Hey. So I had the CNT catless / resonated DP installed last week. I believe I'm the first one with it, so I thought I'd share. I got it for $236 shipped (had a 5% coupon) from the CNT/ERZ website. (btw, I added the abbreviation in the title of the post just to aid in searching, not to be a square )

I have a 2007 R56 Cooper S, mods in my signature.

CONSTRUCTION:
Regarding the construction of the piece, it seemed solid. Good welds, no splatter, polished, all around seemed quality. There's a resonator in the location of the stock cat. I wrapped it in a titanium heat wrap.

INSTALLATION:
I dropped my car off at Helix and left it with them while I was on vacation and picked it up when I got back.
- First technical observation: Eric at Helix said that the inner diameter of the DP at the turbo flange end was smaller than stock, when they held the two next to each other. It is stated to be a 2.5" DP and to my rough eye estimate it seemed to be correct, but I obviously didn't have another one to compare to when I first got it. So this is a little concerning.
- Second technical observation: Eric said that they had to "get medieval on it" to get it to fit, but got it done. He said that the turbo flange was rotated slightly causing the DP to be angled slightly towards the front of the car instead of straight down. Because of this, the lower bolts of the stock heat shield were unable to be secured. Otherwise, everything hooked up fine. The DP isn't touching anything it's not supposed to, so should be fine.

CEL:
I installed a mini-cat CEL fix (O2 bung with honeycomb in it) from Big Daddies Garage to try to avoid a CEL. Long story short on that, the CEL came on at 25 miles. It read as P0141 code. I cleared it and it came on at 15 miles. And now every time I clear it it shows up again around 5-20 miles depending on how aggressive I'm driving. So I guess it didn't work...

PERFORMANCE:
So I returned from a vacation where I drove a Civic Hybrid and a Rav4 everyday, so naturally, returning to my R56 felt like driving a GT-R. But right off the bat, I did feel as though it had a little more pep. I spent the last week driving it around the city and highway in all different levels of aggressiveness to kind of learn it well, and I can tell you it definitely feels like it pulls a little harder after about 2500rpm. I think there's a little bottom end power loss under 2500rpm in first gear, but that seems to be the only time I notice it. As a matter of fact, I think that my car just drives much smoother overall with it. I drive about 3 miles to and from work, half city, half highway, so I don't have a super detailed review for you, but so far I'm very happy with it.

SOUND:
Very pleased. My goal was to add power and no noise. I wanted to stay stock sounding if possible. I've had a full catless turboback exhaust in the past and it almost lost me my (then) girlfriend. So by adding this, it actually is very quiet. There is no noticeable difference over stock in any way at a normal level of throttle at normal speeds/acceleration, at least up until 3500rpm. Idle sounds stock. If you go WOT it starts to develop an expected throaty sound that begins to increase from mean sounding to annoying sounding through the powerband. WOT above 6k can start to sound a little more rice rocket than I'd like, but definitely tolerable. It actually does have some pop and gurgle. Definitely both, I've noticed individually on repeated basis. No drone on the highway, even at 80mph. Overall, I love the way it sounds. Quiet and stealth around city at normal driving, but when I get on it, it gives a little preview that there's something else under the hood.

OVERALL:
Despite the beginning of my review, I'm very pleased. Apparently it wasn't built to perfection, but they made it work and it seems to be doing well. I love that it added minimal volume to my exhaust. Power gains are noticeable and appreciated. It was dirt cheap. Hopefully someone else takes the dive and can chime in.

Sound clips to come this weekend hopefully.

 

i just received the full resonated catless turbo back system from them this tuesday. you beat me to the install :D glad to know it sounds reasonable, i dont plan on installing the heat shield anyway.

the mini CEL fix from daddys, is that the one with the substrate and screen in it?

also, i live near west chester, you have any cruises or meets anytime?

 

Yeah, it's the one with the honeycomb cat-like substance in it. So far it's proven to function on par with every other O2 bung I've used. It just delays the CEL, doesn't prevent it.

I believe there's a Jersey cruise coming up in a couple weeks. Can't remember the details, but I believe you can find them somewhere on NAM.

Lemme know what you think of your system!

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

Cool man! thank you! damn that sucks about the substrate adapter, i ordered a Griffin 90 degree substrate one. should be getting installed this weekend, i will let you know.

Will absolutely check into cruises and rallys, would love to join in the fun

 

Any updates. How'd the install go? How do you like the full system?

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

The only way to permanently get rid of the CEL is through ECU tuning. Stop wasting money on these foulers

 

Anyone have the catted version of this downpipe.

 

I just bought a catless CNT racing DP and I am perplexed as to how the curved lip will fit on my factory JCW exhaust (or any exhaust for that matter)? Did they have problems putting the lipped part to something?

 

Return it and pay the extra $100 for a shipped catless from Evolve. It'll mate perfectly.

 

Try looking under the car all will become clear that curved lip is also what your stock downpipe has to connect it to the rest of your exhaust system using the stock clamp.