTY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That is just a beautiful exhaust </TD></TR></TABLE>
Damn thats clean

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris N &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Co-President!</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm President of the DC5 RM-01A club. Great sytem, I love mine.

 

Great review, I've been thinking about this exhaust for a while

Good to hear everyone's good impressions

 

I like alot! Got to love the welds and all around quality!

 

This is an excellent exhuast system. My friend is currently running it on his EK. The quality is superb and the noise level is very tolerable,at least compared to my silencer equipped Spoon N1 His exhuast had to go back in the shop after the first cut as the shop that did it left it a bit too long and it stuck out too much. After the second attempt thought it looks great. That is the only shortcoming to this system that I can think of. Good review

 

The only bad part of it all is I only got to drive around for about an hour before I had to catch a cab to the airport for work. Tommorow afternoon.........
Having an ITR and traveling for work (without car) is a lot like my relationship with my girlfriend. The sex/driving is always better when you don't see them all week....especially if it is a couple weeks.

 

If you trust anyone to drive your car, switch cars and drive a little bit behind them in the right hand lane and get a good listen to the exhaust! It is MUCH different outside the car. In fact, I like listening to it more from outside the car than inside! But I don't let many people drive my car, so I don't get to hear it from outside much...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I got the following weights on the scale:
STOCK
Axle Back - 18.5 lbs
B - Pipe - 16 lbs
Total - 34.5 lbs

RM-01A
Axle Back - 11.5 lbs.
B-Pipe - 12 lbs.
Total - 23.5 lbs.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Tiiite review. I've always wanted to know what the stock exhaust weighed.

 

is this a full 2.5 inch cat back???

 

2.38"/60.5mm

What's with everyone and 2.5"???

 

damn very nice exhaust. Makes me wanna get rid of my evo

Can I ask how much you paid for that?

ill be waiting for those sound clips

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris N &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">2.38"/60.5mm

What's with everyone and 2.5"???</TD></TR></TABLE>

i need something very free flowing to go with my new b20vtec setup

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris N &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">2.38"/60.5mm

What's with everyone and 2.5"???</TD></TR></TABLE>

Many individuals are running a header with a 2.5" collector paired with a 2.5" cat. and want to maintain that diameter throughout the rest of the exhaust piping. On an ITR, all of the information I've seen has indicated that, all other things being equal (e.g. muffler design, bends, etc.), a system constructed with 2.5" tubing will yield greater gains than a 2.25" or a 60mm (2.38") system. Though there is less than 1/8" difference (OD) in diameter between 2.5" and 60mm tubing, the difference in cross-sectional area (again using OD)is a somewhat more substantial ~10%.