Borla Catback review and pics (long) 56k beware
08-10-03, 04:15 AM
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Borla Catback review and pics (long) 56k beware
About a month ago I replaced my cats with the Racing Beat cat-replacement pipe/presilencer combo. I immediately noticed a HUGE difference in power and the willingness of the RPMs to shoot to redline. It was the best mod I ever did in regards to power. I completely believe the 18 HP gain that Racing Beat advertises. For those wondering I went with the pipe instead of the header for a few reasons.. #1 I'm in Cali so I have to smog.. so it's an easy replacement when it comes time. The other reason is I got a great buy on Rarest's old unit and I could not say no. I was also trying to avoid a not of noise and everyone says the header is louder.
The problem was with the stock exhaust. First off it didn't sound or look that great anymore.. it didn't match the performance of my system and I think the lack of cats was killing the old exhaust. It kept getting louder and louder and after spirited driving it smelled like something was burning inside there. So thus begins my search for a reasonably priced quality unit that will hold up to the powah of the rotary, not draw too much attention but sound cool at WOT I did a lot of searching and spoke to a lot of people before I decided on a relatively unknown name in the rotary world. Borla. Why Borla? Let's look at the specs..
T-304 Stainless Steel construction
Mandrel bent pipes with the exact same diameter as the Racing Beat unit 2.5 into the y-pipe and 2 inches after
Stainless Steel wool packed straight through muffler design
47 lbs shipping weight so it's quite a bit lighter than stock
1 million mile warranty.. yup serious.. good for the life of your car!
Cost 420.00 shipped from summitracing.com
The only negative was that I really wanted a bling bling system for some reason.. who knows the rice bug bit me for a while there and I wanted 3.5 inch tips but I decided that would draw too much attention. These tips are the intercooled Borla tips and they look old school so I guess it fits with the look of the FC. I didn't think it looked BAD.. I just didn't think it looked as cool as say the Greddy system.. of course this is HALF the cost.
So I ordered the exhaust at 12 noon Pacific time on a Monday. Tuesday morning at 9am there was a knock at my door that woke me up. It was the exhaust.. less than 24 hour turn around! Yay Summit! I then called and woke up Kevin aka Rarestrx and then a few hours later I was at his place to install.
Install was straight forward.. a few notes. The system comes with MOST of the bolts and some gaskets. They are not the nice expensive ones Mazda sells but the ones I used seem to be working fine. Kevin had a spare "cat to cat back" gasket he lent me so I didn't use the cheap gasket for that.. only used them for connecting the cans to the y-pipe. The exhaust did NOT come with some bolts thou. We had to run to the hardware store and get some to bring my cost up by around $2.00. These are the bolts that hold the Y pipe up.. I don't know why they didn't include them.. normally I would have use the old bolts but they were WELDED to the stock y pipe so that wasn't an option. My car is an S4 so maybe an s5 is different. Also because the exhaust is lighter it doesn't use one set of "doughnuts" to hold up the Y-pipe. I have not had a problem because of this and the system is plenty secure.
One other thing is that part of the y-pipe is clamped on.. the y pipe isn't one piece like the Racing Beat. This isn't a big deal.. just put everything together and bolt the clamp last so it lines up right.
So we needed someplace to put the old exhaust.. Well luckily this week happened to be "put your **** on the sidewalk" week where the County will pick up your crap for you if you leave it out in front of your house. So Kev didn't have a **** pile but his across the street neighbor did. So we did a little commando run to leave it in his pile and then bailed before anyone could complain.
After getting the system on I think it looked a LOT cooler than I thought it would. It's really nice to look under the car and see SS all the way back. When I fired it up it sounds great. It's not loud at all. Very deep sounding. It just sounds like a rotary now.. everyone that has heard it really likes it. There is a SLIGHT drone at certain RPMs.. usually when you are around 2K and then push hard on the throttle then it drones but really who drives like that? If you have the AC on and the radio on then chances are you really don't notice it at all. WOT isn't even that loud.. I mean you hear it allright but it's not like a Honda fartcannon or anything.. I'm sure having the pre-silencer on there quiets it down quite a bit.
Okay performance? Did it boost my HP? Yes it did. It's not nearly as noticeable as removing the cats but this did make a difference. The engine revs nicer now.. with all my mods it just wants to redline every time.. the one thing I really noticed was top end power seems a lot better. I can really squeal the tires in 2 nd gear now and before it was MAYBE a chirp. The good ole butt dyno says 4-5 hp gain. NO repeat NO problem with the 6 ports. They work perfect at around 3600 RPMs.
