I'm a changed 240 owner

[Dream240]

Well, I broke down and decided to take advantage of the recent deal from Invision. They were selling HKS Hi-Power exhaust systems for 450.00. I bought one for my S13 and all I can say is WOW!

Really since I've bought this 240, a couple of years ago, I've been trying to save money and started going with alot of ebay knock offs and no-name brands. My intake, exhaust, clutch kit, pulley, steering wheel, fog lights, etc. All came from ebay. And basically to sum it up, I am still only using the intake (which has rub marks from fitment issues) and the crank pulley( so far so good :) ) Everything else I've replaced. I upgraded to a Nismo steering wheel, which has way better craftsmanship, doesn't bend or buckle when I use it to move around in my car. Seriously I could bend my old ebay one when I would put pressure on it with both hands. And the stitching was already coming apart.

The exhaust was my latest change. When I took my old one off, it only has about 6000 miles on it mind you, the welds were already showing wear, I never got it completely leak free at the flanges, and the muffler was rattling already!

The HKS unit is really a work of art. I mean damn clean, virtually perfect welds, A+++ fitment, NO LEAKS, came with all new bolts washers and nuts, AND it sounds like my old stock setup when I stick a baffle in it. Without the baffle it has a nice deep, throaty tone. Doesnt get a pitchy or crackly when you get into the top end like my old one did. And I can barely hear it while I'm cruising at 75 on the freeway. I must say I'm thoroughly impressed.

My old logic was why pay more for a part that's gonna do the same thing? Well I got my answer yesterday when I fired up my baby and heard that nice low grumble with no leaks right from the start!

I recommend this exhaust to anyone that's contemplating buying an Ebay knock off exhaust, just spend the extra 250.00 and get a top quality part. I know I'm never going back. I'll post up some pics tonight of the old one so you guys can see what I mean about quality.

I went with the 65mm/115mm BTW, so I'm sure the 85mm/120mm will sound different.

[mrmephistopheles]

So you never believed people when they told you 'you get what you pay for'?
Oh well, lessons learned, right? :D

['90RPS13]

Pics?

mssglngthdth

[mr_240sx]

yes you truly get what you pay for.


also if you do things right the first time around it always comes out cheaper then buying cheap parts then having to replace them cause your not happy/satisfied with the knock offs.


glad your finally seeing the light!

[EDacIouSX]

Congratulations, you've improved from homeless to home owner! Unfortunately there are guys on this forum that remain ghetto and paint their car with 4 cans of spray paint that cost them a whopping 4 bucks! And ya, pics of the exhaust?

[Synicals13]

ya gotta love the quality exhaust sounds of the hi power. I've had it on my integra a few years back, and now on my s13. The look and sound is amazing. I plan on getting megan pulleys too. Anyway, congratz man.

[Yoshi]

Glad you've seen the light man.
"You gotta pay to play"... truer words couldn't be said.

in fact... who was it on here that coined the phrase, "Cheap 240 owners pay twice"?

[Dream240]

Well, this is my second 240 that I've done mods to. My old S14 I went the name brand route and for most of the parts I ended up paying more due to my sources being limited, along with my knowledge. I was buying from stores like ICE performance in Riverisde (long story), yeah got continuously ripped off. Never really used the web back then (2000). As far as believing "you get what you pay for". Yeah it's completely true. I tried the cheaper route with this car cause I thought I could work the system, save money along the way, and end up with the same overall quality car that I had the last time around.

Well I've learned that's just not possible. So from now on I'm looking to Tein, Apexi, HKS, Blitz, etc. Especially cause most of them have good warranties on their parts.

I'm gonna get pics up tonight, I'm at work and my car is at home. Yeah I love carpooling saves me so much money and traffic time.

And IIRC it was Russ who coined that phrase....but don't quote me on that....

[articdragon192]

Glad you've seen the light man.
"You gotta pay to play"... truer words couldn't be said.

in fact... who was it on here that coined the phrase, "Cheap 240 owners pay twice"?

I believe that was Logan from ASPEC.

[xblack240x]

IIRC it was Logan from ASpec... Anyways, I'm glad you realized that the only way to go is with quality parts...

[street240]

I have seen the light as well. However I do not have the money to support me seeing the light...

[AbsoluteZero]

^ hahahahaha feel ya on that!

