I'm interested in getting a DP for my EVO 9 and was wondering what are the pro and cons. Anyone have any experience with the DC Sport Downpipe?

 

the flex section allows for motor movement

 

DC Sports usually spends good money on R&D so their products usally fit and work well. Now they merged/are owned by AEM which also produce good products.

 

pros= more flow
cons=ummm.....

 

Yeah, I'm curious as well. I've been eyeballing the Helix version 2 3" stainless steel downpipe. It's curently running for $199. The Vishnu downpipe with a flex joint is running a hefty $675, holy crap! I used their stuff on my WRX and Shiv custom tuned my car a while back and I love their stuff but man... if you are basically buying just the downpipe and not the 02 housing and just plan on using the stock IX's turbo... what's the point of spending $475 more for the same hp and tq gain (both with a tune or untuned).

If the quality is good and it has no fitment issues, why not? I'm totally going with the Helix V2. I only plan on pushing 350 whp/360 tq. I could spend that $475 elsewhere. I wouldn't think that the motor would shift all that much with that power output... is that correct?

 

What has more flow? The downpipe with the flex pipe or no flex pipe

IHMO it should not make a difference in flow.

 

The flex pipe shouldn't be needed provided the donut gasket and DP bolt springs are retained at the O2 housing junction. The OEM design allows for some movement from the engine.

 

funny... I was just looking for an answer to the same question.

 

my experience with the DC downpipe on an ACD equipped evo was it rattling against the transfer case since it was designed for 03-04 non-ACD cars.

 

i've owned one DC sports shorty header back in the day for my rsx, lets just say i wouldnt buy from them again. header gave me a problem a piece broke within it and what not. go for either costum or look at ultimate racing they make good quality downpipes and everything.

 

I would say go with the flex pipe. The Vishnu DP is an awesome quality piece but you can get a downpipe with a flex section for a lot cheaper. Just look around. I think I paid $150 for my Megan Racing DP with flex section off of Ebay 2.5 years ago and its still fits and works like a champ!

From my experience....
As far as the vibration goes. I installed a stiffer engine mount on the front and only noticed a very slight difference in vibration with HKS cams in the car. A friend of mines installed HKS cams in his car a while ago, he also has the stiffer engine mount, and his car vibrates a lot. The only difference mechanically, besides adjustable cam gears (which I dont see causing any vibration.. someone correct me if im wrong about the gears...), is that he has a solid DP and I have a DP with a flex section.

 

here's an important difference that no one has mentioned.

what i will refer to as flanged flex and donut flanged dps are different in the size of the o2 housing exit opening.

basically donut flanged dps neck down to whatever it takes to hold the stock donut and that's like 70mm at best, many times scooping down to 65-70 at different parts of the diameter. now this is obviously bad, but that's actually not the limiting factor... the stock donut is about 70mm so... bascially the stock donut is the limiting factor.

retaining the stock donut is gonna make that type of restriction in your exhaust system.

that's why works uses a 3" donut. this goes with their 3" o2 housing.

the other way, is to eliminate the donut all together. use a flanged flex pipe, this makes it full 3" right to the o2 housing which you can now change to an ebay or whatever. however a 3" pipe will not be able to engulf the large works o2 housing's "nozzle".