titanium

Titanium Mugen Goodies

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Just some small little things to add to the car now while my mind thinks about what to buy next… LOL. In all seriousness though – I’m quite content with how the car sits now and I have a small list of things I want to get but at the same time, I want to just keep it nice and problem-free… The next best thing is to just add small things that don’t really change anything but add some small details. I really love the little details that are put into cars – whether you can see/notice them or not and this post happens to be one of them.

First of all, sorry for the proper editing – I edited these all on my phone. My computer is out of commission currently so I’m stuck using Photoshop mobile lol. Not sure anyone would’ve noticed anyway…

Anyway, I’ve been waiting about 5 weeks for the titanium Mugen badge and Mugen commander stickers from King Motorsports. The other titanium goodies come from TiBurnt – still one of my favourite titanium goods providers out there. None of that cheap looking neo-chrome titanium stuff with the green and yellow (who thought that looked good?) and he has a great selection of bolts that you can replace in places people don’t really think about replacing… You can see in the pics.

Just a small set of Mugen commander stickers to place in some discreet areas… Really loving the new logo for Mugen.

The awesome titanium Mugen badge…

Supposedly it’s hand-burnt and so each badge looks slightly different. Pretty cool… Just thought it would make a nice addition to the rear.

I was debating long and hard on where I was going to put it. Initially I was going to put it on the left where “CIVIC” was but after mocking it up, it didn’t look too good. The sizing between “Type R” and the Mugen badge was uneven and it was making my eye twitch. So I ended up moving it to be under the “Type R” and will be replacing the “CIVIC” badge on the left to even it all out again…

The titanium bolts from TiBurnt were to bolt in the Mugen pieces. He was waiting for these pieces to come in and as soon as he added them to the site, I copped them real quick. 4 bolts for the front lip…

5 bolts for the sideskirt…

The front part of the sideskirt – peep the Mugen sticker on there. Not sure how I feel about it yet – we’ll see when I get the car all washed up and I can take a better look from a distance.

And two more bolts for the rear lip. Initially I only wanted to replace the bolts that held the Mugen pieces up but now it’s look a little weird with the remaining stock black bolts that hold the fender liner and such as you can see in some of the pics, so I’ll probably end up replacing those soon.

Anyway, just some cool little pieces to bring it all together.

Install: Fujitsubo Authorize RM Titanium Exhaust FK8

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Finally the day has come! I was starting to get anxious on getting the exhaust on the car even though I can’t drive it yet… I didn’t want to have to worry about installing it when it gets nice out cause I’d just want to drive ASAP. I still need to find some time to do a full paint correction and then ceramic coat the car before pulling it out too.

I spent like 20 minutes on Saturday just getting the car cover off and putting the car up on jack stands. My initial plan was to just do it in stages whenever I had some free time since there’s still another few months to go. You know, take the exhaust one day and then start putting the pieces together here and there… Thankfully the guys offered to come by and help to get it all done in an hour instead. It’s a good thing too because the stock exhaust is one damn piece and it would’ve been a bitch to try and wiggle that all off myself – so thanks guys!

Getting ready to start. Don’t mind the dirty garage floor…

The car was already up in the air from Saturday so we just had to get under and get started. Punit and JC getting the tools ready to get started…

The stock exhaust in all its glory. The rear undercovers needed their clips taken out to pull the cover down a bit to access the rear hangers since they span out to the sides.

The Fujitsubo exhaust…

Punit starting to work the hangers off…

JC on the other side… This guy always wearing nice clothes to roll around on the floor… MBN.

As you can see, it took two people on the rear section of the exhaust just to wiggle out… Another reason to be thankful I didn’t do it on my own lol

Rich came shortly after and hopped right in (under?). He was ready with his coveralls and everything. Smart guy.

All 3 of them under and working on wiggling the exhaust off the hangers. Worked the rear section out first and then wiggled the middle piece off the hangers next. I know it looks like all I’m doing is standing around taking pics but I swear I did work too LOL.

