I have had my car stored for the last year or so, when I got ready to pull the car out of storage and have a little fun, I noticed that I had steam coming out of the tail pipes. My first thought was of Intake or exhaust Manifold, I removed both and inspected the gaskets, and neither was cracked or crusty. After a mad cleaning of the engine, I found no troubles. I took the car out for a short ride being care not to break the speed limit, the car ran smooth and responded nicely to acceleration, none of the gauges gave any indication of trouble. I parked the car in the garage and noticed that the exhaust was still steaming, after giving the car time to cool I started to check the levels to see if I was burning fluid. When I walked to the back of the car I looked underneath, and noticed that I had two dark spots under the car, upon further inspection I noticed that I had corresponding drips from the mufflers. So I need to replace the exhaust in my 95 coupe, I have narrowed down my choices to either a Borla or a magnaflow catback. I would like to get some feedback from other C4 owners that have used either system, or who have a preference of one system over the other.
Thanks

 

Sounds like you did a lot of work for nothing - it was probably just condensation (h20) in the exhaust sytem from storage...but this doesn't mean the current system is trashed as this point.

I got a low grade set of stainless steel pipes and mufflers (borlas) on my '89 - I like'em just fine.

 

extremelly happy with my magnaflow cat back,cant beat the price,and no interior drone at all.
MagnaFlow 16837 - MagnaFlow Performance Exhaust Kits.800 from summit

 

The work was fun, it gave me a chance to have a beer with my car.
Thanks for the reply.

 

Magnaflow

 

I have the Magnaflow cat-back. No drone at all inside, and they sound really cool with that nice deep sound. I really like the way the Borlas sound, they are much louder, but I've heard they are very notorious for droning.

 

I have the Magnaflows and like them. From reading your post I agree it sounds like you did a lot of work for nothing. Condensation in the exhaust system is normal. Some manufactors use small drain holes in low areas to help prevent rust. There may be seepage at some of the pipe flanges/connections (black spots on the floor) and H2O is a by product of the cat. converter doing its job.

 

There is nothing wrong with your exhaust. Steam/smoke is visible and normal depending on the temperature outside. There are drip holes from the factory at the front of the muffler just below where the exhaust pipe enters. It is designed to do just that..?allow moisture and water from the cats to drip. To answer your question the best is Corsa don't buy inferior product.

My suggestion is to install long tubes, no cats or high flow cats and leave the stock system. You wil be surprised how loud and aggressive it can sound while having no drone and just a slight growl at low .

 

magnaflow

 

Had Magnaflow on the 93.

 

Borla, Corsa, and B&B are the high-end systems available. They are all stainless steel and (I think) all have lifetime warranties. They all run around $1500.

I put a Borla on my car last year. I LOVE it. My friend has an identical car to mine with a Corsa system. Also sounds nice, but it's a completely different sounds. It's more of a raspy growl. The Borla has a low rumble. Corsa is the only system that doesn't drone.

The Borla has some drone in 6th gear below 70-75 mph. All systems (except Corsa) will have some drone to them.

As far as sound goes, IMO, it's Borla or nothing!

 

There are many things to consider....In my opinion, the 3" magnaflow system is just as good of quality, if not better than Borla, Corsa, and BB. There is a significant price difference between the Magnaflow vs. the others, which ultimately drove my decision. I have no drone issues with my magnaflow system.

Another vote for magnaflow.

 

I have Borla and love the sound when accelerating.

But my car is an '89 and the drone is pronounced under 2000 rpm.

If you leave your resonator. then I don't think it would be an issue.

Magna flow has a great sound from what I have heard.

 

I have Magna flow on my 89 and no drone sound at all.

Great system for the price !!!

 

My 91 has a Borla and it has a decided attitude older musle car guys like it I do as well though after about 4 hrs one way it can get aq bit tiring. If a warm day putting the windows down seems like it lets the sound out so I guess a bit of a drone involved..lol but when throttle up there is no sound quite like it!
Dave

 

Mags here...

The sound I have is priceless, only problem is the heavy drone (had to be done that way with my custom exhaust setup).

 

I have Borla and wouldn't use any thing else if I did it again. Borla will give the sound and performance you want. Mine does have some drone at highway speeds but I found out how to deal with it. The drone is caused in part by the 4 rear outlets that's why corsa has less drone. One outlet on each side of theirs is a dummy, nothing flows through it I believe. The cheapest way to fix the drone on the Borla is insert plugs made of pcv pipe in one outlet of each side just for when you go for long trips on the highway. This will cut the drone way down and shouldn't be a big deal to put in and take out for around town. Anther more expensive is to build the system with Hizholm resinators[sorry don't know how to spell it right] in rear tail pipes. These change the place where the drone is in system to a place in power band your car will never see.Good Luck Tim

 

Magnaflow idle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG51mBL0lJo

 

It all has to do with the sound your looking for.

 

Don't drive the car if you've lost all your muffler fluid. Your exhaust system may seize up! (j/k)

But seriously folks.... Condensation is normal in every exhaust system. Or in any place where there's a separate airspace, like the crank case or the gas tank.

As the air temerature fluctuates it draws in and expels air in these areas. During the day, as the air warms, it expands and pushes out. During the night when the air cools, it is drawn into these areas and then condenses and leaves moisture.

Later model cars have sealed gas tanks and crank case vents that go through charcoal canisters that filter out most of the moisture but there's nothing you can do about the wide open exhaust.

Rick - '92 LT1