I have a '07 Cooper S and Was looking to buy a new cat-back exhaust soon. I've narrowed it down to the NM and the Borla. My question is, how hard are these to put in. I know the NM needs me to cut my stock pipes. What about the Borla? Anybody have any install instructions?

 

They should be pretty simple, but you will need to make a cut to your stock system. The easiest way to do this is with an air powered cut-off wheel. That will make the cleanest cut and you can keep it square. It will be difficult to try to do it with a hacksaw with the exhaust still on the car. You also might want to consider the factory JCW rear pieces.....

 

It's about the easiest thing that you can do. You will need to put the car on jack stands. If you don't have a cut off wheel then you and completely remove the whole exhaust from the downpipe back and then cut it with a hacksaw. If you do this make sure you pickup a new clamp for the downpipe connection.

When I installed my system it took about and hour or so.

 

I'm happy with my ARKDESIGN...free shipping to Hawaii was a bonus...looks great, sounds great:

I have since paired it with a WMW downpipe.

 

I ended up going with the DP-back NM system because I didn't want to cut the exhaust. The install was really easy. I installed the NM short shift adapter and box cover when I did mine so it took 45-60 min. Very straight forward. But as cerenkov said, you'll need a new clamp as well. V band clamp. You can order it online from ECS. Also as elsonordave said, paired with the WMW Catless DP, this thing sounds great.

 

does ur exhaust sound whistle on 5k rpm??
any warning light pop up afterr u replace dp??

 

Mine had a MIL light until my tune due to the cat removal...

 

NO, my exhaust system is the revised one. I had to wait a month and a lahf last year to get it. I've now had it on since late September last year and have never hear to 5k whistle. So as long as you buy new, I don't see a problem occurring.


As for the DP, yes. If you replace the DP with a high flow Cat or a Catless you will end up with a CEL. There are ways to trick the vehicle to think its ok by using spacers, but I wanted to get a tune as well, so I had it removed with my tune. There is also a device that tricks the ECU from Akrapovic, but I understand its not a perfect device.

 

Cat back gives NO performance update at all, just a noise maker. Go DP-back so when one day you decide to replace the DP, get tune etc you will have the whole package.