yep! ant going to say. No need to get vendors involved, sorry.

 

i have to agree with warr... HKS stuff is very high priced compared to other products. For example MEGAN... MEGAN exhausts put out the same HP as HKS or very very similar because the name in that case doesnt matter a whole lot. I have the HKS Hi power catback because i like the sound... but as far as price/performace, Megan is a better buy. Intercooler/Intercooler piping... AMS and Buschur are neck and neck. I have the Buschur setup on my car, a friend has the AMS setup... price was about the same, Buschur may have been a bit cheaper.... but in comparison to stock there was a difference. For one, if i go down the track and come back to the staging lanes, you feel the hot side and cold side of the intercooler and you can tell the difference... the stock was nothing like that. That is including the intercooler though. As far as just pipes... i'd assume the difference is pipe routing for performance as well as width. most pipes are 2.5... buschur and ams has the most direct routing, both with fit with the stock IC, both need a mini battery which you can buy at autozone for 30 or get the mini battery setup with an actualy mini battery for around 130. Other intercooler piping is less direct but dont think the performance is so far off that it would warrant the money on the battery if you werent going that way to begine with.

Bang for buck however, HKS can never be involved. While the products are usually flawless, and the performance it impressive... You can get the same results from less expensive products, they just may not be as pretty

 

it's not expensive if u buy it in Japan! they know americans are suckers for JDM parts + the US dollar over there isn't worth booboo so u can look at it like "japanese capitalism". i can say that Blitz is the only company that can match the finish & quality of HKS.

IMO, bang 4 the buck parts have always been from Buschur or RRE...

 

Well there always XS-Engineering Racemax hard pipe that just got released recently for a EVO IX and it retail for less than $320. If you look or buy the Import Tuner mags this month issue they had a EVO VIII test and it gain a additional 8whp including other power mod from them and it gain 43whp for only 1500. Mod are Intercooler, hard pipe kit, camshaft,

 

What I would like to see is the Horsepower Freaks licp against the Buschur licp. That's my next purchase but just don't know which one to get.

 

you can pick up some used parts in the for sale section for super cheep

 

thats what i was gonna say....

 

lol, i love how people argue about who's got the better products and why your wasting your money on hks or blitz, apexi or greddy products. Some people have a preference to go with a big dog name like HKS or Apexi. I know that big dogs in the states are BR/AMS/TurboTrix, but big dogs everyone knows are HKS. they are The King of making every car they touch incredible.

my point is, if it makes a person feel more confident because they bought an hks product, than let them. you don't always need to comment that they are wasting their money my man. some people like to stay on a budget, others don't care about their budget.

i got shiz from wartalon because i bought an hks rs intake kit for my car, said that i didn't need it, my car sounds BADA$$ with the filter on the car. yea yea, i know, i could have bought the br racing one for a couple dollars cheaper, but the br doesn't perform as well as the HKS, HKS time and time again has been dyno proven to produce better numbers. nothing against br, they make incredible products. it's just that hks has more money and could do more research and testing and all that snazz.

bottom line, if the dude wants to buy hks, don't down him for it. don't get me wrong war, i've taken your advice and am glad i have. but serious, cut some people some slack already would ya!

 

Umm...I assume your talking about used parts since once you factor in SHIPPING buying new parts costs the same as buying it in the states. The only thing you save is sales tax which if you buy from a vendor out of state you can get away with not paying anyway. Trust me I have brought a few items over from the land of the rising sun and with current exchange rates and the recent price re-alignments from the major companys your not saving jack squat. If you would like some proof go to yahoo auctions of japan and look up a greddy v-spec intercooler, with shipping your looking at around 700 or so dollars...I saw them come up on a clearance from a vendor recently for 699. shipped.

 

A FMIC on the stock turbo is worth upgrading but only if you did pretty much everything else first. It should not be in your first or second stage of modding.

Any decent lower IC pipe will work and you can get them cheap.

As for the Upper IC pipe, I wouldnt waste your time unless youre going to do it the right way by getting a mini battery and a pipe like Buschur or AMS which gets rids of more bends and excess piping. Getting ones that route like stock that are .15" bigger is a complete waste. Buschur and AMS are 2.5 and get rid of the most piping and bends.

 

Horsepower Freaks is a great kit. Decent price, Fast shipment, Great Fitment, Good results.

 

I dont remember where i read it but, the HKS RS intake didnt make as much power as any of the other intakes that it was tested with. And the dyno charts that HKS puts on its website are the HP gains with a tune and their part, you didnt think that a foot and a half of piping and an air filter was actually going to give you 22 hp or whatever they advertise?

 

im not going to read through all that, but a good intercooler piping is Horsepowerfreaks, its 2.5 inch all the way through, looks nice and fits perfect.

 

I payed too much for my HKS! Dang! And they cant make a deal for a local guy. hpfreaks

 

but if you aren't an idiot, you know you need a tune with any intake... in my 03 i added a catback and an hks intake and dropped .5 on my 1/4 without the tune