[G-spec]

G35 member accordfreak was doing some custom work on his AUTHENTIC HKS exhaust which costs upwards of $1500+ brand new and this is what he found when he cut the Y-Pipe section up, quality fuckin shit HKS, quality shit





http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab322/Buyallmystuff/SNC10808.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/accordfreak/g35stuff/IMG_1378.jpg

[monkeywrench]

G35 member accordfreak was doing some custom work on his AUTHENTIC HKS exhaust which costs upwards of $1500+ brand new and this is what he found when he cut the Y-Pipe section up, quality fuckin shit HKS, quality shit





http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab322/Buyallmystuff/SNC10808.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/accordfreak/g35stuff/IMG_1378.jpg

HAHAHHA damn I lol'd out loud looking at that picture.

Real HKS exhaust? Feel bad for the guy if he bought it new. The air flow must suck

[gloors]

WOW :facepalm: that fucking blows.. 1500$ for that pos god damn. Good chuckle tho but feel sorry for the guy
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[jpark]

wow..

[1990TSI]

custom tuned

:fuuuuu:

[shenmecar]

know whats the cherry on top?

warranty is likely void. no point bitching to whoever sold it to him.

[SpuGen]

Should've been running a Xpipe anyways ;)

I never understood why HKS made a Dual Pipe setup with a single "cross" section.
It's not even a True Dual, and X pipes flow better.


But then again, if they went with a x-pipe, it might've been worse. hah

[GDChoi]

Should've been running a Xpipe anyways ;)

I never understood why HKS made a Dual Pipe setup with a single "cross" section.
It's not even a True Dual, and X pipes flow better.


But then again, if they went with a x-pipe, it might've been worse. hah

I just pictured a X pipe with everything blocked off.
Sucks to see, send it to hks see what they say.

[G-spec]

and hey just for kicks, a comparison of a $300 replica HKS clone exhaust you can buy off eBay, still not perfect you can see the hole there that would definitely disrupt airflow, but a helluva step up from what's in the pics above




http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g152/jairenenguillado/IMG_1433.jpg?t=1294734309

[FN-2199]

http://bonius.com/gallery2/d/5145-1/picard.jpg

How disappointing. :rolleyes:

Apparently eBay shit is better haha

[HondaGuy]

WOW, amazed to see HKS parts turn out so poorly made.
Hope he can salvaged whatevers left.

With this custom job he was performing, was he intending to keep the bottom or top half?
(just curious, since I dont own a G35.)

Sorry to hear about the $1500 loss.

Hmmm....makes me think if I should cut out my Apexi catback in half? LOL...

[jing]

Did he buy it at AJR? :troll:
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[CharlieH]

^

LOL

[JSALES]

damn, i'd be so pissed off

[boibuddha]

That's horrible. The thing is HKS can usually get away with "details" like this because almost no one modifies a factory piece. I can't think of one person who is going to check things out with a scope, or in this case cut the sucker's top right off. He can go in there with a giant file and grind away at the pipe, maybe he can manage to fit a dremel tool into there and buzz away at it.

Kind of side tracking:
I never really understood H-pipes. If exhaust gas flow is uneven between the two pipes, H-pipes work by increasing the velocity of the slower side due to scavenging effects of the low pressure in the connecting pipe.

BUT what if exhaust flow is even? The low pressure would still be in the connecting pipe... wouldn't this, in effect, reduce the exhaust gas velocity of both pipes?

X-pipes virtually eliminate any unnecessary voids where exhaust gas could collect, no?

[SpuGen]

^
X Pipes even out the flow, and also quiets the exhaust.

THis isn't even a H-Pipe. It's just a Dual Setup with a pipe welded in for flow.
http://www.enjukuracing.com/images/hksz33hipower_full.jpg

It comes down to the welder, not HKS as a company.
Unless all of them were like this.

[GabAlmighty]

Lol, $1500 for an exhaust. That's more than twice what I paid for mine and mine would outflow that any day, and it probably sounded better.

[Shun Izaki]

^
X Pipes even out the flow, and also quiets the exhaust.

THis isn't even a H-Pipe. It's just a Dual Setup with a pipe welded in for flow.
http://www.enjukuracing.com/images/hksz33hipower_full.jpg

It comes down to the welder, not HKS as a company.
Unless all of them were like this.

Thank god you said that before all the kids came in and said

HKS = HONG KONG SHIT. bahahahaha

[G-spec]

Yea my own guess would be maybe a bad batch at minimum, no way it could it be a lone single faulty piece. And if one part escapes their quality control this badly it's a guarantee that a bunch of others probably do as well. And this is what would worry me if I was an HKS customer.

