Fujitsubo factory visit

[mav1178]

I will update this post later today or tomorrow with pictures and description of Fujitsubo factory tour. Special thanks to Cusco USA for arranging the visit.

Fujitsubo Giken Kogyo Corporation was established in 1931 and manufactures high quality exhaust systems in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture. Their HQ is based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture.




86/BRZ exhaust being made:




Fujitsubo is a top tier OE supplier. The factory exhaust system for the R35 GT-R is produced by them:

[mav1178]

Fujitsubo has had a long history of producing quality exhaust systems. Many other Japanese brands also produce exhaust systems, but Fujitsubo also is an OE manufacturer as well.

(History in Japanese: https://www.fujitsubo.co.jp/home/history)

They've been producing exhaust systems since the 1980s.

Exhaust system manufacturing is nothing new but a lot of small details go unnoticed by the average consumer. Hope this provides some insight into how products are produced.

Fujitsubo was kind enough to allow me to take pictures of portions of their factory floor. Since they produce items for other customers, some areas and products cannot be photographed.

The first part is R&D. Usually it involves taking in a vehicle for physical measurements, a prototype is mocked up, and then a jig is designed, welded, and then scanned in 3D CAD. At the time I was visiting, prototype exhausts were being mocked up for an OEM customer, so I could not take pictures. The most impressive part is there is a room where exhaust jigs are mounted and the measurements are taken by machine for import into CAD and design.

Here's the shop area with various vehicles being worked on:



In general, straight-thru exhaust systems (which cover 90% of the performance aftermarket) use different density of packing material (along with muffler/resonator size and piping hole diameter) to produce the desired exhaust note. Here's a picture of 3 different types of fiberglass core packing:



The first one is thick fiberglass sheets cut into cubes. This is typically used in high horsepower/high flow exhaust systems, where sound is of secondary concern.



Second is where a more sporty street exhaust is desired, densely packed fiberglass core strikes a balance between performance and noise suppression.



Third, if a quiet performance exhaust is desired, then long fiberglass strands are used to maximize sound suppression. This type of design can also be found in high performance OE exhaust systems.



First, piping is sorted from suppliers and cut to lengths as needed for the application.




For any sections requiring bends, a pipe machine is used. The older units (not pictured) usually do one bend, whereas a newer computerized machine can make as many bends as needed for a more complex exhaust layout, especially on vehicle applications where the factory pipe routing is complex.




Finished piping:




For the resonators and muffler canisters, the shape is rolled from sheets of stainless steel (or titanium depending on application). A computerized roll press rolls the canister shape precisely based on the size requirement as designed in R&D.





Then, a seam welding machine creates the muffler or resonator shape by welding the ends together.




Completed outer shells:




The inner pipe of a muffler or resonator is usually just a section of piping with holes punched in it. This is done entirely by computer and is very precise. Depending on the muffler application, fiberglass may be wrapped around the piping prior to assembly into the muffler.





Some mufflers may have secondary baffles or separation plate built in. These are welded or pressed in prior to packing material being added.




The machine that presses the end caps onto the muffler was being used by a confidential client, so I did not take pictures. This is the muffler canister after ends are pressed on:



Flanges are usually stamped using a press. First the overall shape is stamped, then the opening holes are stamped afterwards based on individual exhaust need. Flange outside diameter are pretty similar, but inner diameter and hole size/location varies based on application.





Some exhaust pipes require specific shapes for the pipes to mate properly, especially for merge collectors or headers. For these, Fujitsubo utilizes a precision laser cutter that can cut complex shapes/edges into pipes.




Hangers are produced on a separate machine.

As exhausts are produced, there often are batch numbers stamped on the piping (or etched on the badge mounted on the muffler) for QC. This way, any errors in production can be quickly identified and addressed.




After individual components are produced, then the exhaust manifold or system can be welded together.
Here is a header for a Nissan 240Z (L20/L24 engine) after the primaries/secondaries are welded together. The piping is installed on a jig, welded, checked for fitment, and then moves on. The last few photos shows the header to downpipe flange being welded on. The quality of the welds are incredible.









Depending on complexity of the exhaust or size, final welding can be done in a number of ways. Here is 86/BRZ exhaust being constructed.





Completed Nissan Skyline GT-R exhaust midpipe:



Completed GDB Impreza WRX one piece exhaust:



After QC check, the exhaust is moved to packaging. InstaPak foam packing is used to protect exhaust pieces from shipping damage. When the two chemicals are mixed, foam is created and expands to fit any shape. This is especially suitable for exhaust systems as there often are odd shapes that cannot be protected properly by normal cardboard.





Exhaust system power output is tested and verified on their chassis dyno.



Finally, if a new muffler internal design is being prototyped, they have this S14 rigged up as a test bed. The factory exhaust goes straight out the engine bay and a prototype muffler canister can be quickly bolted up to test different configurations of packing material and internal volume. Kind of funny and yet it's also very practical.




It was raining when I visited, but in the back part of their warehouse is a complete test course where they check and verify sound output of exhaust systems on vehicles. Even the asphalt is paved according to JQR standards to meet their testing guidelines, so every system they produce is certified for road use out of the box.

[chaoskaze]

Thank you for sharing! Lots picture plz

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

Thank you for sharing! Lots picture plz

Updated second post with lots of pictures.

[Sideways]

Thanks for sharing this. I always liked Fujitsubo quality!!

[Mr.Impreza]

Wow...you just experienced a small dream of mine. Visiting the Fujitsubo factory must of been an amazing experience!

I love all there products. Been a user since I owned my 2002 Subaru WRX and had the Fujitsubo Legalis R exhaust system on it.