Flames.. yup yup much nicer flames than before. We went out to Keifer Blvd out where the Mather runway ends and did runs up and down to test it out. I watched Kevin get two feet long orange flames out of both pipes.. with the stock system I would get little itty bitty blue ones. When the Borla is all heated up and you get a lot of little pops and bops along with some big BOP-POPs. I love the sound.. Well when I get the SAFC flames will pretty much come to an end but it's fun while I have them now.
Anything bad about the system? Hmm well the flanges are not SS.. but they are thick so I don't think they will rust out but if they do it should be covered in the warranty. Also the welds are welds.. they aren't a thing of beauty like on a Mountain Bike but if they hold who cares ya know. The y pipe as I said before needs to be clamped. At first this bugged me but most exhausts out there for domestic cars are clamped so I am over it.
Clifnotes
An inexpensive, mandrel bent, straight through, quality SS performance exhaust with a good sound to it that comes with a FREE Bola hat!! Thumbs up!
J-So shows that the can really is straight through!
Not quite as Bling Bling as a Racing Beat system but not bad for $200.. less!!
This is a before pic. Man I LOVE my paint!! Notice the GTUs and Rocco in the background
Teh New sweetness!!1
SS pipes.. can't see them all thou. This is the final bolt!
Daymn this is heavy!!
RUN AWAY!!
The problem was with the stock exhaust. First off it didn't sound or look that great anymore.. it didn't match the performance of my system and I think the lack of cats was killing the old exhaust. It kept getting louder and louder and after spirited driving it smelled like something was burning inside there. So thus begins my search for a reasonably priced quality unit that will hold up to the powah of the rotary, not draw too much attention but sound cool at WOT I did a lot of searching and spoke to a lot of people before I decided on a relatively unknown name in the rotary world. Borla. Why Borla? Let's look at the specs..
T-304 Stainless Steel construction
Mandrel bent pipes with the exact same diameter as the Racing Beat unit 2.5 into the y-pipe and 2 inches after
Stainless Steel wool packed straight through muffler design
47 lbs shipping weight so it's quite a bit lighter than stock
1 million mile warranty.. yup serious.. good for the life of your car!
Cost 420.00 shipped from summitracing.com
The only negative was that I really wanted a bling bling system for some reason.. who knows the rice bug bit me for a while there and I wanted 3.5 inch tips but I decided that would draw too much attention. These tips are the intercooled Borla tips and they look old school so I guess it fits with the look of the FC. I didn't think it looked BAD.. I just didn't think it looked as cool as say the Greddy system.. of course this is HALF the cost.
So I ordered the exhaust at 12 noon Pacific time on a Monday. Tuesday morning at 9am there was a knock at my door that woke me up. It was the exhaust.. less than 24 hour turn around! Yay Summit! I then called and woke up Kevin aka Rarestrx and then a few hours later I was at his place to install.
Install was straight forward.. a few notes. The system comes with MOST of the bolts and some gaskets. They are not the nice expensive ones Mazda sells but the ones I used seem to be working fine. Kevin had a spare "cat to cat back" gasket he lent me so I didn't use the cheap gasket for that.. only used them for connecting the cans to the y-pipe. The exhaust did NOT come with some bolts thou. We had to run to the hardware store and get some to bring my cost up by around $2.00. These are the bolts that hold the Y pipe up.. I don't know why they didn't include them.. normally I would have use the old bolts but they were WELDED to the stock y pipe so that wasn't an option. My car is an S4 so maybe an s5 is different. Also because the exhaust is lighter it doesn't use one set of "doughnuts" to hold up the Y-pipe. I have not had a problem because of this and the system is plenty secure.
One other thing is that part of the y-pipe is clamped on.. the y pipe isn't one piece like the Racing Beat. This isn't a big deal.. just put everything together and bolt the clamp last so it lines up right.
So we needed someplace to put the old exhaust.. Well luckily this week happened to be "put your **** on the sidewalk" week where the County will pick up your crap for you if you leave it out in front of your house. So Kev didn't have a **** pile but his across the street neighbor did. So we did a little commando run to leave it in his pile and then bailed before anyone could complain.
After getting the system on I think it looked a LOT cooler than I thought it would. It's really nice to look under the car and see SS all the way back. When I fired it up it sounds great. It's not loud at all. Very deep sounding. It just sounds like a rotary now.. everyone that has heard it really likes it. There is a SLIGHT drone at certain RPMs.. usually when you are around 2K and then push hard on the throttle then it drones but really who drives like that? If you have the AC on and the radio on then chances are you really don't notice it at all. WOT isn't even that loud.. I mean you hear it allright but it's not like a Honda fartcannon or anything.. I'm sure having the pre-silencer on there quiets it down quite a bit.
