Epiphany
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With limited warranty-safe/emissions legal power mods available at present I found myself considering the uber expensive exhaust system that Borla makes for Ford Racing parts. I talked at length with my FR warehousing dealer (Mike at Buyfordracing) about it. In the end, I ordered the part fairly confident that Borla had mitigated early design/manufacturing issues. I'm creating this thread to share some of the things I saw and did with it.
After a short wait the system was delivered via FedEx. Nice not to have it shipped via freight. I had my Dane crew help with the inspection.
Upon reading the label on the box I was a little worried that I had been sent the wrong system. Ford/Borla, this should be corrected as it does nothing but create confusion.
I had some minor damage to the box. Fingers were crossed that nothing got tweaked.
Everything was fine as Borla did a great job packing and protecting the contents.
Ford Racing has lagged somewhat in posting up some instructional pdf's online at their site. At current, this system does not have a pdf you can download. Plenty of time has passed - Ford Racing Parts, kindly get off your ass, log in to your FTP server, and upload the pdf. Thanks for at least including some printed instructions.
I pulled the stock exhaust system from the car while on my back. I've done plenty of exhaust mods in my lifetime but hadn't had the joy of removing an entirely welded system that was this long. Nothing unexpected here, just a little different.
Of note, I didn't follow the instructions when it came to unplugging the exhaust actuators. I found it easier to unplug at the harness, a foot or so away from the actuator, than to try to unplug right at the actuator.
I shifted my focus to the Borla system for a closer inspection of each tube, etc, to ensure there weren't any flaws.
The welds are pretty good for production exhaust work. Not perfect but as long as the penetration and coverage is good I'm happy.
It doesn't look as though Borla is gas purging the X-pipe assembly when welding. Not a major concern but you could notice it from inside the assembly.
Of interest, the actuator "cradles" that were at one time hand fabricated but now Borla is using the exact same cradle as is present on the OEM GT350 exhaust system. They are TIG welding these (by hand) in place and I'm glad they do. It should ensure that they are placed properly.
The expansion slots in the tubing and are a very nice touch (they look to be laser cut) and allow some relief during installation. Dressing the tubing to remove burrs, etc, is appreciated as well.
Mock assembling the Borla system and placing it atop the factory system allowed a visual as to tube bend differences.
You can see how the Borla mufflers are angled whereas the factory mufflers follow a somewhat straighter path.
When you align the tips over one another you can see that the Borla mufflers are also offset towards the outside of the vehicle as well.
More on this in a bit but by doing this, increased leverage is created on each side whereby the tubing connection at the end of the X-pipe wants to rotate or twist when installing. Note that Borla attaches the hanger directly to one of the muffler outlet tubes whereas the factory muffler has a stamped bracket welded to the muffler which then has a hanger welded to it.
The cradle on the Borla mufflers deviate a bit from the factory clocking as well.
David from Borla talked about the restrictive factory bends and you can see the difference between the two at certain junctures.
There are a few spots where the Borla exhaust diameter is slightly less than that of the factory system.
Factory...
Borla...
The install itself is fairly straight forward. It is easier to handle individual tube assemblies as opposed to a completely welded system. It gives a small amount of adjustment. What I noticed was that I had to exceed the recommended torque on the included clamps in order to stop the system from rotating due to leverage imparted by the outboard slung mufflers. For a vibration happy car such as the GT350 this didn't inspire complete confidence on my end. More in a bit on this.
The actuators. Originally unavailable separately, if one of the two proved defective Ford was replacing entire exhaust systems. Talk about ridiculous. They are now available individually. Made by Kuster, these are popping up on quite a few car lines and models.
The instructions suggest verifying that the butterfly valves are in a specific position when transferring the actuators onto them. Pay close attention here so that you don't have to disassemble/reinstall due to them being put on incorrectly.
Of importance, the two notches you see that are there to receive the spring that is on the underside of the actuator. The spring needs to seat in each notch.
The springs can fall out during disassembly so here's a shot to show correct orientation if the do. They snap right back into place. You can see the two points of contact on the spring that will need to be seated properly...
When lowering the actuators down on the studs (evenly), pay attention to the spring and how it seats. I found that only one side will seat initially and had to slide a narrow screwdriver in between to maneuver the other side of the spring into its seat. Here are shots of each side of the spring in place.
