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Borla Exhaust Upgrade

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Location
El Paso, TX, USA
Going through the Borla website that has these exhausts for the Explorer ST.

Does anyone prefer the S-Type over the ATAK? I'm a fan of that old muscle car (i know, V8s sound different) low growl sound. Is that what the S-Type is supposed to offer?

But I figure, if you are going to pay over $2K for a Catback...you better go big!
Post #35 and #49 will give you a video difference in sound . Of course it's not like being physically there to hear it but it helps .
 

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El Paso, TX, USA
how is it over $2k? what did i miss?
I thought the same thing but it is expensive for what you get . I see Magnaflow is making something also but pretty sure it will be up there in price also . I think i am going to listen to you and do custom piping but add a muffler . I am really torn between the Magnaflow #10416 and the MBRP #S7275BLK and make it fit . The video i added really has me jumping back and forth .
 

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Location
Secaucus, NJ, USA
i do think that if you were to have a shop make for you what i have and add a high flow resonator and quality mufflers, it would sound amazing.. i just have no regard for noise pollution.. AND you’d save a ton of money..
 

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El Paso, TX, USA
I'm just wondering if I would need a resonator and a muffler or just the muffler . I haven't looked underneath to see the setup but thought the straight pipe with muffler at the end would work without waking up the dead .
 

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Location
Secaucus, NJ, USA
F6637024-F4B0-4E27-85D8-A140B8CDF8A2.jpeg AB81D635-27F9-4D1D-910E-D0333BF34474.jpeg
this is pretty much it.. it’s two catted downpipes to these two flex pipe sections.. then that whole tailpipe section is one piece.. it’s long.. resonator and two mufflers.. from what i understand, a good resonator will not muffle the exhaust tone; it’s more or less designed to decrease the droning frequencies about which most people complain.. the mufflers actually have baffles designed to create a maze for the exhaust to travel in order to actually muffle the sound.. aside from the design to keep the noise to a minimum, ford uses very small piping throughout the system.. just increasing the diameter of your piping will improve your sound.. then you have to decide whose ears the exhaust is for.. you or your neighbors.
 

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Secaucus, NJ, USA
FE5C7FFC-3399-4D5D-9100-6675AB2FFEFB.jpeg
my guy replaced the flex sections with regular pipes, and added an X pipe in place of the resonator.. he didn’t touch the stock down pipes..
418D41B0-E079-464F-BD0A-AD973E4EDC70.jpeg A72A6FFE-1401-40E8-AEF1-E70DCD9ECDD6.jpeg
and then straight pipe with no mufflers
 

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Location
El Paso, TX, USA
The only difference from what i'm looking at is that i am considering the race version of a muffler . Looks like the MBRP and the Magnaflow both have a straight through design instead of a "maze" muffler . Magnaflow's design is 2.5" in / 2.5" out and the MBRP is 3" in / 3" out . The rest of the piping can be made to fit . I guess this is going to be some real trial and error work .
 

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Location
El Paso, TX, USA
Basically considering the same setup with x-pipe and then adding mufflers at the end .
 

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El Paso, TX, USA
Luckily the turbos silence it down a bit . Just trying to figure out what sound to go with . It's just hard because this platform doesn't have a huge variety to choose from . I think the MBRP race mufflers sound great but that's on a 4cyl. ecoboost . I might just go with the Magnaflow race mufflers just in case .
 

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Location
Columbus, OH, USA
Going through the Borla website that has these exhausts for the Explorer ST.

Does anyone prefer the S-Type over the ATAK? I'm a fan of that old muscle car (i know, V8s sound different) low growl sound. Is that what the S-Type is supposed to offer?

But I figure, if you are going to pay over $2K for a Catback...you better go big!
I can't comment on the ST, but I had the S type on my Grand Cherokee SRT and I loved the sound. I heard some friends who had the atak and it was a bit too obnoxious for me, but did sound good. With that said this thing will never sound like a muscle car lol. To me that atak is too obnoxious on any platform, but I'm also a bit more on the boring conservative side.
 

