Ark Design Exhaust Review

[GT86Dan]

Came across the company via the forum here. After about a week of emailing back and forth (which all emails were responded to very quickly) i finally pulled the trigger.

It showed up in about a week.

Packaging Exhaust came in a nice large box, with the ark design logo right on the front. Box was stapled and then wrapped in the plastic tie downs. Inside tons of foam and bubble wrap, and everything was taped. The tip even was covered with a cardboard cylinder and more bubble wrap. Even came with some hardware and a sticker !!!! WOOO !! +5hp here we come !!

Welds/Workmanship So i am by no means a welder. All welds look great though and very well done. No problem areas that i can see anywhere. The exhaust has the logo engraved on the tip, and has a tacked on serial number plate on the back side.

Fitment Coming Soon !

Sound Coming soon !


Overall so far i am very impressed. I have a very sneaky suspicion that this exhaust is made in the same factory that tomei and gruppe s is. Also made in Taiwan. Welds even look the same !

Should have this mounted up by weeks end. Will be pairing it to a gruppe s uel, tanabe overpipe and stock front pipe. Will also be testing if it fits with the Velox rear diffuser, and their new exhaust cutout cover they just released. Should be fun times !!

[GT86Dan]

more pics

[ModinJapan]

Originally Posted by GT86Dan

more pics

Work of art isn't she
Thank you for posting and looking forward to the product on your car with sound clips

[exE36M3]

subscribed for sound. I'm debating the sound/drove issue. Just needs to be tolerable at highway speeds.

[Clipdat]

Found this video [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7dRp4O2Sc0"]ARK Design Racing Spec Exhaust for Scion FR-S / Toyota FT-86 / Subaru BRZ (Single Outlet) - YouTube[/ame]



Nice that the piping is 2.5" versus the 3" on the Greddy and HKS single exit models, should help the sound be a little more reasonable for DD.

[ModinJapan]

http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticl...c-Exhaust.aspx

Check it out. Great write up

[GT86Dan]

Just installed the exhaust yesterday. Install went without any major issue.

Fitment Exhaust fit like a glove. No issues whatsoever. Piping is nice and tucked against the body and sits flush. The only issue that we had is with the Velox rear diffuser. The piping route swoops hard to the passenger side and the diffuser exhaust opening just was not big enough. Easy fix though as we just cut to accommodate the new route. Bolted everything back up and solid as when i first received it.

Sound Coming from a cracked Dezod catback this one sounds very tame under 3k rpm It truly is a quality exhaust, having more of a guttural tone if that makes sense. Drone is nearly non existent. Driving around normally and cruising you almost forget its there. Until you put your foot down and the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse come charging out. Nice and loud but not annoying in any way. Very clean sounding, with the occasional downshift pop and gurgle It also passed the girlfriend test

Final thoughts Overall i am extremely happy with the exhaust. I think Ark Design made a fantastic product and everyone should look into them. The exhaust is still brandy new so looking to add a long term review to this thread. Hopefully ill have no surprises like the last pile of tubing i had. I have a track day coming this next week and will have more footage as the week goes on
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaRtXJ707F4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaRtXJ707F4[/ame]

[ModinJapan]

great write up.
May i suggest adding washers on your diffuser to add clearance

[ModinJapan]

any other sound clips yet?

[JazzleSAURUS]

In other news, @GT86Dan s girlfriend is deaf!! Just kidding, but I'm not familiar with any other N1 style exhausts that pass the GF test.

Could we have a few soundclips of it revving out? Cold start is often loud, and idle is often quiet, so I'm hoping for some cruising and higher rpm's.

[JimmyMac]

Still on my quest for a single exit exhaust option. My main concern is drone at highways speeds around the 60~70mph range. I'm not overly concerned about acceleration, just cruising. Any comments on this? Thanks for posting up.

[ModinJapan]

Originally Posted by JimmyMac

Still on my quest for a single exit exhaust option. My main concern is drone at highways speeds around the 60~70mph range. I'm not overly concerned about acceleration, just cruising. Any comments on this? Thanks for posting up.

One thing i know about the ark design brand.(yes i have the racing spec on my FRS). Its one of the least amount of drone from any other one's i've sat in

but if you have UL HEADERS, overpipe and non res front pipe, its always going to be louder

[GT86Dan]

Heres a fly by from my track day yesterday. Going to get a full exhaust vid soon. Cold starts, idle , interior , acceleration. Just give me the weekend. After having it on a week now, at highway speeds there is no drone even with uel.


[ame="http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8TmMyzrC-c&feature=share"]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8TmMyzrC-c&feature=share[/ame]

[ModinJapan]

Originally Posted by GT86Dan

Heres a fly by from my track day yesterday. Going to get a full exhaust vid soon. Cold starts, idle , interior , acceleration. Just give me the weekend. After having it on a week now, at highway speeds there is no drone even with uel.

wow that sounds amazing. and at WOT, its was not obnoxious