modru2004

edit: missed the link he was talking about. jrock is right thats a spliced in x pipe with that one system. you would have to cut your existing exhaust after the cats and then either clamp or weld in borlas xpipe.


either do a regular cat back or axle back and dont' worry about the rest right now. this gives you time to decide on the mid pipe you want and maybe some long tubes later.

if you do that spliced in x pipe crap can cause problems for you later depending on what you end up doing to the rest of the exhaust in the front.

StangisSwag

curious after reading this thread, ive been wanting to buy the borla s type catback system which is about 860 on a site i found, im looking for numbers and well as sound and better overall air flow, is the system worth it over just an axle back? id be paying a similar price if i got a high flow x pipe along w an axle b

jrockgts197

OK, without starting a Corsa vs. Borla flame war, let's try to get back to the OP's original question. The 1st link you posted was for the axle back s-type mufflers. The 2nd and 3rd links were Borla's cat back exhausts that come with a "splice-in" x pipe, which means you retain the factory catalytic converters and splice in the x pipe after the cats (not a true x pipe in the sense of an entire mid pipe). The difference between the 2 cat backs is the pipe diameter - one of them is 2.75" and the other is 3". Generally 3" pipe isn't considered until the engine is heavily modified with things like forced induction which is why, if you look, Borla includes the GT500 in the application section for that cat back. I was one of the unfortunate people that had to cut their over axle pipes (pipes between the axle back and the mid pipe) to remove the stock exhaust so I was FORCED to buy a cat back. I ran a Pypes MM system for a year and switched to the Borla. I run an off road x pipe (full x pipe from headers to over axle pipes with no converters) with the Borla s-type cat back and I will never switch to anything else, I'll just leave it at that. If you still have your factory over axle pipes there is absolutely no reason to purchase a cat back system, especially one with one of those 1/2 x pipes that you linked in your first post. FWIW I've had 4 guys ride in my car when they were looking for an exhaust setup and they all ended up with the Borla. The Corsa also sounds fantastic so I don't think you can go wrong here.

StangisSwag

how would one get rid of their over axle pipes in order to benefit from the cat back? what would me and OP replace them with if we are looking at catback?

modru2004

the cat back includes the over axle pipes.

catbacks connect to the existing mid pipe and run all the way back to the axle backs which is pretty much mufflers with small pieces of curved pipe on them setup to make installation easier.

just do an axle back OP.

you can always add the rest later.



and stang sinc eyour going for performance i hope you realize your not really going to gain much if any performance from a cat back.

real performance comes from longtube headers + aftermarket mid pipe (with or without cats your choice). set that off with cams later and then you will be really talking.

-rpark-

Borla said their cat back system added 10-16 hp and no need for a tune...plus a more aggressive note than axle backs.

I was reading Ford did a good job with the stock cats, but the h pipe and over the axle pipes were restrictive.

The Borla cat back system includes an x pipe and bolts directly to the stock cats. it does not contain any cats itself.

The over axle pipes that clamp to the x pipe do not have the resonators like the stock pipes do. They are mandrel bend and flow much better according to Borla.

Anyway, I ordered the Borla S-Type cat back system. I should have it on next week.

-rpark-

I took my stock exhaust off last night...so I can see more or less how it all goes together.

There are basically 5 pieces per side.

The manifold bolts to the engine. next the cats bolt to the manifold. next the h pipe bolts to the cats. next the over the axle pipes bolt to the h pipe. next the mufflers bolt to the h pipe.

Now there are three types of x pipe:
1. x pipe that bolts to the cats. these do not contain cats themselves and are shorter than the other types since the stock cats are retains.

2. x pipes that delete the stock cats and have their own cats built into the pipe. these are longer because the replace the stock cats and bolt directly to the exhaust manifold.

3. finally, there are x pipes that delete the stock cats and contain no cats of their own. like #2, they are longer because they bolt directly to the manifold and delete the stock cats. i believe these are referred to as the off road x pipes.

i hope this clears up some things for those that were confused like me.

-rpark-

Now,, after taking my stock exhaust off last night, i have to gripe, lol.

The mufflers were a little hard to get off. I had to do a lot of tugging and twisting..but got them off. What i would helped a lot was hosing down the rubber hangers with WD40. this helped the spear-headed mounts on the muffler slip out of them a lot easier.

Next to unclamped the over the axle pipes from the h pipe. the bolt heads faced the ground. There were two on each pipe and they came off easy.

Once the over the axle pipes were lose and the proximal ends were dropped to the ground, the real fun began.

I have the car sitting up on four ramps..so the ramps put each tire 6-8 inches up off the ground. That gave me enough room to crawl around under the car.

The problem now was the pipes would not come out from the axles. I manipulated them for about 30 minutes and gave up. They were just not going to come out without the car up any higher.

with the front still on the ramps. i put a jack on each side in front of the back wheel and lifter the car as high as the jacks would take it.

this barely gave me enough room to get them off with a little finagling. I just pray to God the Borla over the axle pipes will go in without the car being on a lift or I'm screwed.

Then, the last piece I took off was the stock h pipe. I thought this would be the easiest part of the day, but turned out to be the hardest.

there is only a clamp that holds them to the cats and that clamp only has one bolt...but Ford decided to put the bolt head facing toward the sky and there is only about 1-1.5 inches between the bolt head and the floorboard. also, the body comes down on the side between the bolt and pipe, so there is no way to get a ratchet on it.

I somehow, by the grace of God, managed to get a boxed end wrench on it and make very tiny movements. This took flipping the wrench over and making many moves. I didn't even think it was going to be possible at forst and thought I was going to have to unbolt the cats just to get it off.

I don't know if Borla will send me new clamps, but if not, I'm going to turn these half a spin so the damn bolt head are facing down so you can actually get to them.

But I got er dun...and a few skinned knuckles to boot.

StangisSwag

im going to add you to see what you think of the borlas when they come and maybe ask you a few questions, you planning on doing a vid with the whole catback installed?

-rpark-

i wasnt planning on doing a vid..but i can take some detailed pics along the way if you are interested.