I picked up some of Richie's HFPC's during his recent sale and figured I'd mimic rooster415's review thread

I had the old one's out before FedEx even showed up on Friday . Naturally, the rear one took the majority of the time. I came to the conclusion that it was pretty much impossible to remove it unless the heat shield was first removed. There just wasn't enough clearance with the block bolts to get it out otherwise. Removing the shield with limited room wasn't an easy task but once it came off there was sufficient clearance to remove the cat from the top.

I used this guy's DIY (don't know his username, but I know he's on AZ):
This is for the Accord so there's some subtle differences with the TL. But much of it is the same. Tips for clips and sensors are especially helpful. Some of those were a pain.

A few tips for removing nuts on the cats: PB blaster and 6-point sockets. The PB blaster might be optional since not all of your nuts will necessarily be siezed. But I used it on all of them and it seemed to help. 6-point sockets are critical however. There's a strong chance you'll strip a nut otherwise, especially on the underside where things will get a bit rusty. I stripped one on my jpipe to front cat when I installed my jpipe a few months ago and now it was so goofed up that even a 6-point socket wouldn't get it off. I ended up having to bust out the dremel which made the procedure about 30 minutes longer than it had to be.

And remember to keep track of all the sensors and others things that you'll remove. I forgot to plug in the cable to the throttle control and that naturally resulted in no response when pressing the gas pedal. As well as a CEL which went away after a few minutes (after shutting the engine off and plugging in the cable of course). Don't be ghetto when putting all the sensor clips back either. They're there for a reason. If cables are rubbing against other parts or push up against a cat, you're going to be regretting it down the road when you have a buy a new O2 sensor because it shorted out.

Sound: The sound was definitely deeper and throatier. My setup is RV6 HFPC's, RV6 jpipe/3rd cat delete, mid-muffler delete, stock catback. If you plan on doing this I'd keep the mid-muffler until you hear it initially, then get rid of it if you want to experiment. I'd already gotten rid of the mid-muffler so I'd sort of burned that bridge. I get a deep drone on starup that quickly goes away as things heat up. I was getting a little bit of rasp at WOT between 3000-3500 RPM or so when I hot rodded around right after the install. However, I can't seem to replicate it now after having put about 100 miles on the car. Could be carbon buildup or maybe just the effect of burn in or maybe even the ECU adjusting. Either way, even with that little bit of rasp at that one interval, it didn't bother me at all. I can't tell a difference in sound at all while cruising, even with the windows open. At WOT from 3000+ RPM things definitely sound meaner, and in a good way. Overall, very happy with the sound. It's not ricey at all. I'm not considering the extra resonator at this point.

Performance: Unless you're talking night and day, judging performance with a butt dyno is always a little sketchy since psycology plays into it. However, there's definitely a difference in the 3000+ RPM range. I'd say the most dramatic differences are 3000-5000. There's considerably more pull and response. This was especially noticeable this morning on my way to work. I had my mind on other things (work related) and wasn't paying attention to the car at all. A light turned yellow so I downshifed to make it. The difference was unmistakeable. I still had my mind on work but the thought was there "damn, those HFPC's were worth the $600 and three and a half hours bending over the hood".

Mileage and Weight: I don't think too many will purchase these for a mileage increase or weight loss, but I believe both are improved. Weight is objective: Original Cats with heat shields are about 18lbs. combined. These are about 11.5lbs. combined. So a 6.5lb savings off the front end. I believe mileage is better but it's too soon to tell. The ECU is probably still adjusting from being reset and I've only taken three trips. However, I averaged 32mpg on my way to work today as opposed to 30. I've gotten between 28-32mpg on that trip dependent on how I drive and other conditions so I'm not making a statement on that yet. But being that it was on the high end despite a few WOT's and downshifts, it certainly wasn't worse

Smell: An initial goofy smell due to burn in but after 20 miles, no change. I put my face down by the exhaust before then this morning after about 100 miles over the weekend. No change in smell at all.

Overall a very good mod for the money. Thanks Richie for the excellent product.

 

did you get your High Flow Units in a Ceramic Coat?

 

You took your time on this, sweet.

 

Yes. They still put off a fair bit of heat though. Considering how much they put off with the ceramic coat, I think the non-ceramic coat would actually be a bit dangerous to surrounding components in the engine bay. These are probably borderline. Either that or I've just never noticed how much heat the other cats put off. Luckily I've implemented portions of "the ultimate cooling mod" in the last few weeks. I think that's helped lower underhood temps.

 

on a scale from 1-10 how do you rate the hfpc?

 

I've only had them for 100 miles. But at this point I'd give them an 8, that being a combination of workmanship and performance. Workmanship is excellent and positioning of sensors is spot on. All hardware is included as well. It's clear that a lot of thought and planning went into these. And mid to high end performance increase is very good. Sound isn't negatively impacted at all. And the match and fit are perfect to OEM.

The only reasons for a lack of perfect score are 1. lack of low end power increase and possibly 2. price/power ratio. But I think I'm really nit picking at this point. Most exhaust mods don't yield dramatic low end performance, and the price for Richie's stuff is actually quite reasonable compared to some of the other aftermarket stuff. And with power/performance, well, we've all heard the "pay to play" arguement with the TL. It's just the nature of the beast. If you weren't planning on keeping your car for much over a year, I wouldn't do this. The cost and time might not be worth it unless you're going to enjoy this as a long term investment. But if you're going to enjoy the moderate performance gain over the next several years then this is definitely worth the $$. Just my on that.

