Borla UEL basic thoughts/ review

[loogs]

not for nothing but mine looks way better than that lol

[kuhlka]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

This is not OP's UEL. This is my EL. It certainly doesn't have the artistry of the nicer headers out there, but it's not the bodge job in the photos posted above.



Inside the collector. Not pretty, but not horrible. You can see they filed down the splatters on the exit pipe. I may do a little more TLC in this area.

Flanges:


This arrived today and was drop-shipped to me directly from Borla, so this should be a good example of the quality of the product coming from their factory now. It's not the best, but it's not bad either.

The GTAW on the flange exit looks alright, but those GMAW blobs are ridiculously convex. If I'd laid crap like that down for my QC-7 test, I would have been laughed out of Hobart. That's not what a good weld is supposed to look like. They need to turn down the wire speed a tad and turn up the heat a tad to get a flatter profile (and better fusion). Or maybe they're moving the gun really slowly.

I love the sound of the Borla UEL, but damn do their welds look naff. I'd gladly pay an extra $200 for nice clean flat GTAW (Tig) welds.

[ftc~brz]

Originally Posted by loogs

not for nothing but mine looks way better than that lol

same here.

[loogs]

updated with in car audio, lol

[chadstyle]

Originally Posted by Adeets

One bad batch? By batch you mean 3 months of production then yeah, 1 bad batch.

True, a long batch for sure, but remember it was the original batch and I'm sure they wanted to produce as many as possible. I am the first to agree that the first batch was bad and I think I may have been the first one to post pictures of the warped flanges. The quality was definitely lacking.

The way Borla handled the situation speaks volumes about the company. They have lost a ton of money by doing the right thing and sending out replacements to any customer that complained about quality at all and even refunding many in full. They have paid for gaskets and installs and didn't give anyone a hard time. Email the receipt and tell them what's wrong and a new one is shipped. Did they screw up? Damn right they did!! Did they stand behind the product and make it right? 100%!!

This week I installed a Mishimoto oil cooler. It has sprayed oil over every inch of my car and I even took it to FA20Club's shop to verify the install was perfect and they spent an entire day to find the same problem I did. We called them up and they suck!! I posted my results here and instantly a rep replied promising to make it right. Currently he hasn't done anything to help and when he finally got back to me yesterday afternoon he wanted pictures of the install and a receipt. Fine, no prob, I sent them back within 20 minutes of receiving the email and I asked if they could ship parts before the holiday weekend and no reply. After waiting for weeks to get the part my car has been down another week since receiving it. If Borla handled things this way I would tell everyone and anyone that was looking for a header but instead I stand behind them as a company.

I agree that the pictures of the header you posted are deplorable but the header I have on my car looks nothing like that at all!!

[Adeets]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

This is not OP's UEL. This is my EL. It certainly doesn't have the artistry of the nicer headers out there, but it's not the bodge job in the photos posted above.







Inside the collector. Not pretty, but not horrible. You can see they filed down the splatters on the exit pipe. I may do a little more TLC in this area.


Flanges:






This arrived today and was drop-shipped to me directly from Borla, so this should be a good example of the quality of the product coming from their factory now. It's not the best, but it's not bad either.

If they made those changes to the UEL, then the product is actually what your paying for, the collector looks weird with the flat piece welded between the 4 tubes, but at least they are not smashed together, also they still have a slight warp between the pipes on the flange so that will effect air flow but it shouldn't leak out the flange.

It's still a 600 buck header, and you are at least getting what you paid for, instead of getting a product you'll have to return.

[cj1pilot246]

I installed borla UEL on my FRS and its been awesome and sounds great! anybody recommend a place too chip my car to turn off the check engine light? its constantly going off ever since i got it installed

[SmsAlSuwaidi]

Originally Posted by cj1pilot246

I installed borla UEL on my FRS and its been awesome and sounds great! anybody recommend a place too chip my car to turn off the check engine light? its constantly going off ever since i got it installed

@ft86speedfactory now supply o2 spacers which will bypass your CEL

[Nightbringer]

I'm told the O2 spacers don't always resolve it permanently, but certainly better for the shortrun. With the addition of the header, I'd recommend contacting FA20Club for an actual tune. You'll see much bigger gains since you already have the header. Well worth the investment.

[m.wood0213]

Originally Posted by SmsAlSuwaidi

@ft86speedfactory now supply o2 spacers which will bypass your CEL

Anyone running into any issues using this o2 spaces yet? Im really tempted to get these headers but I dont want and cel. Also does anyone know if unichip can tune out this cel?

[SloS14]

Originally Posted by m.wood0213

Also does anyone know if unichip can tune out this cel?

It will not.

[topazsparrow]

Originally Posted by Nightbringer

I'm told the O2 spacers don't always resolve it permanently, but certainly better for the shortrun. With the addition of the header, I'd recommend contacting FA20Club for an actual tune. You'll see much bigger gains since you already have the header. Well worth the investment.

Unless he's going FI, it would be cheaper and more convenient to go with OpenflashTablet or BRZedit.