I have installed several cat backs on several different GM vehicles, including a BORLA cat back on my wifes old 2000 R/A TA. Most are a close fit, nothing a die grinder and a little welding cant take care of.

I purchased a BORLA cat back for my wifes 1990 IROC assuming this would be a week end job at the most. After opening the box, I was concerned. The metal was paper thin, atleast compared to SLP's exhaust and none of the pipe looked like it was bent correctly. After mocking up the exhaust my concerns were justified. I emailed BORLA's tech department and was basicly told to shove it.

I just spent and additional 500 + to have Stans Headers in Auburn WA make this POS cat back fit the application it was advertised to fit.

I would suggest buying the muffler only since BORLA cannot come close to bending the rest of the pipe, not even the exhaust tips were in the ball park. The car sounds great, but for 1300.00 for just the cat back it should......

 

i like the flowmasters cat back...fits perfect and thick tubing...ur in washington huh...im over in bremerton,wa

 

BORLA has stepped up and offered to stand behind their product. If they do I will offer a big thumbs up to their customer service. My wifes car sounds awsome, reminds me why I chose Borla in the first place.

 

Was considering a Borla myself but the price is just too high for my budget. After reading ur first post i was gonna say screw it and go with a magnaflow. ALthough thats more in my price range. Im looking for just the muffler itself. im gonna have the local muffler guy weld it up for 50.00. good luck with the customer service,let us know how it turns out

 

f flowmaster i just changed over to magnaflow and its better in everyway

 

did you notice any increase in seat of pants feel after ditching the flowmaste? I hear their muffles dont flow lol

 

i did, but i went from a 3" flowmaster to a 4" custom single.

 

I have a 2 3.5 borla mufflers sitting in my garage right now. Heard some bad things about them after i got them for free. Heard they make you 3rd gen sound like a import

 

well take a weekend and put them on without welding and see.
there are lots of borla mufflers so give yourself a taste and see if its sweet.

 

When I posted my experience with the Borla cat back I told Borla I would not comment further about their products until they contacted me and we came to a resolution.

David Borla contacted me via email the next day and was determined to make things right by me, the consumer. I am pleased with Borla's professional attitude and diligence in handling a difficult situation. I would not think twice about purchasing one of their products now.

The car sounds awsome and has alot more power.

This is my personal thank you to David Borla for standing behind Borla's product and making things right for the average Joe.

Dave P.

 

Admin, please lock this thread.

 

Are you looking to sell one? If so PM me a price

 

what did they do to fix the problem of your "POS catback" not fitting? refund the extra money you spent to get it to fit? Why didnt it fit in the first place? I mean, these catbacks are designed to fit, so why didnt it?

 

Yeah I want to know as well, how did they fix the problem? I'd like to get the borla cat back when my flowmaster bites the dust (which I hope is soon).

 

IMO, you are at fault for spending 500 bucks on modifying a catback.
i would post the name of that shop so folks in your area know not to do business there.

 

I am satisfied with Borla's responce to my mulitple threads regarding my purchase. However, it did not solve their problem. The kit that is advertised to fit a 3rd gen is actually designed for a 4th gen. It will not bolt up to a CAT. The system I purchased did not fit a 3rd gen applicatiion. I hope that Borla either advertises the 3rd gen kit as a " generic system" or at the minimum states that it WILL require fabrication. Alot of dough for additionel fab costs to make it fir as a " cat back".......

 

what all did they do for 500+ bucks?
sounds like to me all they did was fabricate something to mate your y pipe with the borla setup.

a picture is worth 2000 words.....

 

I just want to hear it, a picture would be nice, see what was modified for sure.

 

Subscribing for pics.

 

ive had to do fab work on my exhaust but i dont know what could have costed 500$.... my edlebrock air headers are a slip connection but i landed a dynomax cat back for a cheap price, i just cut the square 4 bolt connection on the cat and the slip off the headers and welded a common flange to em i would like to see pix to see what they did

glad to hear borla stands behind their stuff, too bad you had to be a guinea pig for it tho

 

still wondering what borla did to make the original poster do a complete 360 in his attitude????

 

 

if the original poster hadn't modified what he initially said, he really trashed borla for a mis-advertised exhaust. He spent way too much money to have it rigged together, then said this in post #3

then he said

So I dunno...did they fix it? Did they not fix it? It sounded like he went from trashing them, to liking them and I was wondering what they did to make him change his mind

 

Sounds to me like the poser paid a muffler shop 500 bones to mate the Intermediate pipe to his convertor. Either that or he atually bought a 4th gen kit(or bought it used). I took a complete Borla off a parts car IROC and there was no major custom work other than the two feet where it mates to the cat.

 

same thing with my 4thgen GMMG catback, nothing major to make it work.

 

$500 to get your catback to fit is rediculous. I just put a bassani TD system (4th gen) on my 92. I used the rear hangers off a 4th gen car, fit was perfect. only had to make 2 pipes to connect to my LT's. cost me $116.25..........................I think you got a royal a$$ raping for $500. I would be complaining about that shop instead of borla. from what i've seen of the borla systems, they are very well fab'd and cake to install

 

im with you guys.
id still like to see a pic of the work... thats not bashing borla.
just gives me an idea of what to expect when i put my borla on my car.
hehe.

