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Well after looking around for a while for a Borla X Pipe and finding out that all Manzo dealers are sold out until late Fall I stumbled across a company called Top Speed Pro-1 Performance. From looking around on You Tube they seem to be big in the European car exhaust. They have an X-pipe that looks to be identical to the Manzo right down to the resonators and the single crossover. It's probably made by the same people, who knows. The price seems right so I figured why not try one and see how it goes. Heck, they even come with the gaskets. I'll try and post up some pictures when it comes in and a review....
I was also wanting a Borla, and then a Manzo when the Borla's disappeared. I'll be interested to see what the interior of those resonators looks like. Please post a pic or two when you get it. And let us know what you think of the sound.
I remember seeing a post where someone took a photo of the resonators on the Manzo. I’m sure they will be the same. Their comment was it sounded alot like the Borla. I will get some photos when I get it next week.
Just got my Top Speed Pro-1 X-pipe in and everything looks good. The welds are very nice and the fit and finish seems very good. How good we'll find out when I install it. The interior welds look very good also. This seems to be as close to the Borla as I've seen other than the resonators which I posted a picture of. Single cross over with the 3" pipes going down to 2.75:" at the tail. Time will tell but I'm hoping this will be a good one. Over all view Top Speed Pro-1 tag Inside one of the resonators Tail end transition to 2.75"
A lot of sellers do this so you WONT buy the item due to it being out of stock. Not sure why they just don't take down the listing and put it back up when they have the product.
if everyone wants Borla or Manzo, why arent they available anymore??
Manzo is imported, probably from China, and all the domestic vendors appear to be sold out. The vendors don't know when they will be resupplied.
Borla has elected to no longer tread in the X pipe field. This is probably due to environmental pressures. At least one state, California, requires the secondary cats on C-7's to remain in place. That's why X pipes that eliminate the secondary cats are labelled as "off road." Time will tell if other US based X pipe manufacturers will follow Borla's example.
Update:
Last night I dove into installing this new x-pipe. Let me say that jacking this car high enough to safely work under it SUCKS! Once I got the skid plate off I found that my factory exhaust had been leaking at one of the welds near the crossover. There was allot of black sooty water in that area along with the two clamps that connect everything to the tail pipes also leaking at the bottom. Now keep in mind this is a 2016 with about 5,000 miles on it. The quality of the welding is poor at best on the factory pipe and a car of this price should have better quality control than this. Anyone that buys an an aftermarket exhaust and complains about welding should look at the factory pipe. Fit on the new x pipe was spot on. I had to stretch the pipes out at the collectors to hook them up but it was minor. Nothing I couldn't muscle into place with a couple of fingers. At cold start my first impression is it is very "raspy" and definitely louder. I took it for a ride and you can tell the sound difference with the windows down, roll them up and its about the same. Close the valves and it's whisper silent. When accelerating you can hear the difference and has a very nice tone. Still the best term I can find to use is "raspy" but a little big block sound also in there. Upon decelerating you can hear some faint gurgling and popping but not huge like some of the older cars. When you get into an engine braking scenario it is more pronounced. When using the rev match at higher rpm's you hear it even more but still nothing like a Jaguar F Type.. I wanted to get a video but I had already fired the car before I thought of it and I want to include a cold start for everyone. So far I give it a 9 out of 10. I'll get a video of it up this weekend.
Looks identical to my eBay xpipe, mine sounds great and sounds much better after several months of break in time on the resonators. Lots of good pop when down shifting. Prices have gone way up since I bought mine several years ago for $279 shipped.
All -- I've just ordered this Xpipe as well, and will provide feedback when it comes in. I've purchased parts in the past from Top Speed Pro 1, and I've always been happy with their quality.
X-pipe or not I have to say... Man, this car sounds great! This is my first corvette ever (14' 3LT Z51), and coming from the world of smaller/less powerful sports cars (Miata, BRZ) had me in the dark. The LT engines are the way to go!
Last edited by ajcarson11; Jul 2, 2019 at 06:29 PM.
All -- I've just ordered this Xpipe as well, and will provide feedback when it comes in. I've purchased parts in the past from Top Speed Pro 1, and I've always been happy with their quality.
X-pipe or not I have to say... Man, this car sounds great! This is my first corvette ever (14' 3LT Z51), and coming from the world of smaller/less powerful sports cars (Miata, BRZ) had me in the dark. The LT engines are the way to go!
Evening all! Was able to get this installed last week and thought I'd share my thoughts....
Like the other poster, I like the fit and finish -- Quality seems nice especially in comparison to the stock pipe. Install was relatively straight forward except for a few things:
1. Top speed says they include 'gaskets' -- Sort of. They include the metal clamps that hold the x pipe into the muffler piping. They do not include the donut gaskets (I just reused the ones from my stock xpipe).
2. As mentioned, they do not include nuts/bolts with the Top Speed x pipe -- it says you can reuse the stock bolts but this is incorrect. The flange on the xpipe has MUCH larger holes, and the stock bolts are much too thin -- I ended up having to go by lowes to purchase new bolts. I bought 2.5" 3/8 bolts which seem to have worked fine.
3. Like the other poster I had to bolt one side (collector) up to the stock header pipe and then pull on the other with a good amount of force to get it to fit properly. Once pulled apart by friction both pipes fit the stock header piping just fine and bolt up fine. I haven't detected any exhaust leaks, so I think things are OK overall.
Overall, I'd give fitment an 7 out of 10 in that you have to give it some force, but ultimately everything seems fine without leaks.
As far as sound: The car is definitely louder at WOT (25%) and probably 10% louder in normal cruising when the NPP exhaust valves are open. I'm not sure I would call the sound 'raspy', but rather 'gritty' -- Raspy (to me) has a negative connotation. There are absolutely more pops/gurgles and exotic sounds over the stock pipe. The only thing that I'm not terribly excited about is the loss of 'deepness' (bass). Although it sounds great, I think the xpipe thins out the low end of the exhaust note (probably because of the resonators) -- I'm not sure how folks claim that the car sounds 'deeper' (assuming that deeper means thicker, more body, more bass, etc). There is still some low end, but not as much as the stock car had and i'm not sure that that will improve over time (I don't believe resonators 'break in').
With all of that being said, I come away confused because I've watched videos on youtube of the borla x pipe (no resonators), and I can easily hear a loss of body/bass in comparison to the stock setup -- and yet several people claim the borla is 'deeper'.
Overall, I wish the Top Speed put out a bit more bottom end (bass/deepness) and then it would be literally perfect. But with that being said, I'm not convinced yet that the borla or corsa are any deeper either -- So its possible that all pipes respond the same and folk's just have different opinions
Possible Borla/Manzo X Pipe alternative