Okay performance? Did it boost my HP? Yes it did. It's not nearly as noticeable as removing the cats but this did make a difference. The engine revs nicer now.. with all my mods it just wants to redline every time.. the one thing I really noticed was top end power seems a lot better. I can really squeal the tires in 2 nd gear now and before it was MAYBE a chirp. The good ole butt dyno says 4-5 hp gain. NO repeat NO problem with the 6 ports. They work perfect at around 3600 RPMs.
Flames.. yup yup much nicer flames than before. We went out to Keifer Blvd out where the Mather runway ends and did runs up and down to test it out. I watched Kevin get two feet long orange flames out of both pipes.. with the stock system I would get little itty bitty blue ones. When the Borla is all heated up and you get a lot of little pops and bops along with some big BOP-POPs. I love the sound.. Well when I get the SAFC flames will pretty much come to an end but it's fun while I have them now.
Anything bad about the system? Hmm well the flanges are not SS.. but they are thick so I don't think they will rust out but if they do it should be covered in the warranty. Also the welds are welds.. they aren't a thing of beauty like on a Mountain Bike but if they hold who cares ya know. The y pipe as I said before needs to be clamped. At first this bugged me but most exhausts out there for domestic cars are clamped so I am over it.
Clifnotes
An inexpensive, mandrel bent, straight through, quality SS performance exhaust with a good sound to it that comes with a FREE Bola hat!! Thumbs up!
J-So shows that the can really is straight through!
Not quite as Bling Bling as a Racing Beat system but not bad for $200.. less!!
This is a before pic. Man I LOVE my paint!! Notice the GTUs and Rocco in the background
Teh New sweetness!!1
SS pipes.. can't see them all thou. This is the final bolt!
Daymn this is heavy!!
RUN AWAY!!
08-10-03, 06:28 AM
#2
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niiice 
told you you'd like them. i wish my borla tips stuck out the back like that...mine are hidden under the bumper 
. oh as for the bolts problem...i used bolts that i took off of my stock muffler but sometimes those are welded on...no idea why. and yes, the stock y-pipe on my S5 had the studs welded to it as well so i needed the extra bolts.
hehe lets see if anyone else is interested or if they all want their jay dee emmu stuff
told you you'd like them
. i wish my borla tips stuck out the back like that...mine are hidden under the bumper . oh as for the bolts problem...i used bolts that i took off of my stock muffler but sometimes those are welded on...no idea why. and yes, the stock y-pipe on my S5 had the studs welded to it as well so i needed the extra bolts.hehe lets see if anyone else is interested or if they all want their jay dee emmu stuff
08-10-03, 07:58 AM
#3
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Very nice writeup/review! I love the borla system. In fact, I love any system that looks almost stock. I don't know what i was thinking when I was considering the dual N1's. I wouldn't last two minutes on the street without beng pulled over. Luckily, I got a deal for a used RP.com catback for $40. I couldn't turn that down... So for now, that will be my choice. I'll provide a similar writeup upon completion 
My stock mufflers get new holes in them every freaking day. And the y-pipe is rattling like a bitch because I got some pebbles in the damn heat shield. AND MY RB DOWN/PRESILENCER IS ITCHING TO BE INSTALLED!!! AHHHH!! I'm gonna flip 
But the borla tips? I'll have to argue those. Those are the first to go if I ever get this system. Some nice plain 2" SS ones will do just fine.
My stock mufflers get new holes in them every freaking day. And the y-pipe is rattling like a bitch because I got some pebbles in the damn heat shield. AND MY RB DOWN/PRESILENCER IS ITCHING TO BE INSTALLED!!! AHHHH!! I'm gonna flip But the borla tips? I'll have to argue those. Those are the first to go if I ever get this system. Some nice plain 2" SS ones will do just fine.
08-10-03, 08:42 AM
#4
Opinions are like........
Thanks for the review. I feel better now that when my exhaust falls off, a Borla will be next. I prefer the hidden and not blingbling exhaust. Saving $200 also helps!
08-10-03, 11:38 AM
#5
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I love the borla system, At idle it's a beautiful deep burble. WOT with a MP is nice, however I have a Turbo sucking up the noise. Definantly looks stock except for those borla tips. I always get compliments on the way it looks and sounds; "not too ricey" but at 6.5k it screams, literally.
