Yes, another Borla header thread.
 

Yes another header/exhaust thread but bear with me. I badly want to buy the Borla UEL header for my BRZ, and I want to keep my OEM catback because I want it to be quiet and look stock.

Wants:
Power increase
Sound
Customer Service
Million Mile Warranty
Price

Don’t Wants:
I don’t want any CEL’s
I don’t want to fail emissions (I’m in Texas not CA so it just has to pass sniffer.)
I don’t want to do ECUTek to eliminate CEL.

My question is for people using this part and intelligent people. I want to know if anyone has had issues running the o2 spacer to eliminate the CEL. I’d also like to know if people think this setup will still pass emissions while keeping the factory front pipe with factory cat. I don’t have any plans for FI or big mods only other thing is my existing AEM intake and maybe UniChip in the future.

If anyone has had their car emission tested with this setup or similar, and has the results it would be awesome if you could post it or send it to me in a pm. I have the results sheets from my other cars that show result/goal and I could use it for a basic comparison.

If the best course of action is to re-install the oem headers come inspection time I wont have an issue as long as it isn’t a difficult job.

FOR THIS THREAD PLEASE: ignore Borla’s QC issues, searching has revealed that Borla is perfectly happy replacing several times under their warranty w/o sending back the defective part, and PLEASE do not just post :search: there are 135+ borla threads.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to everyone’s opinion. :thanks:

Tune to truly avoid the CEL the proper way.

Keep a cat in the front pipe to pass sniffer in Texas.

Ecutek > Spacer in this regard, and besides, why are you buying a header if you aren't going to tune it? You're really leaving a good chunk of torque and HP on the table by not tuning. I understand it's expensive, but I would try to budget out a tune and header together.

What he said.

If you REALLY don't want to have to tune the car, @Fast_Freddy recommended these O2 spacers to me in another thread: http://www.bigdaddiesgarage.com/

The mini-cat spacer seems like a sound idea to me; it literally has a small scale cat built into it. However, I'd have to agree with the others who have responded so far, you really ought to get a tune to get the most out of your header. No sense in spending over $500 for a part and not using it to its fullest.

If you do decide to get a tune and want to flash back to stock for dealer visits, that spacer should keep the CEL away so it doesn't raise any questions. This is probably the route I will go if I end up with a catless header; tuned with OpenFlash with a mini-cat spacer so I don't get a CEL while temporarily running stock.

in before that one dude posts that picture of the collector.

Matt hit the nail on the head.

I planned on getting a UniChip tune but I dont think it can eliminate this CEL.

The Uni Chip does not eliminate CEL's but will tune output for the parts

Its not conclusive that the "tune" method removes the DTC readiness flags, just cause the light is gone doesn't mean it will pass an ODBII port check by the DMV.

At this time the spacer is actually the proper way to deal with this issue if you want to pass OBDII emission checks.

Thanks.

Correct. When they tune they usually just turn that code off, meaning the conditions are such that the light should be on, but the tune won't allow it. You would have to flash back to stock rom in order to pass an OBD test. And at that point you would need a spacer to keep the check engine light from failing you.... I think if you have a header you should have a tune. But it won't get you through emissions testing.

I have not tried any of the above. This is just what I have gathered from my time on the forums.

Thats a new point of view thanks for the good info. So it seems like the only way to pass emissions is to use the spacer or go back to stock. Does anyone think using a spacer to avoid cel on a DD is a bad idea? :thanks:

Spacers can be troublesome. I think the smart thing would be a catted front pipe with an O2 bung after that cat, can't believe no one sells one yet. But a local weld shop could take care of that.

Agreed. Unless you verify with the tune it will pass readiness you are better off with the spacer.

Hmm, I never had a problem passing inspection for the OBDII portion when the O2's were just moved back and the fronts were deleted on my Camaro. That's a good point about the readiness check. I would assume tuning tells the ECU that the current flow is the proper amount though even when tuned or is that a value that cannot be modified? I guess it depends on the tuner as well.