Also note that while the motors are the same that the harness pigtails are indeed side specific.
I had everything installed and fired up the car to check for leaks. After running the car for a bit I noticed that the mufflers weren't staying in position and had rotated slightly. Further tightening the clamps meant going ever further beyond the recommended torque figure for them. Plan B, welding at a couple of spots (as opposed to the entire system, which doesn't fit the same as OE and I didn't want to weld everything up only to find that I couldn't slip it back in place). I had also planned on reusing the heat shields. Borla has little to say about this in the instructions and simply includes 4 clamps from "Band It."
This is how the factory shield sits in place. I had already cut off 6 clamps (four on the large shield, and two on the smaller shields that sit rearward of the large shield) when I took this photo.
A nice afterthought...
Borla only supplies four clamps. The assumption is that they are having you reinstall the large shield only. The smaller shields are actually clamped on one end and welded on the other. I believe that the shields are aluminum as they melt rather quickly if you try to weld directly to them. Note that when the factory welds these that they plug weld over the aluminum.
I wanted to reuse the smaller shields as they protect the CV joint boots/grease on the rear of the driveshaft. So I carefully cut around the welds and popped them off.
The three shields sitting about as they did on the factory system.
The large shield doesn't fit right over the Borla X-pipe and requires trimming at each end so that it can seat properly.
I had actually tacked the Borla system together at a couple of spots and then pulled it back off to weld it completely as well as so I could weld the shields into place.
I also looked at transferring the small factory tubing that tied the two sides of the system together at the hangers that sit near the IRS pumpkin. I figured it would mitigate the rotation issue (welding the tubes as shown above pretty much takes care of that). I removed them and set them in place to see how much they might need to be tweaked to work.
In the end I decided not to weld the tubes into place as it didn't have as much benefit what with welding elsewhere. I no longer had to overtighten the clamps.
Overall, a nice system. It comes at the high end in terms of cost which IMHO, needs to be more realistic if Borla/Ford Racing are actually interested in selling many of these and maintaining a reasonable margin. I love the sound but agree that the improved sound isn't proportional to what you have to pay for it. I wanted to add legal power though and this is one of the few legal mods you can do that doesn't also trash the warranty.
After a short wait the system was delivered via FedEx. Nice not to have it shipped via freight. I had my Dane crew help with the inspection.
Upon reading the label on the box I was a little worried that I had been sent the wrong system. Ford/Borla, this should be corrected as it does nothing but create confusion.
I had some minor damage to the box. Fingers were crossed that nothing got tweaked.
Everything was fine as Borla did a great job packing and protecting the contents.
Ford Racing has lagged somewhat in posting up some instructional pdf's online at their site. At current, this system does not have a pdf you can download. Plenty of time has passed - Ford Racing Parts, kindly get off your ass, log in to your FTP server, and upload the pdf. Thanks for at least including some printed instructions.
I pulled the stock exhaust system from the car while on my back. I've done plenty of exhaust mods in my lifetime but hadn't had the joy of removing an entirely welded system that was this long. Nothing unexpected here, just a little different.
Of note, I didn't follow the instructions when it came to unplugging the exhaust actuators. I found it easier to unplug at the harness, a foot or so away from the actuator, than to try to unplug right at the actuator.
I shifted my focus to the Borla system for a closer inspection of each tube, etc, to ensure there weren't any flaws.
The welds are pretty good for production exhaust work. Not perfect but as long as the penetration and coverage is good I'm happy.
It doesn't look as though Borla is gas purging the X-pipe assembly when welding. Not a major concern but you could notice it from inside the assembly.
Of interest, the actuator "cradles" that were at one time hand fabricated but now Borla is using the exact same cradle as is present on the OEM GT350 exhaust system. They are TIG welding these (by hand) in place and I'm glad they do. It should ensure that they are placed properly.
The expansion slots in the tubing and are a very nice touch (they look to be laser cut) and allow some relief during installation. Dressing the tubing to remove burrs, etc, is appreciated as well.
Mock assembling the Borla system and placing it atop the factory system allowed a visual as to tube bend differences.