08-10-03, 12:40 PM
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Thank you everyone.. looks like my observations match up to everyone elses :-)
Couple of other things. Obivously the system isn't a single can that splits into two pipes. Apparantly a certain store that used to sell these had that posted on the website and that's just plain wrong. Bingoboy even went as far as to call Borla and ask them if they made a single can- dual out for the FC and they said this is the only system they make.
For those who have asked the part number is 14192.
The reason I did this writeup is there seems to be a lack of information about this system and this should make it easier so spread the good word!
Couple of other things. Obivously the system isn't a single can that splits into two pipes. Apparantly a certain store that used to sell these had that posted on the website and that's just plain wrong. Bingoboy even went as far as to call Borla and ask them if they made a single can- dual out for the FC and they said this is the only system they make.
For those who have asked the part number is 14192.
The reason I did this writeup is there seems to be a lack of information about this system and this should make it easier so spread the good word!
Trending Topics
08-10-03, 01:00 PM
#8
NA Powah, Every Hour!
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Yo,
J-So should do Shakespeare:
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio...
*chuckle*
Best pic evar! The funny thing is, I checked the **** pile and the exhaust was /gone/!! I bet I'll see it on a hatchback Civic driving around...oy!
Good write up bro, excellent photos! *wink*
Kevin
1989 GTUs "I need to mow my lawn..."
J-So should do Shakespeare:
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio...
*chuckle*
Best pic evar! The funny thing is, I checked the **** pile and the exhaust was /gone/!! I bet I'll see it on a hatchback Civic driving around...oy!
Good write up bro, excellent photos! *wink*
Kevin
1989 GTUs "I need to mow my lawn..."
08-10-03, 01:16 PM
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Yeah that's quite the dramatic look as if I was holdin my nukka's skull in my hand..
ROFL!!
It's gone.. man that's CLASSIC!! You do live kinda close to the hood.. That's gonna be awesome.. I can just see these kids with it in there garage saying.. Man we are gonna have dual exhaust and that's going to like double the power and flow man!..
My ex used to live out in South Sac off of 24th ave.. In da ghettooo.. Anyway on **** on curb day it was like a frickin flea market.. all the crack heads would walk the streets sifting through the crap.. It was crazy.. I mean there were so many people doing it it was seriously like a flea market.
Oh yeah and thank Kev for the gargantuan 5 megapix pictures that took "FOREVER" to email to me because the IM transfer wasn't working... *snicker*
I need a camera like that!
ROFL!!
It's gone.. man that's CLASSIC!! You do live kinda close to the hood.. That's gonna be awesome.. I can just see these kids with it in there garage saying.. Man we are gonna have dual exhaust and that's going to like double the power and flow man!..
My ex used to live out in South Sac off of 24th ave.. In da ghettooo.. Anyway on **** on curb day it was like a frickin flea market.. all the crack heads would walk the streets sifting through the crap.. It was crazy.. I mean there were so many people doing it it was seriously like a flea market.
Oh yeah and thank Kev for the gargantuan 5 megapix pictures that took "FOREVER" to email to me because the IM transfer wasn't working... *snicker*
I need a camera like that!
Last edited by jsotelo; 08-10-03 at 01:43 PM.
08-14-03, 02:23 PM
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As a little update.. I was told the exhaust would break in and get louder.. well I don't know about that.. I have driven it every day for almost 2 weeks now and to me the sound has gotten deeper and it doesn't drone hardly at all now. In fact the thing seems pretty mellow to me until you rev it then it just sounds nice... a little mean. I get comments all the time about how nice my car sounds.. not too loud just a nice deep rotary sound. One of my friends got a HUGE grin on his face when I started it up for him the other day.
For comparison I just spent a lot of time racing Rarest's GTUs at Thunderhill the other day and I would say that his exhaust is louder than mine at WOT and I have said it before that the true duals he has is not very loud at all. We were even talking about removing the pre-silencers on his system to try to make it louder. His seems to have a wider dynamic range than my own and his gets higher pitched and is deeper at idle.. Wow thou.. the high end power on his car is very impressive. He said he will do a write up soon but I overtook a 1.8 Turbo Jetta, a SVT Ford Focus and a 350Z with his car and this was my first time on a track.. evar!
For comparison I just spent a lot of time racing Rarest's GTUs at Thunderhill the other day and I would say that his exhaust is louder than mine at WOT and I have said it before that the true duals he has is not very loud at all. We were even talking about removing the pre-silencers on his system to try to make it louder. His seems to have a wider dynamic range than my own and his gets higher pitched and is deeper at idle.. Wow thou.. the high end power on his car is very impressive. He said he will do a write up soon but I overtook a 1.8 Turbo Jetta, a SVT Ford Focus and a 350Z with his car and this was my first time on a track.. evar!
