Ladies and Gents,

I have yet to take a video but wow. I was originally going to go with the nm engineering exhaust but i decided to save a few bucks and get the borla. So pros and cons.

Pros:

High RPM sounds excellent
Twin tips look great
Twin canisters looks awesome under the car
Easy install... what exhaust isnt?

Cons:

Had to hack the factory exhaust
Did not delete the second cat
Drones at low rpm

So finally word.

Pretty awesome. Only issue i have is the droning at low rpm. Guess i gotta wait for the exhaust to break in a bit more and quiet down.

 

The droning isn't surprising. That system barely has any muffling.

 

It has quieted down a bit since i bought it, i can still smell the exhaust breaking in so i know there's a bit more breaking in to do.




the drone coming to a light in gear no throttle is the only bad part

 

I'm thinking of going the same way. All the sound clips I hear of the borla are steller..

You DO have to cut the factory system though??

Which ones dont require it?

 

both you do, it takes 20 -30 min to install.

Get a sawzall and a steel blade and cut 4 inches before the resonater. super easy

 

invidia bolts straight up to factory dp. also deletes secondary cat. just ask thumper, he lovessss his exhasut

 

+1 Almost all exhausts bolt up via vclamp... i personally got the borla for the sound and style. Either touring or s you have to cut though.

 

I dont like cutting things! haha Guess I'll have to look for some invidia sound clips..

 

I think droning either goes away or you just get used to it.

Or its just with cold weather.. Put on a lightly used Stratmosphere and it did drone at first, but now its hardly anything. Car is loud at startup still, but then gets quite a bit quieter as I warm er up.

 

dont be scared lol




Exhausts do break in, The packing in the resonater (if there is any) or the mufflers has to "burn in". That is why most exhausts after a couple hundred or thousand miles they quiet down.

 

Doubt that it gets quieter. I suspect you just adjust to it. That is just how mufflers and ears work. They ain't a tube amp that has to warm up! A pipe with a few holes in it does not "break in"

So, you are all putting on exhausts so your car is louder and obnoxious driving down my street when I am trying to sleep, and you have no comments on any performance gains? I can handle a trade-off like some HP vs some noise, but a "F-C" just to sound obnoxious I have little use for. Yes, I am older than your Father. I don't have time for "cool", only fast.

 

If theres muffler packing behind "the mufflers" and resonators it does "break in". Depending on the packing material, the elements will expand and or contract to temp changes and pressure changes. that new metal smell you smell after buying a new car or exhaust is the elements doing what they do.


ebay "pipes with holes in them" dont break in

 

Plus the soot of the exhaust will actually coat the inside of the pipe.. which in itself helps dampen some of the noises

 

Exhaust's generally get louder as they "break in"...I know every exhaust I've had experience with does.

 

touche, I stand corrected. I think the term im looking for is clearer. they lose the muffling factor.

 

Again, I recommend the primer on this subject: Scientific Design of Intake and Exhaust by Smith and Morrison. Do a little light reading and you will understand mufflers better.

If all you want is more noise, instead of violating federal law deleting the cat, why don't you just drill a hole in your muffler and save a ton of money?

The smell is not the metal, it is the out-gassing of usually toxic volatiles. Inside, the plasticizers that make plastic soft. (the film on the windshield, a thick gooey yellow oil that causes cancer). Oil or varnish on the exhaust. Yea new car smell.

 

Yeah tone will change. Every exhaust I've put on a car has thoroughly dissapointed me the first time I started it up after install. I remember installing a B&B on an E39 M5 and after starting it up for the first time, I was like whaaaat?? $1k for it to sound exactly like stock?? Then after a few hundred miles, man that thing roared. Always could set off car alarms in garages .

And yes my Invidia on my MINI was similar.

Because it would sound like crap? I don't know if your just being sarcastic or what, but for someone who knows so much about exhaust theory you should know there's a lot more to how it sounds then just poking a hole in the muffler.

People want exhausts mainly for noise, because to us it sounds better. It's not about waking you up when you sleep and laughing....its because it makes driving the car more enjoyable...and if it happens to give a few horsepower, then that's a huge bonus.

It's not about being "cool". Why do some people like heavy metal and others like smooth jazz? Because to their ears, one sounds awesome and one sounds horrible. Same thing for exhausts...its a subjective, personal preference.

 

I want to hear what Borla sounds like on a MINI.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWB2U2zCluc

 

In all seriousness, different exhausts filter/pass different sounds. Yes it is a matter of preference. Any yes, just a hole passes the highest raspy sounds which are the exact opposite of what is considered "good" sounding. Always thought it would be fun to build a Hedgman filter for a car, but they are just too big. Cat's don't do much muffling, so removing the secondary does not much for the tone.

I have never been a fan of the Borla sound. Edgy to me. Had an Ansa on an old Saab 99 and it was sweet as can be. I had Chery Bombs under my TVR. Horribly noisy but the intent was to terrify anyone around. It did. I listen to music almost all the time, so I usually prefer stock.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgj0FbRL3WY

 

Sound great man....shockingly similar to my Invidia

 

"Cool" down TVR....No Federal laws being broken here.

First off, the part he deleted is not the cat or a "secondary cat". It's actually called the "Front Muffler" or resonator. And it's not a federal mandate to run a resonator in the system....

A friend of mine installed an R56 exhaust on an R53 with a rear battery delete. System was waaaaaay too loud that way. He added an OEM resonator and it calmed it right down. No drone.

Maybe if the drone does not go away Bigprfed, you may consider clamping the resonator back into the system ? FYI - If you use clamps, the OEM MINI exhaust clamps are really nice, better than the aftermarket ones.

 

actually the borla has a resonator in the system. im wondering if the second cat has a muffling effect though. i mean i feel tit drones less and less each day but maybe its just me