Project Camaro: Part 2 – Breathing Easier with a Borla Exhaust and AEM Air Intake System

To prepare the Borla exhaust components for installation CU1100, a high performance adhesive copper paste, was applied to the inside walls of the female ends of the slip fit components. The copper paste is an anti-seize agent that facilitates the alignment and assembly of the exhaust and helps keep the slip fit components from galling over time. Typically copper anti-seize is not advised for use with stainless steel due to potential stress crack formation. However, the exhaust application is not load bearing and therefore risk of an issue with the copper is lower.

With the Borla exhaust broken down into more pieces than the stock exhaust, it was less cumbersome to move around. It was easy to install the exhaust by working from the rear to the front of the vehicle. First up, the now much more compact mufflers were hung on their respective hangers and the longer mid-pipes were placed in their hangers after slipping into the free ends of the mufflers. C-clamps from the Borla exhaust kit were included to clamp things down, but not yet.

Next up the crossover pipe was installed by also utilizing C-clamps from Borla. In contrast to the stock exhaust’s H pattern, the Borla exhaust crossover pipe is an X-shape which is more desirable for flow than 90 degree angles.  Lastly, the shortest pipe pieces were connected between the ends of the catalytic converters and the crossover pipe. The slip joints to the cats re-used the C-clamps from the stock exhaust system.

With all the pieces in place, and nothing yet tightened down, the exhaust components and clamps were aligned for ideal clearances to the vehicle body, bumper and other miscellaneous components. Only once settled, were all the clamp bolts tightened down.