Borla UEL Header - Pics / Videos / Dynos - FT-86 SpeedFactory Review

[cplabaunza]

Originally Posted by FlipFRS

mine just threw a cel.. im running a borla uel with borla catback.. is there anything i could do to make the cel go away? sorry sort of a noob when it comes to this. ive had the headers on the car since saturday and it just went on right now. :/

You'll need one of these = http://www.bigdaddiesgarage.com/angl...-fix-real.html

[NoFear99]

I received today my new Borla UEL header from the second production batch and my unit is free of defects.

Perfect flat flange, no grinding around the collectors !

I also get a nice Borla hat into the box.

I'm happy with the quality of the new part and service !

Thank You Borla !

[chadstyle]

Originally Posted by NoFear99

I received today my new Borla UEL header from the second production batch and my unit is free of defects.

Perfect flat flange, no grinding around the collectors !

I also get a nice Borla hat into the box.

I'm happy with the quality of the new part and service !

Thank You Borla !

I'm happy to hear that your experience was identical to mine.

Honestly, the other guy in this thread on his 3rd header is just being a crybaby now. I'm sure if he installed the header his tune would change. (No pun intended )

[cplabaunza]

Received my replacement header today too...the replacement header seems to be a refurbished unit as I can see bolt/washer imprints. The replacement header came in used condition versus my new header minus the warped flanges. Emailing Borla again to ask for a partial refund for sending me refurbished goods when I paid for new. I never installed my defective header luckily after checking the flanges for warping. Looks like another frustrating wait time...

[LavosTRD]

Originally Posted by chadstyle

I'm happy to hear that your experience was identical to mine.

Honestly, the other guy in this thread on his 3rd header is just being a crybaby now. I'm sure if he installed the header his tune would change. (No pun intended )

I am on my fourth...am I a crybaby too?

[Mikem53]

Originally Posted by FT-86 SpeedFactory

ALT BRZ that's pretty minimal and will seal up fine especially after a gasket is put in there.

I agree.. torque, gasket and heat will flatten it enough.. as long as the engine side is good.. I would mount em..

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by NoFear99

I received today my new Borla UEL header from the second production batch and my unit is free of defects.

Perfect flat flange, no grinding around the collectors !

I also get a nice Borla hat into the box.

I'm happy with the quality of the new part and service !

Thank You Borla !

Sounds like you lucked out! Glad to hear at least one person got a good one from the new batch. I wasn't that lucky.

Originally Posted by chadstyle

I'm happy to hear that your experience was identical to mine.

Honestly, the other guy in this thread on his 3rd header is just being a crybaby now. I'm sure if he installed the header his tune would change. (No pun intended )

Call me a crybaby if you want, but I'm just sticking up for my hard earned money. I don't want defects in a $730 MSRP product that's going on my car. I bought the Borla for the flex joints and the lifetime warranty. Three headers with warped flanges I drew the line and gave up for a refund. I'll be happier with a header that's several quality tiers above the Borla now that I know it's never going to satisfy me even if the flanges were flat.

Originally Posted by Mikem53

I agree.. torque, gasket and heat will flatten it enough.. as long as the engine side is good.. I would mount em..

You're probably right, but I still believe that I shouldn't be accepting a header with defects, no matter how minimal. It's the principal of buying an expensive product that I personally follow, especially one so integral to my car.

I just got in on JDL's group buy as a Borla UEL header refugee. I had to give up on Borla as they kept sending me headers with warped flanges. After the third header from what was supposedly the corrected batch STILL had a warped flange I requested a full refund which is now going towards the JDL UEL Header, which will ship with a better quality merge collector, better flanges, better welds, and a lifetime warranty as well.

I made a side by side comparison collage using @F1point4 's and @moto-mike 's pictures (hope you don't mind) to show the differences in quality between the two in case anyone was wondering what justifies the differences in price between the two UEL headers.

Top pics are the inside of each merge collectors. The JDL is a work of art, the Borla is the actual merge collector that @mkivsoopra received with his first replacement UEL header from Borla; under warranty.



Note the lack of welding around the bottom of the Borla flanges. ^^^ My last Borla header had like three spot welds there, but they didn't go all the way around.