08-14-03, 02:53 PM
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bah, when I ask about borla catback no one responds, and when you buy it and post a review four more people hop on the forum to chime in "good exhaust"
:P
oh well, my N1 single will have to do :P
:P
oh well, my N1 single will have to do :P
08-14-03, 02:53 PM
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Rxmfn7, I don't have a header.. I use the cat replacement/pre-silencer.. Bingoboy has the header and it sounds like his is louder but still deep. I bought this based on his mini review that's in the West forum.
1987RX7guy, I want to get some clips but I don't have anything to record with right now.. I will ask around and see if I can find someone that has a mic or something.
Sorry $150FC.. that's why I made this review is because there wasn't a whole lot of info out there about the system and I wanted people to know about the option.. I was suprised when so many people came out of the woodwork too..
1987RX7guy, I want to get some clips but I don't have anything to record with right now.. I will ask around and see if I can find someone that has a mic or something.
Sorry $150FC.. that's why I made this review is because there wasn't a whole lot of info out there about the system and I wanted people to know about the option.. I was suprised when so many people came out of the woodwork too..
Last edited by jsotelo; 08-14-03 at 02:56 PM.
08-14-03, 03:02 PM
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They are welded on.. you could cut them off and add a new tip.. At first I was thinking of doing this but new tips are expensive and once I got it installed I like the way it looks. It looks better in person IMO. Also I have been told the Racing Beat tips are intercooled too.. just it's not as big of a gap. Someone told me it actualy improves the flow of the exhaust something about colder air being on the outside of a hot tip helps pull the exhaust out but I don't know if that's tripe or not.
08-14-03, 05:25 PM
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I have it installed with an RB streetable collected header and an RB presilencer. It is not raspy AT ALL. Its deep and I love the way it sounds at WOT when the rpm's get up there.
Memphis, yes this system is out of the box made for an rx7. How could it not be? did you look at the pictures.. anyway...if you go to borla's site and select your car it pops up with a part number. If you search on summit for something like "borla rx7" you'll find it.
Memphis, yes this system is out of the box made for an rx7. How could it not be? did you look at the pictures.. anyway...if you go to borla's site and select your car it pops up with a part number. If you search on summit for something like "borla rx7" you'll find it.
08-14-03, 09:12 PM
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I just bought this because of this review (well and because my old exhaust is rusted to crap and hanging on by a thread).
It does look pretty nice, I hope to get it on the car this weekend.
And yes, SUMMIT was totaly fast getting this out to me. I ordered it Tuesday night and got it today (Thursday).
It does look pretty nice, I hope to get it on the car this weekend.
And yes, SUMMIT was totaly fast getting this out to me. I ordered it Tuesday night and got it today (Thursday).
08-15-03, 02:42 AM
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Nice Flobb :-) Let us know how you like it.
I had my brother in the car today and as soon as I fired it up he said "You ******* your car sounds so tight" :-)
I had my brother in the car today and as soon as I fired it up he said "You ******* your car sounds so tight" :-)
08-15-03, 02:59 AM
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"The down pipe is equipped with a mounting flange for the oxygen sensor, and an exhaust back-pressure tube for correct operation of the 6-port actuators. Installation of this requires the removal of the air control and check valve and the air pump."
I read this off fc3s.org Is this true if you use cat-replacement/presilencer?
I read this off fc3s.org Is this true if you use cat-replacement/presilencer?
08-15-03, 03:07 AM
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go to the source ezekiel, www.racingbeat.com
unless you find it used somewhere, the prices you will find will all be the same.
unless you find it used somewhere, the prices you will find will all be the same.
08-15-03, 03:30 AM
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The NA DP does NOT have a flange for the o2 sensor... that's because the manifold is still attached and the o2 sensor goes in there..
Also you do NOT need to remove the air control, check valve and the air pump if you don't want to. I still have my airpump hooked up so I don't have to put it back on when I get my car smogged. The pump blows into the presilencer.. doesn't do anything.
I don't know why Racing Beat has not corrected these little errors..
Also you do NOT need to remove the air control, check valve and the air pump if you don't want to. I still have my airpump hooked up so I don't have to put it back on when I get my car smogged. The pump blows into the presilencer.. doesn't do anything.
I don't know why Racing Beat has not corrected these little errors..
Last edited by jsotelo; 08-15-03 at 03:33 AM.