Ricky

I know I'm like the 938249th to receive the borla exhaust, and this is most likely the 100th review on it, but for whose who care to read this, hopefully it's informative.

First off, removing the stock exhaust was easy. The bolts were on pretty tight, but nothing some muscle couldn't take care of. The stock exhaust came off withen 30 minutes, the hardest part was just removing the muffler from the rubber holders.

Now for the installation, when installing, we started off installing the piping from the CAT's, down to the muffler. After installing the pipes (thank god we didn't clamp them yet), we realized placing the muffler onto the pipes, then putting them in the rubber holders was VERY difficult, so we removed some of the piping, and connected the muffler first. After the muffler was on, took about 30-40 minutes to finish the rest of the piping installation. Fairly simple, just needs some time and patience.

Things to make sure of when installing the borla exhaust:

1) Since this is a "true duel", it has 2 sets of pipes coming from the CAT's, well one side of the piping is bent, that is for a reason, make sure you place the pipes on the right side, or you might not get the right fit. For example, we put the pipe which belonged on the left, on the right side at first, and it ran into the rear axel.

2) When installing the exhaust, do muffler first, then piping, it will save the hassel from putting the hangers in the rubber holders.

3) Make sure all clamps are on really tight, and right over the overlapping piping. Failure to do this will result in a leak, and a odd sound when driving from the leaking exhausts.


Impressions of Borla:

First I disconnected the ECU for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes, and finally turning it on, the exhaust had basically the same sound, but more throaty. Taking it for a drive, you can definatly feel some more power, nothing HUGE, but you do feel it. The car is more responsive and seems to acclerate faster. As far as my butt dyno, I can tell more power was added, my guess, 7-10hp. At first when driving, it didn't pull me back into the seat as much as I'd like, but after about 20-30 miles of driving it, and then hitting it hard into second and nearly redline, it definatly felt as if there was a lot more power.

As far as the sound goes when driving, it's basically the stock sound, but more throaty. At WOT, the car roars now, definatly louder, but nothing extreme, as many borla owners have expressed.

Verdict: For $625, and 7-10hp (my guess), it's definatly worth it. If you want a nice clean/stock look, but with some more power, and a slightly more throaty sound, this is definatly for you. If you want more of a japanesse sound, I wouldn't suggest thing, and I'd suggest the Injen. Personally, I'm very pleased.

Also, props to my friend John who basically did the entire installation, and I basically watched and helped. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

PS - Also, I'm not a professional at installation, so if there is a better way of installing it (instead of muffler to pipes) please share your method. I personally just found that to be the easiest.

Ricky

John putting on the muffler after the piping, as you can see he used his knee to help push up on the muffler to try to get the hangers into the rubber holders, but was unsucessiful, and resulted into re-installing from muffler, then piping.

Ricky

Just thought this was funny, John hurt himself..somehow.. and was twitching on the ground like a dying animal... so I just had to capture this kodak moment. Sorry it's a little blury, I was laughing so hard my hand shook a bit..

MannishBoy

iTrader: (1)

Disconnecting the ECU for 15 minutes does absolutely nothing. There have been posts describing how to reset the ECU here you can search out, but if you are just going to try the battery disconnection route, according to the shop manual, you must leave it disconnected for at least 24 hours.

hugo1669

Why would you reset the ecu in the first place? After reading alot of posts I thought you don't have to.

gguff

Thanks for the review. Nice clean install. I have been considering the Borla myself.

derekjsmith

Some tricks I learned installing my Borla.

First it is easier if you unbolt the three muffler hangers from the car. This requires you to remove the covers that block the hanger bolts but they are easy to remove and reinstall. By doing this you can remove the rubber insulators from the stock muffler when it is out of the car. You can then also install the rubber insulators on the Borla muffler while it is out of the car. Then installing the muffler is as easy as just bolting it into place.

Now from the back work forward connecting all of the pipes but don’t tighten the clamps yet.

After you have connected the cat pipes bolt them to the cats and torque them down.

Now from the front align each pipe for fit and clearance and then tighten the clamps snug but not all the way.

Now inspect the system for fit and clearance, make any adjustments needed.

Now go back and torque each of the clamps to Borla’s specs.

Now start the car and check for leaks or rattles. If everything is OK then reinstall the muffler hanger covers.

gguff

When I install mine I dont think I will take any Acid like your friend did...I believe thats what caused your delays with the muffler...j/j

Ricky

LOL!! ... yeah, he's a odd one. His grandpa owns Perdue chickens.. so he's a little... "off".. haha

JohnnyZ

Rick, Where did you purchase the Borla tru dual system for $620?