Need help-X-Pipe/Exhaust

[Ace44]

Hey guys I was just wondering if anyone could help me out with a problem I may/may not have....I bought an awesome Borla Side Exit Cobra R style cat-back exhaust kit a good while back for my 01 Convertible, and it's served me great, I can't say enough about how awesome it looks/sounds. Anyhow, lately I've been hearing really good things about X-Pipes (I'm a little worried they may be obnoxiously loud though). I'm considering purchasing one, but everyone seems to be feeding me BS about exactly what it will do. "20+ HP" "15 min. install", I'm not naive enough to believe in any of that crap. Will it just bolt right up, and will I be able to keep my exhaust system, which is designed to work with the V6? One more thing, I know you run into this problem with LT headers....Will my car's convertible status preclude it from using an X-Pipe? Just a few things I wanted to be sure of before dropping the $160+ on the thing. Any advice yall could give me will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

[Danger Dude]

What mods do you have on the car. If you are near stock you wont see any HP gain.

Need more car info

[Ace44]

The issue in point isn't the HP gains my friend. For the record the car is pretty well modified and casually runs a 14.43. What I want to get out of this is sound, not necessarily performance; I feel I've already got that. I need to know if it is feasible on this car, that’s all. 1)Will my precious exhaust kit have to go, and 2) How involved will the install be, given that the car is a convertible. Thanks!

[Ken]

Is your Borla kit a V6 bolt on, or did your y-pipe get cut and modified?



Even if it's a bolt-on to your stock Y.. You will not get 25hp..

you won't get 20, or 10hp..

I'd bet the sound would change, but human ears probably wouldn't be able to distinguish the difference.

Save your money on that one.

Plus... no way an X-pipe can be installed on a V6 in 15min.. unless it's already prepped with a bolt in H-pipe..

You are talking about cutting and welding here.

[Ace44]

Thanks a lot Ken, I really appreciate it. That's what I needed to know. It was a bolt-on kit I installed on my car, using an adapter for the dual side exits. So is there anything else you would recommend doing that may help me audibly? I'm hesitant to drop the stock exhaust manifold in favor of MAC headers, as I doubt it's necessary without a blower, but just out of curiosty, have you heard these on a 6? Aside from Headers and X/H-pipes, theres not much else I'm thinking I can do to change my note. Any suggestions would be most welcome! Thanks again!
-Ron

[Ken]

Not without some work. your exhaust system mostly resembels the second diagram (Mac cat-back). Each color is a different piece, with bolt together flanges. The red piece is your Y-pipe with pre and post cats on it. You will have to have both that piece and your Borla kit modified to put an X-pipe in.

I would recommend selling off your borla bolt on kit and starting fresh if you really want a change.

Replace your stock Y-pipe with a catted H/X pipe that has a high flow cat. I'm not sure about the emissions laws in texas, but if you don't have any you can think about an Off-Road H/X pipe that won't have any cats in it. From there get a GT bolt on side exhaust kit (any muffler of your choice).

Since you are already running Borla mufflers, there's not much to change there, your big restriction now is the cats.