Hooker Blackheart Axle-back Dual Exhaust w/ Mufflers

[MassTroy]

I just won a Hooker Blackheart Axle-back Dual Exhaust w/ Muffler as a door prize at an event. It looks like the company recently began making it and there isnt much info out there yet.

I was actually able to meet a couple of people from the company including the engineer who designed and tuned this system. It looks like their product line includes both UEL and EL headers, front pipes, cat backs, and axle backs. The engineer was saying that they found replacing the overpipe did not do any performance differences, so they did not include it in their product lineup. Here is a link to the product line https://www.holley.com/brands/hooker...nd_subaru_brz/

The part that I have is this: https://www.holley.com/products/exha.../70404301-RHKR

It has 4 inch tips, and 6 inch diameter by 11 inch long straight through mufflers. The tips are angle cut 304 stainless steel.

Here are some pictures of the exhaust. I wont be able to install it for a few weeks, but when I do I will post pictures, install steps, and before and after videos for sound.

[ort895]

I remember reading about them entering our market. In for sound clips!

[humfrz]

WELCOME to ......the forum and congratulations on your "win" ........

IT looks to be well made and should sound good.

How does it attach to the mid pipe ...... I don't see a flange .. ??


humfrz

[Apex-Apex]

Originally Posted by humfrz

WELCOME to ......the forum and congratulations on your "win" ........

IT looks to be well made and should sound good.

How does it attach to the mid pipe ...... I don't see a flange .. ??


humfrz

Looks like a cut and slip on or weld on. Typical American style exhaust.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Apex-Apex

Looks like a cut and slip on or weld on. Typical American style exhaust.

hmmmm.......well, I reckon they saved money by not welding on a flange ....



humfrz

[Teseo]

OP got it free, so no worries about spend a little in a muffler shop. In for videos too

[MassTroy]

Yeah it looks like it requires cutting the last bit of mid pipe off. Which is unfortunate. The short little piece of pipe in the photo says it is an adapter. I think the pipes are ever so slight different sizes. It comes with clamps to attach it. No welding required, just cutting.

[Teseo]

Leave stock resonator

[Chad_W]

What a bummer that you need to cut the stop exhaust pipe! One of the nice things about most axle-back systems is that they can be swapped out with hand tools and a completely reversible modification....

[Summerwolf]

Hooker makes a version that has a flange, this was their entry level cheapest option. Basically, high quality parts with low entry cost is what they said they were trying to achieve.

[MassTroy]

I spoke with the guys from Hooker today about the cutting vs flange (like on the nameless axleback) and here is what they replied.

Due to our axle-back design, it is indeed necessary to cut the factory exhaust in order to install it. There are several reasons that we ended up manufacturing our exhaust in this way.

· There are no changes between the axle back portion of our cat back kit and the axle back portion you currently have in your possession. It makes it easy to upgrade to our full system.
· Secondly, the way in which the Nameless brand adapts to the factory two bolt flange is by adding length to their kit, which adds weight. We also wanted to make sure we didn’t add unnecessary length and weight.
· It looks like the nameless product also necked down the piping to 2’’ rather than 2.5’’ or 3.0’’ when the tubes split. This would reduce potential horsepower gains with that system.
· Our dual muffler design saves 8 pounds over the factory design. It looks as if the Nameless product could be made out of potentially thicker gauge material than ours also but I can’t guarantee that from looking at a picture.

The mid pipe with resonator that would turn this into our cat-back kit is part # 70504305-RHKR

Im currently debating between cutting my pipe, or buying the midpipe to upgrade to a catback

[gtslow]

Originally Posted by MassTroy

I spoke with the guys from Hooker today about the cutting vs flange (like on the nameless axleback) and here is what they replied.



Im currently debating between cutting my pipe, or buying the midpipe to upgrade to a catback

If you have room to store the stock exhaust in your garage for a partout later that is the way I would go. If you are just going to sell the stock exhaust for $50 or something on CL just cut it and save yourself the cash.

[PNW FRS]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q95HvF3Dx0o"]2013-2016 Scion FR-S & Subaru BRZ Hooker Blackheart Axle-Back Exhaust Systems - YouTube[/ame]

FWIW... I have a Hooker Blackheart Axle-back on my Corvette and love it. If I didn't already have a TRD on my FR-S, I'd be putting one of these (dual) on my car.

[celek]

Originally Posted by humfrz

hmmmm.......well, I reckon they saved money by not welding on a flange ....



humfrz

They save every bit of money they can, ever since they have gone under the Holley conglomerate umbrella everything is outsourced to China. They have major quality and fitment issues warping of flanges, flaking of coatings, cheapest possible gasket material on other parts. I hope it is not the same here.

By reading this thread I see a bit of tweaking needed to get fitment right. twisting of the exhaust then clamp and hangers for alignment. Not including a flange takes the precision out of manufacturing and handed over to the installer.