Borla Cat Back and Banzai Resonator Review
by Alan Elegeert
Got Little Red Rooster an early Christmas present this week...a Borla cat back and a Banzai resonator muffler.
I have yearned for a performance
exhaust system for a very long time, but because the damn things don't ship that well I always put it off. Percy of Mroadster advised me to buy the cat back without the piping. This for me was
the perfect solution, not only was it only 130 dollars,
it was a lot easier (and cheaper ) to ship to Belgium.
I also took into account that the OEM exhaust on my car
was only 2 years old and it would have been a shame to
thrash the whole thing. Along with the Borla I bought a
CHROME Banzai resonator tip. I liked the Borla sound, but I wanted a more boomier sound, less metal more bass. This sucker is HUGE,
it's 100 mm's wide and really compliments the car with
all the rest of the chrome already on it.
Sound : lovely,
really the deep deep sound I wanted, actually I expected it a lot louder, people used
to complain that the Borla was too loud...I think the Banzai resonator fixes all this...
Even my mother liked it, she said it sounded like a Ferrari (where the hell did she ever
hear a Ferrari ?). I already had a racier sound thanx to the Jackson CAI, this increases
on a good thing.
Looks : really aggressive and shiny, really
fills the arch in the bumper. I'll put some pics on my page soon.
Installation : aha ...the catch. Percy told
me it would take a mechanic about 90 minutes. I dropped LRR off at my guy and an hour
later he called me back. He had no idea how to begin...he even thought there were pieces
missing...
I emailed Percy and he sent me mounting instructions and
promised to make some pics of his own car's Borla and email them too. Armed with the info
my guy did the job in three hours...The Borla cat-back is a universal muffler so some
custom work is to be done. I paid 60 dollars to have it done.
The OEM tip has to be cut so the resonator tip could be
welded on. He also had to make three new hangers to hang the exhaust on and because the
Borla intakes are wider than the stock pipes he had to put spacer tubes in. He told me it
was quite a lot of work. I do think you have to have it done at a specialised muffler shop
and stay there to help them through it.
Performance (you were waiting for this right ?)
I already have the Jackson CAI and expected not too much of
an increase. Seat of the pants proved me wrong, it's more in the midrange than the low. I
haven't taken LRR out for a top-speed spin so I can't comment on that. I had LRR dynoed at
a local Renault garage 5 months ago (It was a teaser to come and check out the specials on
the Clio Williams) and it read 128 HP. I have no idea when I'll get to dyno LRR again, but
I'm guessing about 133 now (hey every horsy counts).
Yes I'm happy with the Borla, the resonator tip and with
Mroadster's service...now who can sell me some sunshine ?
Allan (all typed out)
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Ltd.
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