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Location
Coral Springs, FL, USA
Vehicle
2020 Ford Explorer ST (Agate Black)
It's really all "to each their own" when it comes to sound but I can assure you the ATAK system Borla made for this ST isn't nearly as loud/obnoxious as it is or can be compared to other models. I myself personally always preferred the S-Type but decided to go against the grain and gamble on the ATAK since fewer people had it at the time. I'm content with it and its growing on me more and more. In all honesty though maybe I'm biased having forked out the money for it but regardless there's so many creative ways to achieve a good sounding exhaust... Be creative and as Turntable said above "make it your own". With that said I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing other members setup's in the near future.
 

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Location
Richmond, VA, USA
I was thinking about just doing an electric cutout, pre cat. I like the idea of turning the sound off? Am I misguided?
 

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Location
Secaucus, NJ, USA
pre cat? you’re a crazy person!! lmao.. i don’t think there’s room under there for that.. might throw a cel.. and also might blow out your ear drums..
 

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Location
Delaware
View attachment 520 View attachment 521
this is pretty much it.. it’s two catted downpipes to these two flex pipe sections.. then that whole tailpipe section is one piece.. it’s long.. resonator and two mufflers.. from what i understand, a good resonator will not muffle the exhaust tone; it’s more or less designed to decrease the droning frequencies about which most people complain.. the mufflers actually have baffles designed to create a maze for the exhaust to travel in order to actually muffle the sound.. aside from the design to keep the noise to a minimum, ford uses very small piping throughout the system.. just increasing the diameter of your piping will improve your sound.. then you have to decide whose ears the exhaust is for.. you or your neighbors.
I have been meaning to ask if you noticed any performance gains using a crossover on your upgrade?
 

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93
Points
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Location
Secaucus, NJ, USA
if there was any gain, it’s undetectable using the butt dyno.. i honestly doubt it.. but.. i definitely don’t floor it as much since it’s so loud.. it attracts way too much attention.. don’t know how much a firefighter tag and badge would do to help me if i get stopped for driving like an asshole.. so i try not to be so noisy if i don’t have to.. for anybody looking at upgrading the exhaust, really consider mufflers unless you just don’t care like me.. it’s obnoxious..

on a side note, i filled up with 93 tonight instead of the usual e50 blend.. change the tune to 93 performance.. very big difference in how it drives.. but the reason i mention this: now the exhaust pops like crazy.. it’s very entertaining watching people jump when i decelerate.. just thought i’d share.
 

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Location
Marinette, WI, USA
if there was any gain, it’s undetectable using the butt dyno.. i honestly doubt it.. but.. i definitely don’t floor it as much since it’s so loud.. it attracts way too much attention.. don’t know how much a firefighter tag and badge would do to help me if i get stopped for driving like an asshole.. so i try not to be so noisy if i don’t have to.. for anybody looking at upgrading the exhaust, really consider mufflers unless you just don’t care like me.. it’s obnoxious..

on a side note, i filled up with 93 tonight instead of the usual e50 blend.. change the tune to 93 performance.. very big difference in how it drives.. but the reason i mention this: now the exhaust pops like crazy.. it’s very entertaining watching people jump when i decelerate.. just thought i’d share.
You will not gain any power from the exhaust without a tune. The St employees a torque based strategy. When you push the pedal regenerates and torque request and then the ECU sort out how much airflow it takes to meet that torque request under the given conditions. So if you did pick up any air flow from the exhaust did you see what he automatically take out a little bit of boost to bring the torque back down to meet the request. This is true for all modifications, the tune is key.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 

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Location
Bennsville, MD, USA
Messages
191
Reactions
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Points
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Location
Secaucus, NJ, USA
i posted video clips on pages 3 and 5

there’s nothing wrong with the borla.. it’s a great system.. but i kinda refuse to pay that much money and not have it the way i want.. i just wanted straight pipes in aluminized steel.. stainless sounds different to me.. if you go for straight pipes, you have to train your foot to eliminate the drone on the highway.. and be prepared to not push your vehicle as much since as soon as you give it more than 10% throttle, it’s gonna scream and attract a lot of attention.. i’m also planning on installing catless downpipe a when they hit the market.. just to give you an idea how childish i can be.. plus hopefully a cold air intake.. this thing is gonna be obnoxious, but that’s just me.
 



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