Lol @ AJR, are they still a vendor here?
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[fliptuner]

It comes down to the welder, not HKS as a company.
Unless all of them were like this.

Assuming they weld the crossover pipe on a jig, I would blame the company. All the pipes should already be prefabbed and the welder should just have to put them together.

Yes, the welder would also be to blame since he's the last person to see this before he put it together but again, I would assume the welder shouldn't be responsible for fish-mouthing the pipes but just assembling/welding them together.

[Manic!]

Is it 100% proven that's a real HKS exhaust?

and exhausts are over rated.

[FerrariEnzo]

i think we should get top gear to buy a piece and disect it and if its true about the quality.. make top gear wreck havock...

[G-spec]

HKS finally replied, although pretty generic and defensive... if they wanted to be standup about it they should have offered him a new exhaust and ask back for the old one so they could possibly track down the manufacture date and plant and perhaps really look into whether it's a problem on a bigger scale or whatever. Really doing something about it as opposed to basically saying "Hey we're HKS, who the fuck are you"


their reply


"The website you show is not how the exhausts are designed and we have been selling this exhaust since 2005 for the G35C. The 350Z exhausts have been in production since 2005 as well. This could be an isolated problem in which that customer can follow the standard warranty protocol for warranty procedures. The customer will need a copy of their receipt. The 350Z/G35C Hi-Power Ti exhaust systems carry a limited 3 year warranty against manufacture defects from the original date of purchase and covers the first owner only. HKS will determine whether a repair/ replacement is necessary after the product is shipped back for proper inspection. Thank you"

[Shun Izaki]

HKS finally replied, although pretty generic and defensive... if they wanted to be standup about it they should have offered him a new exhaust and ask back for the old one so they could possibly track down the manufacture date and plant and perhaps really look into whether it's a problem on a bigger scale or whatever. Really doing something about it as opposed to basically saying "Hey we're HKS, who the fuck are you"


their reply


"The website you show is not how the exhausts are designed and we have been selling this exhaust since 2005 for the G35C. The 350Z exhausts have been in production since 2005 as well. This could be an isolated problem in which that customer can follow the standard warranty protocol for warranty procedures. The customer will need a copy of their receipt. The 350Z/G35C Hi-Power Ti exhaust systems carry a limited 3 year warranty against manufacture defects from the original date of purchase and covers the first owner only. HKS will determine whether a repair/ replacement is necessary after the product is shipped back for proper inspection. Thank you"


wow, i'd at least be like

"we have looked into your pictures, and determined you have purchased a fake replica of our exhaust, bye"

or make up some excuse XD

[dark0821]

at least they replied... now hope ur friend is covered ><
but damn S&H wont be fun ...

[Phil@rise]

Wow thats shocking but at least now that buddy opened it up its an easy fix.

[Timpo]

are you sure this one is real?

i'm not familiar with HKS stuff but when I searched HKS G35 exhaust on google this came up...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3213/2846710004_4a6fdedd8a_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2846711318_023df52048_b.jpg

G35 member accordfreak was doing some custom work on his AUTHENTIC HKS exhaust which costs upwards of $1500+ brand new and this is what he found when he cut the Y-Pipe section up, quality fuckin shit HKS, quality shit





http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab322/Buyallmystuff/SNC10808.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/accordfreak/g35stuff/IMG_1378.jpg

[Timpo]

ok so, that exhaust seems like fake...

here's the REAL HKS exhaust

look at post #17

http://my350z.com/forum/intake-exhaust/491315-g35-hks-exhaust-on-350z.html

[bcrdukes]

Timpo's got a good point.

I have owned 2 HKS exhausts. One on my AW11 SC and one on my SW20 turbo. The welds on the exhaust look near-perfect while the one posted by OP looks like some drop-out welding apprentice went out to town on that chunk of metal. Not to mention, the flex-pipes look kinda :\

I'm suspecting the exhaust was fake to begin with. But to be fair, we don't know the full story nor the truth so I'm not going to be so quick to make judgement.

[G-spec]

It's confirmed to be authentic a few minutes of googling isn't a confirmation of the opposite, furthermore the fact HKS examined upclose all the various up close pictures that were sent and in the end didn't deny te exhausts authenticity, well that speaks for itself.