[ESone3]

what are your plans for the car? If its for drifting and road racing, I would never put a functional ebay part on my car. Now my fake nismo steering wheel, works the same either way. no bends either :)

[opponheimer]

HKS is the shit. eBay is the shit too.. cheap shit, but I use it nonetheless... ebay fmic, test pipe, bov, boost controller, all work fine. I guess you gotta kinda know what will work good and what wont its all about takin a risk..

Oh yeah, and +1 for 4-bolt exhaust flanges :) ... wish i had that.. :(

[azndoc]

I get customers all the time asking about cheap knockoff products for their cars because their either they have no money or just cheap ass people who don't want the big name brand products.

I believe the the majority of the aftermarket parts consumers in America have this idea that once they see a knockoff product that looks like the authentic product but for half the price even though they know that the quality isn't there but they'll still buy it. Just to save a few bucks.

Where as in Japan people are more willing to fork up the cash for the name brand parts for their cars or take their cars to be worked at a big name shop and spend lots of money there. But, they know that their getting great quality work done by professional mechanics and quality parts that will last and actually have been R&D by engineers.

I always tell my customers and myself quality over quantity.

[Matej]

Where as in Japan people are more willing to fork up the cash for the name brand parts for their cars or take their cars to be worked at a big name shop and spend lots of money there. But, they know that their getting great quality work done by professional mechanics and quality parts that will last and actually have been R&D by engineers.
Aren't the parts cheaper in Japan though, since most of them are made there?
But true, name brand parts win.

[taiyou]

This is like the best thread I've seen in a loooong time!!:bigok:
I'm a newbie myself, and even I was one of those cheap people trying to save a few dollars on the ebay and fake knock-off shit at first!!:naughty::fawkd:'But I never bought knock-offs, ever.

It's been soo long since I haven't thought about what bov to get for example, because I have my SR sitting in my garage for awhile, but I can't decide what BOV to get LMAOI didn't know that cheap BOV on ebay was FAKE until recently and I still didn't buy it; even though I was close many times. I thought to myself, "Why are they selling like 5-10 times cheaper??????" If it was half the price, I would have bought it by now, dunno; maybe since they're selling it for too cheap(even if it's fake) so most people know by now that they are actually just accessories and it's something that can destroy your car!!!!!!

Put it this way: It's cheap, but would you buy it if it says "WARNING, IT MIGHT DESTROY YOUR MOTOR, USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK":angel:

Good lessons to be learned from everyone's mistakes. THIS SERIOUSLY SHOULD BE STICKIED OR SOMETHING.
It's time that we step up to get rid of those BASTARDS who cares only for themselves for wealth and their own health!!!


Aren't the parts cheaper in Japan though, since most of them are made there?
But true, name brand parts win.

Not exactly. They are highly priced in yen(so it would be like $300 for HKS SSQV New, whereas here, you can get it for $160 NEW at most online stores.), and the funny thing is that it's actually cheaper in the US market for JDM parts than Japan. Maybe because it's due to being a brand name in japan SO THEY KNOW IT'S GOOD ASS STUFF. US Domestic Brand is expensive here right? It's because we know about them(Sort of); but in Japan, EVERYTHING IS A RIP-OFF IN MY OPINION LOL. American muscle cars like Mustang Cobra is like 2 times more the cost than here!! Also due to shipping and such, but still!!! I would soup up an EVO or something heh.

But here, even if it's JDM, most of us don't know what the products are until there are enough reviews and reps from many people; thus Greddy, HKS, Blitz, is well known here. Other Brands like Tial, Sard are one of the top also, but not as quite known in the US yet. I'm just starting to learn about those companies now. So go to their web-site and study!! It's not about the BRAND, but the REP and Reviews!!

And it's time I made some well taken time thread, because I've been just a noob reading and searching to learn. So thanks to everyone and to mean people here for helping me out everytime. Lessons learned.

[Dream240]

Dude Taiyou, that was one of the wierdest posts I've read in a while.

I take it your not native to America. Which is cool but man you gotta learn better english.

You contradicted yourself so many times that I thought I was reading 3 peoples posts at the same time! Unless you have split personality disorder then I understand. :mepoke:

It's funny how you went a little overboard on the smilies.....yeah they're cool but it's like being color coordinated.....too much makes you look like a douchbag. :down:

So just to help you out take the time to make your posts a little more readable. Oh and prepare to get ass-raped by the rest of Zilvia land. Sorry but that's how it is, we're mean here.