Now I have the Fujitsubo Authorize R Catback & Dual Resonated Front Pipe from them which are both amazing pieces! Can't wait to pick up the Catted Header in the future to have a complete setup.

By the way, your trip must of been awesome....Japan, Fujitsubo & Super GT in Thailand!

[Jyn]

I want a Fujitsubo system now lol. Did Mr. Miwa set this up?

[fika84]

One day you're going to have to stop making me jealous.. love the pics... hate the jealousy..

[Clipdat]

Thanks so much for the writeup and photos, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about how their exhausts are made and following along through the pictures. It was like I was there!

Thank you again!

[mav1178]

Thank you everyone.

I mostly did this as a way of introducing and explaining Fujitsubo to people unfamiliar with the company. Many fans of Japanese brands will already know them, but very few understand the complexity of mass producing quality products, especially one that requires manual labor.

Performance exhaust systems can be produced fairly cheap, however many manufacturers do not have proper controls in place to ensure quality. We often only look at exhausts based on sound and price, but we don't think about secondary concerns.

I guess you can look at it this way: if a car maker wanted to make a top tier OEM performance exhaust that can meet all the warranty requirements for the car, provide exceptional sound and performance, and have fit/finish that rivals the best available on the aftermarket, Fujitsubo would probably be one of 3 manufacturers that can provide this. Nissan currently uses them for the R35 GT-R, and I'm willing to bet that Toyota would probably use them (or some vendor that is similar) for the next-gen Supra.

Originally Posted by Jyn

Did Mr. Miwa set this up?

No, via another person at Cusco USA.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Mr.Impreza

Can't wait to pick up the Catted Header in the future to have a complete setup.

There are some things I can't disclose but Fujitsubo is working on a new project for 86/BRZ. You should wait as long as you can for the header. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Originally Posted by Mr.Impreza

Visiting the Fujitsubo factory must of been an amazing experience!

The amazing experience came after I was shown the factory floor.

In the back of the building was parked this pristine Nissan Skyline 2000GT (KGC10).




The car is driven almost daily.

[Stang70Fastback]

I love my Fujitsubo Exhaust!!! Have a whole blog post about it

Fujitsubo Authorize R Catback

Well I’ve finally gotten around to it. I know, I know, it’s long overdue. A new exhaust seems to be pretty much the first thing that everyone does these days, but autocross necessitated some other modifications first. Also, to be perfectly honest, I was a bit hesitant. I feel like the odd-one-out in the car scene, because unlike most folks, I don’t want a super loud exhaust on my car. If it was a weekend/track car, that would be one thing, but this is my daily driver, and I put almost 20,000 miles on it a year, so I still want it to be tolerable around town, and not annoying on long road trips. My criteria were as follows:

• No tinny, raspy, metallic “fartcan” sound (AKA Honda Civic w/ AutoZone muffler.)
• Quiet at idle (I don’t want my car vibrating people’s skulls when it’s just sitting around.)
• No drone at ANY speed.
• More low frequency sound, as the current exhaust lacks any sort of deep sound.
• Ideally relatively quiet when tooling around, and louder but not in-your-face when accelerating.

With those being my criteria, and also trying to keep with the theme of the car of being a bit “different,” I started looking at some possible systems. I more-or-less dismissed systems such as the Invidia N1/Q300, HKS Legamax, etc… simply because everyone and their mother runs them. I then discovered Dezod Motorsports, and found their exhaust to be quite interesting, but it seemed as though it might be a bit loud for my tastes (I’d heard that with headers – an eventual modification I want to do – it could become particularly loud.)

In any event, I was eventually made aware of Fujitsubo… a company I admittedly hadn’t even heard of. I had to do some research but the only feedback I found was things like, “they’re one of the best exhausts you can buy,” and raving about the build quality, sound quality, etc… Also, many Fujitsubo exhausts are JASMA approved (Japan Automotive Sports Muffler Association). That means they have to meet some noise regulations (94-98 dB or such – there were some discrepancies on various forums.) All things considered, this sounded like the best bet to meet all of my requirements, so I went ahead and purchased the Fujitsubo Authorize R catback system.

Before I go any further, let’s quantify the things that people will want quantified. These numbers are not from any tests I have done, but straight from Fujitsubo’s site, so keep that in mind (for example, I’m not sure where they got 98 dB from, since it doesn’t sound anywhere near that loud…)

Performance
HP: 174.1 @ 6580 RPM -> 177.6 @ 6520 RPM (+3.5)
TQ: 144.0 @ 6190 RPM -> 146.3 @ 6110 RPM (+2.3)
Weight: 41.0 LB -> 33.7 lb (-7.3)

Sound
Idle: 61 dB -> 65 dB
3000 RPM: 73 dB -> 81 dB
5000 RPM: 80 dB -> 84 dB
Max: 87 dB -> 98 dB

So, this isn’t going to uncork a TON of power on its own (though it will allow the car to breathe better with other power mods down the road). It also appears to perfectly meet my noise criteria as well: not much louder at idle, but still willing to make some noise when you get on it!

Arrival

The exhaust arrived well-packaged in a rather large, and fairly sturdy box plastered with “FRAGILE!” stickers for good measure. The mid-pipe, y-pipe, and axle-back were wrapped in plastic, and everything was cushioned in expanding foam blocks. The hardware came shrink-wrapped on cardboard (nicely organized, though a bit of a pain-in-the-butt to unwrap.)

...

[Read the rest of the blog post here]

[Trueweltall]

I own their double resonated front pipe, worth the price considering the excellent quality.

[Daemonomics]

Originally Posted by mav1178

There are some things I can't disclose but Fujitsubo is working on a new project for 86/BRZ. You should wait as long as you can for the header. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Darn it, now I -have- to wait...