I think some of the VQ guys may be mass emailing HKS with those pictures and ask WTF is up, lot of them are pissed off, especially due to the fact that for years now on the G35 and 350z forums one of the biggest debate arguments has been the owners of the authentic HKS and fake eBay ones. This particluar HKS ehaust is a favorite for fakes in the VQ world, I think there exist at least 5 different fakes of this specific exhaust out there. And the only thing the authentic HKS owners been saying all these times in arguments against the owners of the fake one is that theirs is fully optimal, authentic, rigorous testing, etc...
So yea needless to say, this really pisses the authentic owners quite a bit
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[bcrdukes]

All I gotta say is:
:speechless::nicethread::woot2::hotbaby: :fullofwin:

[G-spec]

BcDukes yea I see what you mean about the welds, if I was a betting man I would guess with a batch of these had a really shitty welder and non existent quality control, I honestly don't think they make every single exhaust this way
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[Captain Bondo]

Thank god you said that before all the kids came in and said

HKS = HONG KONG SHIT. bahahahaha

I thought it was "Hong Kong Supermarket" :troll: Hehehe....

[Phil@rise]

Your (OP) exhaust appears to be mig welded when the other ones posted appear to be tig welded.
I have seen instances where a manufacturer will replace a knockoff with an original just to keep the customer happy. Providing the customer proves it was bought from a legit dealer.

[Timpo]

ok so...is OP's exhaust fake or real?

[Manic!]

ok so...is OP's exhaust fake or real?


Know one knows for sure yet.

But it's hard to believe a company that also makes airplane engines would make something so crappy.

[optiblue]

seems fake to me. Where was it purchased from?

[freakshow]

the fact HKS examined upclose all the various up close pictures that were sent and in the end didn't deny te exhausts authenticity, well that speaks for itself.

I think they are denying it's authenticity when they say "The website you show is not how the exhausts are designed". If they said anything else, like "you bought a fake", you, or the OP, would probably be even more pissed off.

[G-spec]

yea quote


those who are saying it's fake either

1)doesn't have an hks exhaust
2)has the hks exhaust but doesn't like to see they didn't get what they paid.


So I was under the car today to finish up some installs of other stuff and just to be nice I snapped pics

Yes, I rewelded the right side myself. That's why it's so shitty looking because I welded it but who cares, there are no leaks and it holds up very well after scraping many times. I also rewelded the Y pipe back together after cutting out the H pipe protrusion.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/accordfreak/g35stuff/IMG_7384.jpg

So here are the smashed up HKS tips. ooo look at the blue rainbow (not brown) unless you're color blind

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/accordfreak/g35stuff/IMG_7381.jpg

replaced with Ebay tips. YES EBAY TIPS.. wow look at those canisters! they're welded!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/accordfreak/g35stuff/IMG_7379.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/accordfreak/g35stuff/IMG_7382.jpg

end of story.



few other interesting quotes that make sense


HKS welds went down hill... google it and you will see someone with a S2K pulled out his AUTHENTIC HKS out off the box and his welds were CRAP... looked just like mine :(



must be a defected product, ill be the first to say that HKS has gone down hill since back in the day, the welds got sloppy and this...... i remember a member got an REAL HKS and when he inspected it, he saw something like this and he was also suprised about the welds.....keep in mind this was not his first exhaust..... so i think he returned it...

im thinking that HKS got sloppy when there was more demand, they just started half a$$ing everything in order to get it out.....

im glad my HKS doesnt have this defect, BUT i did get the shitty welds :suicide: :bowrofl:

[jasonturbo]

This has just prevented me from buying HKS Legamax for my STI, so thanks.

In regards to who is responsible for the poor construction, it's not the welder, its HKS. They are supposed to have quality control in place just like every other manufacturing company, it's really sad that they make this junk. Being realistic, it's probably not even made "in house" it's more than likely contracted to the lowest bidder and no quality checks are actually performed by HKS.

A real life example of this, needed some coil overs in a hurry and went to buy some locally, when I got to the shop I asked to take a look at some skunk2 coils so we opened up a box to have a look. Well the box had four front coils and no rear.... so we check another box... and another box... and it's the same story. How much quality control does a company have in place when they cant even make sure to package a product properly with only 4 parts.

So many of these companys that sell "race" parts, dont do any research at all, don' campaign actual race cars, and dont do any design or manufacturing themselves. There is a reason baller parts cost baller money, cause research, design, quality, the best materials, etc all cost a lot of money.

Thanks for posting, spread the word and drag HKS through the dirt, your friend might actually see some results.

Thought it is sad that HKS is now on par with t1R and Skunk2.