You can see how the Borla mufflers are angled whereas the factory mufflers follow a somewhat straighter path.
When you align the tips over one another you can see that the Borla mufflers are also offset towards the outside of the vehicle as well.
More on this in a bit but by doing this, increased leverage is created on each side whereby the tubing connection at the end of the X-pipe wants to rotate or twist when installing. Note that Borla attaches the hanger directly to one of the muffler outlet tubes whereas the factory muffler has a stamped bracket welded to the muffler which then has a hanger welded to it.
The cradle on the Borla mufflers deviate a bit from the factory clocking as well.
David from Borla talked about the restrictive factory bends and you can see the difference between the two at certain junctures.
There are a few spots where the Borla exhaust diameter is slightly less than that of the factory system.
Factory...
Borla...
The install itself is fairly straight forward. It is easier to handle individual tube assemblies as opposed to a completely welded system. It gives a small amount of adjustment. What I noticed was that I had to exceed the recommended torque on the included clamps in order to stop the system from rotating due to leverage imparted by the outboard slung mufflers. For a vibration happy car such as the GT350 this didn't inspire complete confidence on my end. More in a bit on this.
The actuators. Originally unavailable separately, if one of the two proved defective Ford was replacing entire exhaust systems. Talk about ridiculous. They are now available individually. Made by Kuster, these are popping up on quite a few car lines and models.
The instructions suggest verifying that the butterfly valves are in a specific position when transferring the actuators onto them. Pay close attention here so that you don't have to disassemble/reinstall due to them being put on incorrectly.
Of importance, the two notches you see that are there to receive the spring that is on the underside of the actuator. The spring needs to seat in each notch.
The springs can fall out during disassembly so here's a shot to show correct orientation if the do. They snap right back into place. You can see the two points of contact on the spring that will need to be seated properly...
When lowering the actuators down on the studs (evenly), pay attention to the spring and how it seats. I found that only one side will seat initially and had to slide a narrow screwdriver in between to maneuver the other side of the spring into its seat. Here are shots of each side of the spring in place.
Also note that while the motors are the same that the harness pigtails are indeed side specific.
I had everything installed and fired up the car to check for leaks. After running the car for a bit I noticed that the mufflers weren't staying in position and had rotated slightly. Further tightening the clamps meant going ever further beyond the recommended torque figure for them. Plan B, welding at a couple of spots (as opposed to the entire system, which doesn't fit the same as OE and I didn't want to weld everything up only to find that I couldn't slip it back in place). I had also planned on reusing the heat shields. Borla has little to say about this in the instructions and simply includes 4 clamps from "Band It."
This is how the factory shield sits in place. I had already cut off 6 clamps (four on the large shield, and two on the smaller shields that sit rearward of the large shield) when I took this photo.
A nice afterthought...
Borla only supplies four clamps. The assumption is that they are having you reinstall the large shield only. The smaller shields are actually clamped on one end and welded on the other. I believe that the shields are aluminum as they melt rather quickly if you try to weld directly to them. Note that when the factory welds these that they plug weld over the aluminum.
I wanted to reuse the smaller shields as they protect the CV joint boots/grease on the rear of the driveshaft. So I carefully cut around the welds and popped them off.
The three shields sitting about as they did on the factory system.
The large shield doesn't fit right over the Borla X-pipe and requires trimming at each end so that it can seat properly.
I had actually tacked the Borla system together at a couple of spots and then pulled it back off to weld it completely as well as so I could weld the shields into place.
I also looked at transferring the small factory tubing that tied the two sides of the system together at the hangers that sit near the IRS pumpkin. I figured it would mitigate the rotation issue (welding the tubes as shown above pretty much takes care of that). I removed them and set them in place to see how much they might need to be tweaked to work.
In the end I decided not to weld the tubes into place as it didn't have as much benefit what with welding elsewhere. I no longer had to overtighten the clamps.
Overall, a nice system. It comes at the high end in terms of cost which IMHO, needs to be more realistic if Borla/Ford Racing are actually interested in selling many of these and maintaining a reasonable margin. I love the sound but agree that the improved sound isn't proportional to what you have to pay for it. I wanted to add legal power though and this is one of the few legal mods you can do that doesn't also trash the warranty.
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