First thing's first...I took the car to Tantrum Auto today (always love working with these guys!) and we ran into some trouble installing the Magnaflow. A lot of people fail to mention this, but the Magnaflow 11385 is not a direct bolt-on. Because it's width and the Borla's width are both 2.25, so the Magnaflow can't be inserted. This was only a problem for one side, as the elbow/angled pipes that connect from the HFCs and forward, fit right into the Magnaflow.

What the guy's ended up doing was cutting off the tips of the Borla H-pipe and cut off the tips of the Magnaflow, and welded the Borla tips on the Magnaflow - which worked perfectly. The fit was extremely snug, but it's piece of mind knowing their won't be any exhaust leaks coming from the area. So, a note to Borla TD owners with test pipes or HFCs looking to do this mod: the 11385 only fits on one side - the other side has to be reworked. Unless there's something different with my Borla TD, people should chime in with their experiences.

Anyways, the hissing noise while revving at idle is gone, it wasn't that bad with my car to begin with, but it's totally gone now. But, the bees in a can sound when flooring it while the car is cool is still there. It goes away in a few minutes, but it'll buzz if, let's say, you had the car parked for 30 minutes, the car is obviously not cold, but it has cooled down. So if you flog it after letting it cool for 30 mins, it'll buzz once or twice.

But! None of that matters! The power gain this thing gives coupled with my HFCs is absolutely amazing. I knew the original H-pipe was a piece of crap on the Borla, but I had no idea just how bad it was until I experienced the Magnaflow. I've got tons of low-end torque now, and my car really feels alive. Lower revs in 3rd gear are much, much more usable now.

It's not just torque, but power overall has been beefed up all throughout the range. I think people really underestimate just how great this setup is - granted not everyone is running their Magnaflow with the same exhaust combinations, so results do vary. I wasn't even expecting much of a difference in power, but I was extremely surprised to feel a noticeably better punch.

The one drawback to this power is that the tires don't like it. The car's tail whips now, so it looks like I'll be sinking my money down on wider 265 rubber to keep that rear planted straight.

Now as far as the sound, before, I had a bit of drone at 1800RPMs. It didn't bother me, because it wasn't that loud and I rarely consistently drive in that range; and if I did, a change to 4th gear would give me an extra 200-300RPM to quiet everything down. Now, the drone has been tremendously reduced, to the point I can't even call it drone anymore - it's barely there.

But the exhaust hasn't quieted down, from 3200RPM+, you've got a distinct burbling tone now that eventually smoothens out the higher the RPMs go - sounding like nothing short of an exotic. I'd say that from 5000RPM and up, the exhaust sounds almost the same, but from 3200-5000 there's a cleaner, deeper tone to listen to.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the Magnaflow. It may not be the direct fit I was expecting to be, but the power gains sure do feel amazing, as does the sound.

 

sound clips?

 

wow all that work just to get a stupid part to fit..

I would have just saved my money and just left it the way it was..

 

Uhhh...photos of what? Wtf?

I really didn't want the Borla H-pipe installed back on the car. It was no more than a 20 minute delay in the install process anyways, so it wasn't that big of a deal. The end results are WELL worth it.

I think I'm going to get around to doing that sometime soon.

 

I don't understand the fitting thing. Aren't the Magnaflow and Bora pipe center to center dimensions the same? (not the pipe diameters but the dist inbetween each pipe)

So you cut off the H pipe tips so they would be a slip fit onto the rest of the borla system?

Pics would really be the best way to explain the installation.

But great review and great to hear you got some torque back. The sedan Borla doesn't even have a H pipe! The duals coming out of the cats go into a 2 in / 2 out muffler that doesn't even have a X pipe built in!

 

Got picz of the installed x pipe. I can haz?

 

When the car's on the lift in a few weeks again, I'll take the pics. The best way I can explain is that the outlet tips are 2.25, right? Well, so are the tips of the inlets to the Borla's pipes which connect to the outlets of the Magnaflow. So basically, they're the exact same size, which prevented them from slipping in. So we had to cut off the tips and etc.

It's weird that only I have experience this. So I have a funny feeling I may some slightly different variation of the Borla TD exhaust. Were there numerous versions of the exhaust made, perhaps?

 

That's what I thought you were getting at. I would have thought that the shop could have just used an expander on one side of the pipes to get them to slip fit. That's what I was thinking about doing.

 

We tried that before all else. It still wouldn't work. =(

 

Well in your case, I can see how you could use the Borla tips for the slip fit. The coupe has removable joints right there.

But I don't understand how an expander "wouldn't" work. If anything, the expander would work TOO good if anything. ie.. expand it too big. As a slip fit dimensions are pretty tight for the two pipes being put together.

 

Did you get a chance to take pics underneath yet?

 

No pics underneath. But I made another thread with videos.

 

who install it for you at tantrum?

 

Thats weird on the fitment issue. My guy had no problem installing it. Your right about the low end.

 

Good ol' Dave and two other guys.

 

where???

 

i have this setup as well except i got the 2.5 magnaflow x pipe since my test pipes were also 2.5

 

nice.
do you have pics??
im still in process of installing mine.

 

Nope, me and 2 guys did it with floor jacks lol. That was pretty interesting to say the least.

 

nice DIY always the best.