[taiyou]

Aren't the parts cheaper in Japan though, since most of them are made there?
But true, name brand parts win.

Dude Taiyou, that was one of the wierdest posts I've read in a while.

I take it your not native to America. Which is cool but man you gotta learn better english.

Not again. Ok maybe I overdid my post, so I'm re-editing my post right now. But what do you mean by better English? Your english is not CAPITALIZED btw :loco:
Anyone disagree with Me or Dream240? and I even REP'd + for you too jee!

So just to help you out take the time to make your posts a little more readable. Oh and prepare to get ass-raped by the rest of Zilvia land. Sorry but that's how it is, we're mean here.

Well I do agree with you here, so I'm re-editing my long ass post. Thanks for the heads up man

Edit: Ok I edited like 2 punctuation marks, but that's it. Are you a racist btw? Calling me that I'm not native to America?

[lexusisforlovers]

yeah that was a pretty ridiculous essay your wrote taiyou. zilvia is starting to look as newbie as nasioc.

[Dream240]

Not again. Ok maybe I overdid my post, so I'm re-editing my post right now. But what do you mean by better English? Your english is not CAPITALIZED btw :loco:
Anyone disagree with Me or Dream240? and I even REP'd + for you too jee!



Well I do agree with you here, so I'm re-editing my long ass post. Thanks for the heads up man

I'm not trying to start a debate with you. All I said was you need to tone down your posts a little. What I meant was your grammer is lousy. That whole post is so incoherant I got a headache reading it!

As far as editing it, I wouldn't spend too much time fixing stuff, I mean no one's gonna loose sleep over it or anything. I'm just trying to save you some future flaming seesions. And my spelling gets messy when I'm at work, it's hard for me to type with my boss's foot so far up my ass. :eek:

1st rule about repping: "You do not talk about the rep system"
2nd rule about repping: "YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE REP SYSTEM!!!"

Don't ask for it or give it in hopes of getting some back. Rep is earned not handed out like lolly pops at the dentist. Good luck in your Zilvia endeavors.

[aznpoopy]

Seriously I could bend my old ebay one when I would put pressure on it with both hands. And the stitching was already coming apart.

lol. my gf got one of those for free when she picked up a GXL. that thing is seriously a piece of shit. feels like the wheel is made out of rubber.

i agree with what you said. nothing wrong with trying to save money. but it's better to buy used quality stuff instead of knockoff garbage, except for very minor items.

[punxva]

yea, thats why i stand by my love for my hks hi-power until the day i die, its an awesome looking, sounding, and all around great quality exhaust, you do get what you pay for

[Dream240]

Shit even a small item like headlight bulbs. I bought my headlight upgrades off ebay, you know the ones where you replace the old lamp type with a fixed casing and all you do is buy the bulb as a replacement instead of the whole damn assembly? Well the bulbs that came with it were okay, but since one burnt out recently I replaced them with Sylvania Silverstars.

Yeah they're 20 bucks a pop but HOT DAMN!! Well worth it. I get people flashing me like I have my brights on them but it's my low beams...they're that bright.

So yeah, it's really a crapshoot when buying that stuff.

[axiomatik]

They're probably flashing you because you have cheap, crappy housings that are blinding them. Replace them with Hella units. They are hella nice. :keke:

[Dream240]

Well i bought those diamond cut lights back when I first got the car cause the stock ones were nasty. So these are nice and clear, made of glass, have great reflection and actually shine the area on the outside edges of your car's drving path. The casings actually came out good, it was the bulbs that were crappy.

Like I said crapshoot..... hella crapshoot :p

[johngriff]

Yeah, they are flashing you because the light does not disperse correctly out of the housing, low beams are supposed to be aimed LOW, low beam does not mean low discharge.

[Matej]

Well I do agree with you here, so I'm re-editing my long ass post. Thanks for the heads up man

Edit: Ok I edited like 2 punctuation marks, but that's it. Are you a racist btw? Calling me that I'm not native to America?
Haha, why am I quoted on that?

[Raysurc]

its kool and all that people want quality parts and stuff rather than cheap shit, but dont forget about discounts guys! hell no im going to pay msrp for an exhaust, imma look for a deal for the quality part i want. i love that feeling when you get a genuine part for a fraction of the price the rest of the world sees.