The rear section off. Punit and JC helping wiggle it off to help Rich out in the middle.

A picture of the full stock exhaust system. Kinda weird how they made it all one piece…

The stock exhaust weighing in at 38.5 lbs compared to the Fujitsubo at 26 lbs.

A few shots of the Fujitsubo titanium hangers.

The Fujitsubo center pieces. Just lining them up ready to go in.

A shot of the beautiful matte finish of Titanium and awesome workmanship…

JC and Punit attached the hangers to the sides of the main section.

One side…

The other side…

After they were done, I took some rubbing alcohol and a clean cloth to wipe off the grease and any fingerprints.

*Heart eyes*

While the hangers were being put on, Rich was under the car installing the two center pipes to be ready to mate up with the main muffler unit.

Rich was pretty much 100% under the car most of the time lol. Not a lot of room but we made it work.

Here’s a good shot of where the main muffler unit mates up to the rest of the piping. Rich is getting ready to tape and put on the clamp.

Some shots once we got it all bolted up…

Wiped down the rest of the piping to ensure no finger prints or grease was left behind. I really love that matte finish!

A shot of the muffler…

Prior to wiping – excuse the few marks…

The matte carbon tips match the faux-carbon diffuser pretty well. I really dig the look of the dual tip on the Fujitsubo – perfectly sized so it fills the tri-tip opening nicely.

Done! I’ll find some time to get some sound clips soon! Upon start up, it’s a very tame exhaust – not meant to be loud or overly aggressive and it’s perfect for me. I wanted an aftermarket system that provided a deeper growl and sounded more like how a Type R should sound but without being too ricey and farty.

It’ll take some time to break the exhaust in – on start up, there was still a lot of of dark soot coming out and the engine had been sitting for months… I can’t wait to drive it out the road and break it in – I imagine it’ll get a little deeper and a bit louder. I need to ensure the kids can still listen to the Frozen soundtrack while cruising around in the summer LOL.

Thanks again to the boys for the quick help! Always appreciated.

 

My Holy Grail: Fujitsubo Authorize RM+C Titanium Exhaust

/ jasonhoang / 2 Comments

It’s been pretty quiet in the land of car mods lately for me – basically after I picked up the CTR and then spent a chunk of money on it to get it looking half-decent and not so stock, I had to take a hiatus before Diana divorced me and left with the kids…

Some back story on the exhaust search – which I’m sure many of you can relate to – it’s been well over a year of searching for the perfect exhaust for myself. I was looking for one when I was toying with the idea of selling the FRS and getting a CTR – pre-building a car before anything even happened. You know… You dream of your next build… That’s what I was doing.

Anyway, exhausts (in my opinion) are one of the most important parts of a build that get overlooked too often. I’ve made the mistake of settling and just going with whatever was available only to regret it after. Even if your car looked dope, a shitty exhaust would ruin it all. You basically have this market of exhausts at your fingertips – ranging anywhere from a couple hundred bucks to a couple thousand bucks – titanium, stainless steel, dual canister, single tip, triple tip, fake Ti coloured tips… The list goes on. Most of the time, within any kind of market of parts, you’ll have ones that were made quick and dirty – either to get to the market first or to put out the cheapest product available masked with a unreasonably high MSRP. If you don’t dig through the junk, you’ll get junk.

So back to my story of trying to find my perfect exhaust. Everyone has different tastes so I can’t comment on what’s junk because my definition of junk might be someone else’s Holy Grail and we’re not here to bash other peoples’ grails, we’re just here to talk about mine. But over the last year or so, I have been searching almost daily for exhausts for the CTR – youtube, forums, social media… Waiting for something new and innovating or exciting and refined and nothing really ever popped up.

One of the first exhausts that I had come across in my early days of searching was the Fujitsubo Authorize RM+C (what a mouthful) titanium exhaust. It was – and still kind of is – a rare piece. Not many have it – either because of the price point or because of the difficulty of having it readily available without the 3-4 month wait time.

