A BBK cold-air intake was installed that likely added a few horses without any negative repercussions. Another common project known to add power and presence is an exhaust-system upgrade. It was that modern muscle sound that sold Woods on the first Ford in his family, so he was originally reluctant to change the familiar notes he knew and loved. He decided on a Borla Performance Cat-Back system after hearing a number of recommendations and personal confessions about the company. A quick perusal online proved that the company did indeed manufacture a system for the '04 4.6 V-8 Mustang GT. A phone call later, and a big box from Borla was on its way.
Having some automotive know-how but not owning a hoist or dyno, Woods went to SG Motorsport to have the system installed. The local shop had a good reputation for being honest and affordable, which is often hard to come by in this industry. Owner Sasha Anis personally worked on this project, as he previously had little experience with Mustangs. "I mostly work with sport compacts, but I love getting the chance to work on different cars," he says.
The first thing Anis did, of course, was strap the Mustang to his Dynapack dynamometer for a baseline reading to see what kind of numbers the car was currently putting to the tire, so we could measure the Borla system's improvement. After warming up the car and running through a few good pulls, Anis was satisfied with the initial reading of 218 hp and 238 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. With a baseline established, it was off to the shop lift for the actual R&R work.
At this point, you should...
At this point, you should make sure that the system has sufficient clearance and that the tailpipes and tips are in the desired posi-tion. Woods was on hand to provide his opinion, which had the pipes sticking out from the rear bumper just enough to show off the Borla inscription.
The flanges were then tightened...
The flanges were then tightened before the system was aligned to ensure ideal fitment and that it was properly secured in place.
After the pipes were aligned...
After the pipes were aligned one last time, they were then tightened. The Borla Performance instruction manual recommends between 32 and 35 ft-lbs.
Then the car was lowered from...
Then the car was lowered from the hoist and placed back on the dyno so that we could see the power difference.
Once the dyno testing began,...
Once the dyno testing began, the real transformation was revealed. The results were unanimous-this system sounds nice! Anis then shared his findings as the numbers appeared on his PC-228 hp and 248 lb-ft of torque were the final numbers, which means the system added 10 hp and 10 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. Not bad power gains for a couple hours of work. Regardless of the power increase, the Borla system sounds fantastic. Neither overly loud nor obnoxiously intrusive, the system brought the tone down a few octaves to a deep, growling rumble.