[street240]

Ill get something HkS some day. It will probably be a sticker. J/k
I am changing my signature to financing the light.

[Dream240]

Yeah, they are flashing you because the light does not disperse correctly out of the housing, low beams are supposed to be aimed LOW, low beam does not mean low discharge.

I know that.....they are aimed perfectly straight and low. They're just that bright.... trust me.

I'll post up a pick tonight. JUST YOU WAIT!!! :eek:

[jspecusa]

if you think that sounds good wait til you hear
fujitsubo and st.may exhaust.
things are expensive for a reason.

[Dream240]

okay here's the pics of the exhaust and the headlights. I'll try to take a better pic of the headlights when it's darker.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z299/coxboy07/Hatch01.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z299/coxboy07/Hatch02.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z299/coxboy07/Hatch04.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z299/coxboy07/Hatch05.jpg

[lucky7]

i learned the hard way, doing alot of things twice when i owned a civic. to date, my only 'no-name' part on my car is a murray's autoparts universal coolant overflow tank.

for the budget guys, you can still save money and do things the right way. the 'for sale' section can be a goldmine if you know what to look for, and know a deal when you see one. example? SIZOOOO's old OE JDM rear + valences are on my car. i came across them for sale, and said 'what the hell'. i didnt have to paint them, so it was a done deal. best advice when scouring the for sale section. HAVE MONEY ON HAND!

glad you've seen the light. better late then never.

[BOROSUN]

the last pic looks very deceptive.

it's mind boggling cause it boggles your mind.

[Dream240]

Here's the better pics of the Sylvania Silverstars, I love em....

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z299/coxboy07/Hatch07.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z299/coxboy07/Hatch09.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z299/coxboy07/Hatch06.jpg

[OperationSr20]

I can't wait to get my HKS Hi-Power Exhaust for my 240. I have only thought about getting HKS and nothing but. Such an awesome tone, deep purring rumble, just awesome. Looks hot too. I do wish they made the Carbon-TI for the S Chassis, but they don't and it doesn't seem practical to have one made with the Carbon TI Universal Tip, seeing that it is about $320.00 for the tip alone. Regardless, HKS Exhaust for me soon.

Also man, look at that clearance on the last pic. How comes the one right above it has so much more clearance? Must be my eyes...

[eminem_rh25]

That is awesome that you found out that cheaper components are really just crap.

I learned that when I was building my computer (way before I had a car) I'd always save the extra $50 and get the cheaper one. The parts always fried, caused me a headache and left me without a machine for about a month. I realized it was time to invest in quality parts, and I haven't had a problem for about a year. Old cheap cases would scratch, buttons would fall off, ect so I finally figured out it was worth the extra $70 to drop down and get good components..

After learning that, I just save my money for the upgrades I am going to do to my car.

[street240]

Maybe this will curb some of the freddyage floating around. Probably not...

[bardabe]

Yeah dude HKS is good shit. =] that is what I am rocking on my car right now HKS Carbon Ti. Exhaust. Sounds Awesome! =] I also got the intake filter, Springs, and a (Downpipe for SR20 that I am selling.)

[S13SilviaGirl]

if you think that sounds good wait til you hear
fujitsubo and st.may exhaust.
things are expensive for a reason.

Quoted for truth! They sound great!






And yes, HKS, along with most Japanese parts are all very well done as far as quality goes. Can't beat it! For reals though, Used quality parts are WAY better than new knock off.

[nrg]

I have the 80mm version of the hks hi-power. I don't like it one bit. Mainly because it's not stainless steal. After years of owning it; i've broken one hanger and the resonator is all dented up from speed bumps and dips. My car isn't even that low! hah.
Although HKS makes awesome parts compair to many other competitors i've used. Greddy is so so (their fmic are junk IMO). apexi has good electronics.

HKS = Hong Kong Shit =)

edit: bardabe: their intake isn't all that great. Huge failure because of design.

