tom281

Grab a drink, this could be a long one.... For those of you that are interested and those of you that are anxiously waiting (hey Scott!), here's part 1 of the story.

Background: I've been running Corsa mufflers with a Pypes offroad H pipe for months now. Overall I am happy with the sound but at times, its too loud for me. The Corsas with the factory Ford H is to quiet for me in comparison. So I thought I'd get a catted X pipe and I came across a good deal on the Bassani X with both removeable cats and offroad pipes; best of both worlds. While I was looking I also came across a great deal on a complete Borla "stinger" catback (with the over-axle pipes) so I bought it too. No toys for the kids at Christmas this year...... hopefully they're young enough to not remember it (JOKING!).

Anyway so tonight I installed the Borlas inplace of the Corsas. Knowing how the stingers are loud I was expecting it to be MUCH LOUDER and have drone compared to the Corsas. After starting the car, I was **** near speachless; instantly the car was much deeper but also MUCH QUIETER than the Corsas! I am really amazed at how quiet they are with the same offroad H compared to Corsa; they're almost too quiet for my liking. They are much deeper, which is great- but man I wish they were louder. I honestly can not imagine the people that are running the Borla mufflers with the factory cats; if you think your setup is loud, you would faint if you heard my Corsas with an offroad H! No joking, it is much different than what I expected; partially a disappointment. Not taking anything away from the Borlas- they're awesome quality but really they with the o/r H are not much louder than Corsas with factory Ford H.

Pix:

Factory over-axle pipes / Borla replacments:


Why you should get the replacement pipes:


Pypes offroad H:


Corsa / Borla comparison:


I will get soundclips of the Borlas and o/r H later this week; you can compare them to the Corsas and o/r H clip here:


Steps yet to come once the Bassani midpipe arrives:

1) Borlas with Bassani offroad X
2) Borlas with Bassani catted X
3) Corsas with Bassani offroad X
4) Corsas with Bassani catted X

Thanks,

Tom

SONICBOOST

You gotta remember that your corsa's are fully broken in. The stingers will get louder as time goes on. I am really suprised that the stingers weren't louder still being fresh How do you like to sound.

tom281

The stingers are broken in- I bought them used from Clem and according to him, they were on his car for about a year. Sorry I didn't mention that before- its a good point.

Like I said, the Borlas are much deeper than the Corsas; but honestly they are NO WHERE near as loud as the Corsas. It really surprised me......

SONICBOOST

Hmmmmmm, . When I went from my slp lm's to the stingers there wasn't that big of a difference as far as loudness. Those corsa's must have been really loud. Maybe you were expecting a little too much from the stingers

tom281

Yeah, I think you're right... I keep reading about how most people say they're loud or too loud- man those people would crap themselves if they heard these Corsas.

Thomas S

My Borlas are kinda loud. I wouldn't want them much louder, I think they are perfect. Maybe you should consider LTs if the Borlas aren't loud enough.

tom281

I was thinking about longtubes......but I've bought enough exhaust stuff for now .

50bomber

Hmmm, I have heard these Borla Stingers at the track, hmm, nice, too pricey, BUT, I just have heard my own exhaust on my friends car who just happens to have an identical set up (bought it because he fell in love with mine ), and ouch I hope I don't get pulled over, cause it sounds like this at WOT, just RAW and wicked, kind of like 454 BBC in a speedboat in a tunnel . And that is with factory Hpipe in place, I can't imagine what it would be like without cats, too loud, IMO, but just perfect now, in fact, very similar to Corsa and Flowmaster chambered sound but more raw (rawer ?) since there is only one baffle and chamber

GRAYPNY

Well some of us that thought that the Borlas are too loud belong to the OLD FARTS CLUB!

emperorjordan

Long Tubes will actually quiet it down some, and make it a bit deeper.

SixtySix

Think again... I have that setup with JBA Longtubes and even with a catted H it got A LOT louder. And plenty deep too

70MACH1OWNER

Yeah... I must belong to this club also. Wow Tom, I am really suprised at your results. I have been running the Borla cat backs for a year now. Just added the Mac Prochamber 2 weeks ago which helped with some of the drone the Borla's have but am still on the fence about removing the cats as I think it will just be too loud. Great write up BTW. Maybe you have a slight hearing impairment??
Scott

tom281

Thanks for the replies guys. I don't mean to take anything away from the Borlas- they sound awesome and are top quality. I've been a long-time Borla fan, but I bought Corsas for this car previously to try something new.

I don't mean to sound disappointed necessarily, I just thought (having them before and knowing their reputation) that the Borlas would SCREAM with an offroad pipe. And I should say its not that they are not loud, 'cause they are. Maybe I wasn't over-estimating the Borlas, maybe I was under-estimating the Corsas because they are like at WOT.

tom281

I just got my tracking number for the Bassani X.... hopefully I'll have it by the weekend and will start on the next comparison.

tricky02GT

When I fitted the stingers at first I was a little disapointed. I didnt think they were all that loud and the grumble was slight. Drove around for an hour and came back through town. OMG. I had no idea the amount of bass those stinger put out!
I love my stingers now and by far the best investment to date. Need to pull the trigger on which mid and headers to buy now. Cant go O/R because of emissions. Considering the pipes with removable cats but would need to be H pipe. Heard that the stingers dont favor the X pipes but I would be most interested in the results.

05-1947

Hey Tom,

So you don't like the sound of the o/r H with the Borla's? Don't they have a drone while maintaing a constant 2k rpm's?

I am going to say that you are going to like the Catted X with the Corsa's. That is my prediction.

ZRX4ME

funny,but the corsas on my '05 Gt were much quieter than my borlas(stock H pipe).I also noticed that the corsas weighed more than the stock ford mufflers.

tom281

It almost seems to me that the Corsas respond better to more incoming airflow; for whatever reason when you run them without cats they really come alive.

You're right about the Corsas weight- they are easily heavier than the factory mufflers and I would guess about 2x heavier than the Borlas. You can see the difference in size alone in the pictures.

tom281

They drone very slightly at 1900 rpm; maybe the offroad pipe helps eliminate some of the drone? I was worried more about trumpeting at 2500rpm- there is some but its tolerable. The same midpipe with factory and Bassani mufflers trumpets MUCH more than the Borlas; maybe because they're chambered?

X pipe is due in tomorrow......

SP_51-F1

My drone severely lessened when I removed the cats. I like that a lot!
I have another set of stock over-axle pipes with a set of resonators on them ready to install this weekend. I hope it quites the exhaust just a tad and removes some of the trumpet. The trumpeting is manageable now but it's not my favorite sound. I hope they do not mess with the low grumble I have now. I love that sound!