I have a sedan and will be installing an used Borla TD.

Have you bought new cat gaskets or just used the old ones? And were did you buy them from?

 

When I installed my HFC's and Y-pipe I used new gaskets... i got them at nissan... it was like 7 or 8 bucks each

I installed them because the stock ones looked all rusted. the hfcs and ypipe both came with gaskets. but they looked really weak, so i got the solid ones from the dealer... i might have a couple brand new ones somewhere..i bought extras

 

The OEM y-pipe gaskets are fine. You can reuse them, no problem. The same design was used on my Maxima and I swapped numerous y-pipes onto that thing and never replaced the gaskets once.

BTW, have fun with the Borla exhaust I hope your kid likes BASS.

 

I know how you feel about the Bora Dave. I think I'm more noise tolerant than you. (I hope).

I'm thinking if the noise is too loud, I'd take out the Z tube for the stock resonated one.

 

Got the p/n handy? I'd rather have the stock gaskets ready if the stock ones rip when removing.

 

p/n? phone?? yup. I'll look for the gaskets when i get home' i'm sure i have a couple

 

Won't help. I tried that. The resonating noise and a lot of the NVH comes from three resonators and the muffler can itself. One thing to definitely consider is getting some flex sections welded into the y-pipe. I strongly considered it, but I knew it wouldn't change volume problem I had with the exhaust. You're very right, I am picky about my cars now. Starting up my Z with the Borla exhaust was embarassing for me because it was so loud at start up and from idle to 2300rpms. Oddly, above 4500rpms or so it wasn't louder than stock

 

Use new gaskets are at least have new ones on hand should you mangle the current ones. That is just how DIY goes so better prepared then scrambling around on Saturday morning.

 

I worked 1/2 day, dropped off Madison with grandma and put on the exhaust at my Dad's place. I wanted to try out the Rhino ramps I got anyway. ($7!)/
I put the fronts on the ramps and used my Dad's huge Walker jack to lift it up in the air. Fortunately, everything came off pretty easy. I don't know how you guys do your hangers but I just disconnected the resonator and unbolted all the hangers vs trying to pry them off. I dropped the Y-back in one piece then dropped the front Y. the gaskets were okay but I had some copper gasket stuff so I put some of that on after cleaning the flanges. I forgot the instructions so I winged everything. I could tell which way the Y went as it was scrapped up on the ground side. I eventually figured out which pipes went to which by where the flanges went and how it was bent etc.. Slip fitting some was difficult as the pipes had to be bent to get them off and there's a bit of soot, exhaust junk that makes the clearances smaller. I had to put some pipes on the wire brush grinder machine to clean it up and I had to put a small wire brush on the inside pipes. I sprayed a bunch of WD40 on the slip fittings and got everything roughly test fit. After some convincing with a rubber mallet and some twisting to get the clearances right, it all went on fairly good.

I could see how a bad install could put some stress on various components. I tried to align everything so nothing had to be bent to fit or pre-stressed anything for clearances etc. Taking off the rubber hangers is 10x easier when they are still stuck on the stock exhaust pieces vs trying to pry them off on the car.

After satisfied with the fit, I clamped everything tight. Clamps are good quality and are wide.

Started it up while it was on the ramps and checked for leaks. Didn't hear/see any so I put the car down. After driving it back home, nothing rattles or hits any of the heatshields. I tried to be carefull when installing the two resonators to make sure they were clearing everthing while being properly aligned.

Upon start up it was pretty quiet. Louder than stock yeah but not nearly as bad as Dave makes it sound. IMHO. Just vroooommm. Idle is decently quiet. And reving while in netrual is okay. But I know what Dave is talking about when he mentions the resonance bass noise. On an auto, it's loud when accelerating from 1,000-2,500 or so. Having to constantly operate in that range doesn't help. It's louder than I'd like. But I "think" most cat-backs like this must feature this so some degree. I'm not sure why it has to be loud in this rpm as there's a huge muffler/resonator can built into the Y and 2 smaller can resonators after it. The sound at any other rpm is fine and about what I expected.

Performance. Can't really tell. It's certainly not SLOWER than before. I don't notice any loss of throttle response or low end torque. It "seems" peppier. It was hard to tell as the noise alters my perception and I had my daughter in the back. I'll probably try the brake torque test to see if the tires brake lose any easier. Yeah hardly scientific but....... whatever. haha.

 

Give it time. You might get use to it. One thing that was odd was that on my initial test drive the car sounded amazing. As the exhaust got warmer and heat cycled a few times, it got louder and louder. After 2 days or so, it was just way too loud. No exhaust leaks either. It must have had something to do with the ECU adjusting which somehow influenced volume.

 

haha. This is what I get for not reading the instructions.


I think I installed the Y portion upside down. In the pic, the BORLA is on top. The instructions have the Y resonator blank on the bottom. I was noticing that if you install it upside down like I did, it tucks really tight. I don't think there's a flow problem. Each side should be indentical. I suppose worst case, I could drop it and flip it over. But since it doesn't rattle, I'm going to leave it. Unless someone knows more than I can chime in with any possible problems.

Dave, I'll keep an ear out for the sound. I plan on monitoring the mileage also.