[speedgod^s13]

I guess you could call me a thrift shopper. Most of the things on my car, are second hand. None of it is ebay crap, except my dp, which I kind of regret getting. I'm a forum addict, and that's how I get the deals. When I wake up, first thing I do, is log onto my local forum, and check what's for sale. Same for craigslist, and Zilvia, club240, etc. I don't make a lot of money, but I got some cool stuff in my car. HKS evc 5 which I got for 175 bucks. Apex-i rsm, for 50 bucks, c's short shifter, for 120. Dual N1's for 130 (although the condition, was not that good.) It's just having patience, and jumping on deals. I also bargain, but to me it comes natural, since i'm half east indian. :fawkd: Yeah, I lowball, but what's the worst that can happen? The buyer says no, or ignores you. I don't get offended when I get lowballed, because it's part of a seller's life. Many times, I have gotten lucky, by throwing out a lowball. Several times, I got the line; "If you can come up with that much today, it's yours." I can't afford brand new, almost %99.5 of the time. I don't mind. Makes me appreciate all the awesome used stuff I buy even more. Just my .02

[drifting_changed_mylife]

damn i know its kinda late and its not good to linger on stupidity but i wanted to give a big ":confused:wtf???" to taiyou hahahaha

[taiyou]

Haha, why am I quoted on that?

Oops my bad Matej, was rushing the thread. fixing it now.

I'm not trying to start a debate with you. All I said was you need to tone down your posts a little. What I meant was your grammer is lousy. That whole post is so incoherant I got a headache reading it!

As far as editing it, I wouldn't spend too much time fixing stuff, I mean no one's gonna loose sleep over it or anything. I'm just trying to save you some future flaming seesions. And my spelling gets messy when I'm at work, it's hard for me to type with my boss's foot so far up my ass. :eek:

1st rule about repping: "You do not talk about the rep system"
2nd rule about repping: "YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE REP SYSTEM!!!"

Don't ask for it or give it in hopes of getting some back. Rep is earned not handed out like lolly pops at the dentist. Good luck in your Zilvia endeavors.

No problem Dream240, I got carried away too. It's zilvia so I guess I should have deserved it for the long ass weird post come to think of it. It did give me headaches too lol. Ok it was pretty much the first actual post that I made, and I didn't read all the rules. But I am still a newb so cut me some slak j/k I will NEVER ask for the rep again. sorry man!

But your thread should be stickied for lot of newbs also. But then again zilvia is not for newbs right?:eek:

[Dream240]

It's no problem. And as for the stickie thing, there's so many more interesting threads out there than this one. I was just in a gloating mood yesterday cause I fixed a problem with my car by just buying a better part. I love it when that happens. You should look into a premie membership so you can view some of the better threads and such. You should also check out the archive section, LOTS AND LOTS of great topics from over the years covered in there.

And BTW.... WELCOME TO ZILVIA!!!

Drive safe.

[J-Style]

I have never purchased anything off EBay, mainly for the lack of quality and no warrenty, but when I bought my 240sx I discovered that the previous owner had bought and installed every EBay part avalible for the Nissan. I have EBay coilovers, rims, a gauge-cluster and stereo. The only plus side to these parts is when you buy a quality part it makes a huge difference. I plan to buy that HKS exhaust in the near future, I am glad you like it!

[eminem_rh25]

I guess you could call me a thrift shopper. Most of the things on my car, are second hand. None of it is ebay crap, except my dp, which I kind of regret getting. I'm a forum addict, and that's how I get the deals. When I wake up, first thing I do, is log onto my local forum, and check what's for sale. Same for craigslist, and Zilvia, club240, etc. I don't make a lot of money, but I got some cool stuff in my car. HKS evc 5 which I got for 175 bucks. Apex-i rsm, for 50 bucks, c's short shifter, for 120. Dual N1's for 130 (although the condition, was not that good.) It's just having patience, and jumping on deals. I also bargain, but to me it comes natural, since i'm half east indian. :fawkd: Yeah, I lowball, but what's the worst that can happen? The buyer says no, or ignores you. I don't get offended when I get lowballed, because it's part of a seller's life. Many times, I have gotten lucky, by throwing out a lowball. Several times, I got the line; "If you can come up with that much today, it's yours." I can't afford brand new, almost %99.5 of the time. I don't mind. Makes me appreciate all the awesome used stuff I buy even more. Just my .02

Wow... Thats weird... Normally stereotypes like that are wrong, but it just applied to me :). I am full east indian, and I buy most of my expensive stuff by doing the same thing as you.. I bought a Sidekick 3 so I can view forums when I'm not near a PC and so I get my emails ASAP so i can see if they accepted my offers!

Thats just crazy!