You know those moments when you find or see or hear something and you know “this is the one”? That’s literally what I had when I saw and heard the Fujitsubo on the FK8 platform and since that day, I’ve been searching far and wide for something to come close and quite frankly – nothing has.

This kind of made it easier for me simply because I’d see one I’d like visually but as soon as I’d hear it, I crossed it off my list real quick. The only other two exhausts I’d put my money on is Amuse and the heavily priced Mugen exhaust. Perhaps because quality is synonymous with their names and I’m jaded by that but I haven’t been let down by the sound of Amuse or Mugen before, so I wouldn’t expect to be let down here either.

Anyway – the exhaust came packaged incredibly nicely and securely. Lots of quality hardware.

The creme de la creme, the focal point… The rear muffler section – a sight to behold. Nicely finished titanium, separated sound chambers and dual carbon fiber exhaust finisher tips that can be removed. A mating of two of the automotive worlds finest materials. *Insert Italian hand to mouth kiss*

On the bottom side, a Fujitsubo plate and a serial number plaque.

A closer look. Doesn’t it make you want to just not ever use this?!

Close up of the welds.

Flipped over, nothing less than magical LOL.

A close up of the matte carbon fiber tips. The outlets are bigger than they look in pictures but when fitted on the car, fill the exhaust outlet perfectly. Finding an exhaust for the FK8 is tough because the OEM triple tip exhaust creates a large opening.

The Fujitsubo titanium plaque. No, 001 doesn’t mean that it was the first one. I’m not sure what it means exactly… But I can pretend it means it’s the first one…

The system is rated in at 11.8kg or 26lbs (can’t confirm this – I haven’t weighed it myself but I suspect it’s a bit lighter than that) while stock is at 17.5kg or 38.6lbs. Of course, the rear muffler section is the heaviest but the piping weighs next to nothing…

Diana happy the exhaust came in – not because she was looking forward to it but because she was tired of me talking about it for the last year and a half. I’ve actually almost bit the bullet on this exhaust several times over the course of the last 6 months but never followed through because I got cold feet.

I’m happy I finally did though – can’t  wait till this bad boy goes on… In 3 months. *CRY*

Oh… It’s 2018. Hello!

/ jasonhoang / Leave a comment

Boy, have I been MIA or what. The last post I had was in November and we’ve gone through Christmas, New Years, and we’re almost at Valentine’s Day. Time sure does fly.

I’m sorry for the lack of updates – there really hasn’t been any. Honestly, I’ve just been spending a lot of time with the family, away from the toys for a bit. It’s winter, so it’s a perfect time to do just that. I don’t have much to tinker with and it’s just been cold and miserable as hell outside so the last thing I want to do is get in the garage to do something lately.

I’m updating mainly cause I’ve finally got off my lazy ass and started making steps to progress on getting the car ready for 2018. Slowly but surely. I have a few pics for an update but nothing good to show just yet…

This is literally what it looks like right now. Still on jack stands, waiting for new parts. Meanwhile, outside is a blizzardy hell and it sucks. Side note – I do enjoy driving the RX in the winter – it is a beast of a car and drives beautifully. It makes me hate the winter less…

Meanwhile, I was able to finally take the wheels off to Jackie at Balance Auto to get the tires dismounted and the wheels off to get powdercoated for a new colour. The red is nice but I think I’m over it… I need something new. I think you guys will like the new combo coming this year. Can’t wait to show you!

Lastly – the man, the myth, the legend over at TiBurnt posted these titanium valve stem caps on Instagram the other day and suddenly I had the urge to buy them. Within minutes, Al messaged me and got me all hooked up and they arrived within a week. These are going to look extra fantabulous with the new set up when it’s all together. Seriously, if you need any type of titanium product/fastener – hit TiBurnt up. He hasn’t let me down yet!