On a side note, this recent thread got me thinking about low end torque:
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-112/anyone-ever-thought-about-going-back-stock-far-performance-852354/

However, I don't think I've experienced this at all, with any mods let alone the HFPC's. In fact, the jpipe seemed to noticeably increase low end response. I paid especially close attention to this before and after HFPC's to see if there was any gain/loss and didn't seem to notice any difference. Again, butt dyno which is questionably reliable

 

do you have pictures of the inner cores? angled shots of the cats, and do you have any videos to prove this near perfect score?

 

I've been going back and forth for a while about whether to get HFPCS or PCDs. This has me leaning towards HFPCs again.

 

Would the hfpc pass California smog? I know it won't pass visual, but how about the sniffer?

 

i would of went hfpc but i rather pay a little less and remove every 2 years since im in stupid cali with crazy smog laws. a little more power lols drive in 2nd gear it feels a lot better . more smooth more pull

 

I also installed the HFPCs last month and I think they are excellent. As losiglow said the workmanship and performance are great! I have a bit of rasp at 3 to 3.5k but I think something might be loose and just needs to be tighten. Other then that I like the power paired with the v3 jpipe.

 

Nope, nope and nope . With a product like this the true score for me was in the performance, which isn't easily recordable (unless you do a dyno...). Naturally I don't want any side effects either. They seemed high quality and they fit well, but if they failed to increase performance I'd be pretty pissed off.

I should have taken photo's of the core though. It was kind of cool comparing the two. When looking at the HFPC then the stock cat, and it's obvious the difference between 900 and 200 cell counts. You can't see through the stock cats unless you look down them at the perfect angle. Whereas with these, it's quite easy to see through them as the cells are considerably larger (since there's a lot less packed in there).

For those math/engineering nerds out there, you'd think the efficiency of this cat compared to stock would be 200/900 based on cell counts alone. However, I wonder if their efficiency is better than that considering the larger surface area of each cell. Since each cell is larger, there's more surface area (per cell) for the exhaust gasses to pass over which would increase the efficiency for the chemical reactions to occur. It wouldn't compensate for less cells, since more cells increase overall surface area, which is really the determining factor for the effectiveness of a cat. But I'd guess that this cat is closer to 400/900 the effectiveness of the original rather than 200/900 due to the cell size increase.

I don't know. Frankly, I'm a bit concerned about whether or not I'll pass the sniffer here in Utah. I've cut out the third cat as well which doesn't help. We're not too strict here compared to Cali. If I were in Cali I'm not sure I'd do this. But if I did, I'd certainly hang onto my original cats just in case. Unfortunately I don't have my emissions test until December so I won't be able to comment on that for a while.

 

to be honest it wont pass sniffer or smog lols not in cali im in cali also. smogged for the hell of it after and didnt pass. thats why i saved the oem ones

 

^ But that's with PCD's not the HFPC's right?

 

I highly doubt the HFPC's will pass the sniffer in Cali. Maybe with a high flow 3rd cat they would, but even that's doubtful.

I've had my RV-6 cats on for 11 months now and they're holding up quite well.

 

i know someone in sf. strict here. but umm he passed smog with the no 3rd cat and hfpc

 

Anyone have a video of this setup? It's what I'm going for. I searched all over youtube and couldn't find any videos that wasn't a type-s...

 

I'll see if I can find time to take a video and post it up. It might be a few days though.

 

^Get on it! Damn!

Thanks though that'd be awesome. Even if it's just audio...

 

I'll work on it See if I can do it tonight.

 

there are some videos in this thread that could help some people with sound clips question
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-112/finally-rv6-v3-jpipe-hfpc-installed-826339/

 

^close but not quite right. I'm looking for a video/audio clip of...

RV6 HFPC, V3 J, stock cb with mid muffler delete.

That guy was stage 2 or 3, not 1.

 

Excellent write up!

I just installed my HFPCs over the weekend and everything on here is on par with what I've experienced.

I have HFPC->atlpv2 j-pipe-> stock 3rd cat -> mid muffler delete + dynomax resonator and I had that slight rasp at 3000-3500k as well. I think it went away, but i havent driven enough on the cats to confirm yet.

Ill post my accounts on here when I get back on a computer lol.

 

Has anyone dynoed with these mods yet to see how much hp were gaining...? I've heard a few different numbers but none from a dyno just guesses...

 

Nope. No dyno here. Unfortunately now that I have them on I wouldn't be able to do a pre and post comparison anyways. And most of the dyno's in my area are $100+ for 3 pulls. No thanks. I'll just rely on the base numbers from the tuners which I believe are around 8-10 for PCD's and slightly lower for HFPC's.

While I think there's value in knowing how much power a mod is giving, you'd have to pay for a dyno before and after which is pricey. If I were a dedicated tuner with some spare $$$ then I'd be all over it. But I'm a family man with a budget who uses my car as DD. Then consider the variability between runs which can be significant based on ambient temps, engine temps, operator, ocean tide, a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil, etc. They're probably more accurate than that but meh, I'm happy enough with the butt dyno and the lost weight (around 12 lbs for the set).