[Mikem53]

ATL BRZ... I can't and don't fault you for wanting what you paid for.. And those pics are proof that it isn't what it should be..
I have used borla in the past and always had issues with the thing lining up properly.. To the point I would need a muffler shop to correct.. It seems they have these issues on many of their products..
After seeing the workmanship.. Or lack of... I too would return them and look elsewhere... Good luck and thanks for the insight..

[Tujin]

Got my Borla UEL yesterday, installed last night. Zero fitment issues, zero issues with sealing (I even reused all the stock gaskets), zero issues with warping. Actually I did the 'ruler test' like someone earlier in this thread and the engine block flanges were perfectly even, there was a very minor difference in the flange that bolts to the overpipe, but even with a reused stock gasket it sealed just fine.

My car is otherwise stock, and this really makes a big difference with the torque dip (based on initial completely non-scientific butt dyno findings). The sound is noticeable through the stock exhaust, but very subtle. Around 3-4k RPM it seems to be the most 'boxer rumble'-ish, then above that you really can't tell (though it does sound a bit different)

In any case, I am very satisfied, and just felt like I should put my positive experience out there. More review, perhaps a video, etc once I've gotten through finals week.

[Adeets]

Originally Posted by NoFear99

Yesterday I asked Chris at Borla customer service for a header replacement me either.

I'm awaiting his answer at this time..

Will let you know..


EDITED : I got an answer from Chris at Borla tonight and he already gave me a warranty order number for a replacement header once the next production run will be complete in about 2 weeks.

Perfect service for now !

When you got your UEL replaced, did you have to send in your bad one first, or do they send you a good one then you send back the warped one? The reason I ask is my borla is leaking cylinder to cylinder, and I don't feel like taking it off and running stock for 2 weeks while I wait for the replacement.

[david borla]

This is David Borla of Borla Exhaust. Just wanted to chime in here. We built our solid reputation by taking excellent care of our customers. Please use our warranty process and customer service team to ensure our products meet your expectations. It's more important to us than you might expect and I want to personally extend myself to the members of this forum to ensure you guys are well taken care of. Contact me directly if you have any questions or aren't satisfied with the quality of service you are getting from us, my email address is davidb@borla.com .

If you have any specific questions or concerns regarding this header please let me know.

Overall, I can tell you that this header has been a great success for us and we really appreciate the support of the ft86club community. With that said, I'm proud that we've been able to make the large majority of you happy but we won't be satisfied until we have resolved any and all issues from this first production run. Please hold us to it and rest assured that you can order this header with no hesitation because if it doesn't exceed your expectations we will stand behind our products and resolve the issues until it does. There are already hundreds and hundreds of FR-S/BRZ owners who are loving this header and we hope to make many more owners happy for a long time to come.

Even considering how long we've been doing this successfully we're not so arrogant as to think we do everything right, every time. But I can tell you for certain that we will fix our errors and at the end of the day those who invested in our products will be more than satisfied.

I hope you don't mind me telling you guys that the percentage of complaints versus the number of these headers we have built and shipped is very, very low. Just about everyone seems to love them as far as we can tell.

I could go on forever but I think I've managed to communicate what is most important. If you want to see pictures of the latest run send me an email and my apologies to the few of you who had issues with the first run.

Thanks

[chadstyle]

David,

I'm now a happy customer and very pleased with the replacement header. The performance and sound this header makes is awesome!!

Thanks for personally addressing the issue. Glad to see Borla backing up their products and accepting responsibility for mistakes made. Wish more companies would be so transparent.

Chad

[ramiram1984]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

My THIRD Borla UEL header arrived on Friday via warranty replacement after I had already left for the track. I wasn't able to check it out until earlier today.

I can't believe this, but the header to overpipe flange is STILL warped on this third header. A Borla rep even tried to convince me in our last email exchange after having FedEx pick up the first two warped headers with this:



Welp, they are still shipping with defects, at least in the header to overpipe flange.







1-2mm gaps on either side of the flange. Won't seal properly with this defect. The block to header flanges are perfectly flat and would likely seal ok, but that doesn't matter. I paid for flat flanges after waiting several weeks on the newest production run with confirmation from Borla:



They are still shipping headers with warped flanges after all that BS and waiting and emails and two replacements. Unbelievable. I'm initiating a full refund for my original purchase order and will consider getting a Rev Works UEL header now.

Mass production causes this. Glad I went @Rev Works!
Sorry to hear.

[Metabrz]

Yikes. I was considering Borla over RW but not now.