 

I would really love to try the Borla on my TTA,but think the MagnaFlow will be going on...anyone know which part number for the magnaflow

 

magnaflows are abit loud...my buddies got one on his camaro(with a cat)..really hard to have a converstation in the car while driving around. i have a borla muffler 2.5 on mine no cat and there is "NO DRONE" got a nice rumble to it i have a 3 inch sittin in the corner for when i put headers on re-run the exaust... i only wish i had bought it sooner. and no they do not sound like an import

 

I had a borla on my 85 ws6 TA and it was a great fit/finish and sound. was mated to SLP headers and y pipe.

Pulled it off and sold it to another 3rd genner and they had no problems also.
I'd deff. get another one if I wasnt going 4inch this time.

 

Thanks for the info on the Magnaflow being Loud,I am def looking for a quiet system,I have a V6 and looking for Silent but Violent type thing...Damn just cant figure out what to go with,but the flowmasturd has to go....

 

Borla sounds good because you can adjust the tone with the different plates it comes with.



If your good at welding hell you could use any muff. you wanted and make the same kinda setup.

 

was it the catback kit or a universal muffler?
the universals are "race mufflers" and not as tone as a catback type muffler.
magnaflows are very mellow at cruising.

 

i'm not really sure....a buddy gave it to me, he said it came off a camaro. i just put a universal on my brothers 04 silverado with stock cat...they sound about the same his was a univeral so i'm gonna have to say i agree with ya.

 

what series borla muffler do you run on your 3rd gens? There are so many idk which would be best..... any preferences?

 

Video yet?

 

my buddy's was a cat back...i believe mine is the muffler that goes to the cat back because the tips are borla tips and the pipe on the out side of the muffler is mandel bent looks just like the cat back.

 

Sorry for ignoring this thread. I wanted to let the dust settle.

I bought the Borla system for my wifes IROC convertible because my wife loved the sound of the Borla system I put on her 2000 TA. I wanted a stainless steel exhaust for her IROC convertible for longevity.
The Borla system I bought from Jeggs was for a third gen car. I mocked it up a month after purchasing and noticed some fitment issues. The main issue was that the kit came with three generic pipes that sorta angled over to the cat, but not enough. None of them had the correct fitting to connect to the cat. I emailed Borla a couple of times asking if this was the correct kit and also if they sold the correct parts that would connect to the cat. The guy that rsponded said no, reuse the factory portion of the exhaust.

After finally finding a set of SLP headers and installing them I mocked up the system. It looked like the U pipe and muffler sorta fit, but without the piece that connected to the new cat I couldnt tell. I knew I had to have a shop make up the pipe that connected to the cat so I had grudgingly planned on paying for it. I wasnt going to cheap out on the install and toss in a peice of 19 year old steel pipe that would rust out in a couple of years.

The only shop in the pacific northwest that works with stainless steel exhuast systems is Stans Headers. Google them, they are not a fly by night outfit.

Long story short, I took the car to there shop (50 miles EW) and had them make the pipe with the correct ball flange fitting. Once they made the connection nothing fit. Keep in mind the cat was mounted in the stock location the factory hanger.
The U pipe had to be rebent, cut off, squished a little, both pipes the exhaust tips attached to had to be rebent, sectioned, re welded and shortened. The main hanger on the passengers side was 2 " off and angled off center line about 20 degrees and was for a 4th gen car, the hangers on the tips (pure 4th gen ) had to be cut off and rewelded becuase they were mounted to far towards the front of the car etc.

I took a day off from work (my lost wages were almost as much as what I paid the shop), borrowed a trailer, drove 50 miles to the shop etc. When the car was loaded onto the trailer the night before I was committed.

Some of you say I am at fault, "should have sent it back". I would have if I knew what it was going to take to get it to fit. I watched the guy work on the car for the hours billed. Actually they worked on the car for an hour more than they charged.
Like I said earlier, it was a close fit, but until the cat connection was made I couldnt totally mock it up.
I did contact Borla and didnt get the customer service needed until after I posted my issues on public forums. Borla did step up and handle it after that.

I hope that my problem is isolated. The cat back I put on my wifes old TA fit perfect and the Borla on the IROC sounds fantastic. If I had to do it over, I would have tried to contact someone else at Borla with my problem. If they said it wont fit without alot of work, I would have purchased the muffler and had the shop make the rest. Would have come out about the same dollar wise.

 

I just put an electric cutout in place of the plate

 

Thanks for the info...If i wanted the Borla Muffler,what part number do i look for..and any opinion how this would sound on a TTA....want to try the muffler...

 

I have no idea what it would sound like with a turbo charged 6 er. One thing I have noticed is that alot of the exhaust bypasses the mufller even with the smallest block off plate. When the bypass tips are plugged ( with a bare hand) there is almost no exhaust sound. Have to say that at mid throttle, the sound is just nasty. WFO the sound has a weird popping sound due to the cat.